Meso Level Activity

The macro level in education is where politicians play, and where bureaucrats set policy and funding methodology. It's the place where standardised testing, improvement initiatives, system comparisons have become important, and therefore where the performance of principals and teachers is considered. The macro in our education systems is largely about control, compliance and setting direction – it's born of an industrial worldview. By its DNA it overlooks the potential in the middle levels of the education system to actually deliver the learning because of its Old Power mindsets.

At the micro level, we can find the flowers blooming in the education garden. These are the teachers and schools who are innovating, punching above their weight, engaging learners in new and powerful ways and connecting with the community. A few blooms can be greatly multiplied when the interconnectedness of an ecosystem is understood and fostered in a holistic way. It’s where cross-pollination brings the garden truly alive.

The interactions within the garden, rather than the beauty of an individual flower, have the potential to transform. It is the connections made within the garden that create, that are responsible for 'the new'. These interactions, what happens at the meso-level, hold the key to a re-imagined education. This is where the magic happens, where Collective Teacher Efficacy resides. The meso is the heart of the organisation.

My learning about the work in British Columbia, NOII in particular, had brought me to better understand the importance of the power of networks. This is the work in the meso. This understanding was confirmed when I experienced a profound 'ah ha' during a visit to Woodcrest State College. I was enthralled by the middle leadership team (Petra, Blanche and Tammy) talking about the innovation happening in classrooms there, and student assessment data showing remarkable results.

My initial thought was that I wished I had had this team in my school when I was a principal. They were engaged, leaning into the work with passion and commitment. The 'ah ha' came when I realised their principal was not in the room, that they had been given permission to experiment, that the principal had built the psychological safety for them to do so – that this was meso level activity on display within a school. What I learned was as much about how I hadn't created the right conditions in my schools.

Realizing the potential of the meso-level will ultimately require a shift in the thinking at the macro, a shift in the mindset of leaders in education systems, the very leaders who have risen in system status by school leaders being corporate citizens, mostly by not being creative, but rather being compliant in their drive to find efficiencies.

Michael Fullan also talks about education systems needing to better engage with principal associations for the very reason that principals were key players in the meso, key to successful change. I am working for a professional association of school leaders and this became something to pursue with the leaders in the educational system. The opportunity to really make a difference for students is being missed because this meso-level activity is not being leveraged.

School leaders can be sandwiched between school system bureaucracy and the resulting resistance to change, the False Sanctuary maintained by the mindset of compliant learners that teachers can be due to the reinforcing experience in their careers, and the mindsets of control by system leaders. This resistance is the push down of policy and the power of the status quo. However, through a different lens, this meso-level is perhaps the most powerful of places. The caveat is that principals also recognise the power of their level of activity.

Meso-level activity can be seen in networks and communities focused on individual learners. Within schools, it's the activity that happens between learners in classrooms and school leadership – teachers and middle leaders. It’s the work in the middle that is key to reimagining education. It’s where Colliding Ideas spark innovation. While we believe macro-level responses will follow, and they are ultimately desirable, responses that will not bypass the meso but engage it, it is what we do now in the middle that will transform schooling.

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