We appreciate it’s difficult to effect change in education... and schools are very complex systems with many stakeholders. It’s still generally accepted by many that change in schools takes years, a contributing factor being our human dislike of change. We can resist change in many direct, passive and nuanced ways.
My most potent experience with staff resistance came in what I anticipated would be an opportunity to really make a difference to student learning. I had been involved in a new innovative undergraduate teacher education program as the principal of a Teaching School. Based on the idea of the medical profession's 'Teaching Hospital' this was a program designed to close the gap between theory and practice through a partnership between the profession and the university tasked with preparing, and credentialing graduate teachers.
I was subsequently recruited to join the university and offered the opportunity to contribute to the expansion of the program. Essentially, the program had been running on one of the university's campuses, a greenfield site, and was underpinned by a partnership between the school district, the local council and the university. This partnership, without the restrictive structures and bureaucratic restrictions of an established university, was attracting national and international attention.
The program had been reviewed independently, and extremely favourably, by the Australian Council for Educational Research, highlighted in a federal government review of teacher education and touted as the model of the future. I was tasked with rolling out the program on the other six regional campuses. This challenge excited me greatly. I believed in the approach, felt privileged to be involved in such a transformational undertaking, but was not prepared for the extent of resistance and subterfuge undertaken by some of the academics within the university.
Despite the positive attention being received about the program, this was a bitter experience, one that surprised me and stole my confidence. The faculty executive wanted the change. The faculty didn't. And I was the outsider, at the time without the required academic qualification, trying to effect the change. I learned a great deal about the importance of culture, the clarity of purpose in change processes, the potential the middle levels of an organisation holds, egos in academia and the power of the status quo. When my contract was up for renewal I decided to return to school leadership. The university happily dismantled the innovation within a couple of years.
Over twenty years later many elements of the program are still aspirational for teacher preparation programs in this nation. It’s fair to say I still carry the disappointment, and the shame of not being successful – it was a lost opportunity, not least of which for students.
However, what we are now understanding is how quickly change can happen when creativity is unleashed through curiosity, courage, and commitment, guided by a Higher Purpose.
Next: My Why
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