I have always been someone that paid a great deal of attention to detail and was once told by a colleague that I was one of the most reflective people they knew, so it probably wasn’t surprising that I became a fan of change management frameworks.

I have seen many people bring about change in educational settings. Some of these changes have been exciting, innovative and of great educational worth. On the other hand I have seen change undertaken for change sake and whilst these might be executed well, they are not sustainable because they do not bring about the improved outcomes required for the school. In other words they get the “wrong” thing right. I have been very lucky in gaining training in two change management frameworks: David Langford’s, PDSA (Plan, Do, Study, Act) and Dame Pat Collarbone’s Change2 (Why, Who, Where, What, How, When).

Both these frameworks and my experience in change manage have taught me that there are some key elements in bringing about effective, sustainable change:

I do believe though, that many do forget to look at the root causes and risk getting the “Wrong” thing right, rather than the “right” thing right. I have found that once people have been introduced to these processes they never go back. The challenge is convincing leaders that they need it because, of course, you don’t become a leader in a school unless you go through a fair bit of change. To combat this, I have focused on my “sphere of influence”, e.g. my classroom, my PLT, Leadership team, etc. In this way I am gaining some success and modelling the processes to others.

For more information about –

PDSA: Langfordlearning.com or www.qla.com.au

Change2: http://www.creatingtomorrow.org.uk/products-the-process

“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.” – Antoine de Saint-Exupery

I particularly like this quote about leadership because it highlights, amongst many other things, the importance of intrinsic motivation. My experience working in and with schools is that many schools are doing amazing things and achieving some very good results but often teachers are doing these things because they are “instructed” to; not because they have a belief in the process or the change. They often focus on the “product”, e.g. the ship or the essay, rather than building desire and passion for exploring and learning the unknown for themselves and their students. Dr Anthony Muhammad has written an interesting book, The Will to Lead, the Skill to Teach”, well worth a read. The book describes and provides strategies for how school leaders can create a healthy school culture.” A culture where everyone shares the same purpose and direction.

This video provides insights into the standards, providing a more detailed description of what each standard means.

Performance and Development reviews are an important step in building and maintaining a learning culture in a school. This AITSL video is a great reminder of the importance of teachers in learning and the importance of teachers continuing their learning.