Leading Change

“Change is hard at first [and] messy in the middle…” . Humans do not like change, we are hard wired not to. Yet education is filled with change: new cohorts, new OFSTED frameworks, new pedagogies, new governments. Whilst changing the curriculum can be wonderful, giving renewed energy and passion, it can be terrifying and upsetting if forced upon staff unexpectedly and without forethought.

Change can be difficult to implement in schools. Compared to business, schools are a collection of franchises: we all have a company line to follow (the curriculum) but are mostly left to our own devices to deliver the product (lessons). In business you have a supervisor checking your work daily, in schools it can be months. So when it comes to change, it needs planning for and managing.

In my school, I used the work of John Kotter and his 8 Step Process to effectively bring in two new curriculums, one of which I will explore below. As the name suggests, there are eight specific stages to managing change. 1) Help others see the need for change. In my case it was a new Agreed Syllabus that brought in a new pedagogy (Balanced RE) with meant teaching theology and philosophy along with the human and social factors of religion. A major shift in approach and subject knowledge for staff. The rational for this new pedagogy needed clearly communicating from the outset.

Firstly, ensure there is an authentic reason and need for change: will this change improve learning or is it for OFSTED? If there is no clear reason for change then the whole process will collapse upon its weak foundations. Do your homework, find the academic research or school case studies to support your need for change. This will help with step 2) Building a team to champion the change. In schools, this will mean getting the majority of staff to understand and support the need for change. Some staff will not want change, its human nature - we will discuss supporting those resistant to change later. In my school, this meant a staff meeting to explain the new pedagogy and the rational for the changes. I was also honest, highlighting areas I thought could be difficult and – crucially – what I had planned to support staff. I predicted and highlighted concerns with new pedagogy, allowing time for questioning and frank discussion. I encouraged staff to share thoughts so I could plan CPD.

3) Form strategic visions and practical initiatives. This is the most important stage: make detailed plans so you have a clear idea of how the change could take place. The plan may well change over time, but a clear plan that changes is better than no plan at all. I planned the roll-out of our new curriculum over three years: a six-month trial/road-test, running January to July; a full year of implementation, in which all monitoring was in the form of coaching and discussion; concluding with a final year focused on refining, as staff are by now experienced with observations and book-looks used for monitoring. I planned time for staff to make mistakes and learn from them If you give staff permission to fail, they will never really feel like they failed in the first place. I also planned the roll-out so staff were not overwhelmed: we looked at the new assessment methodology, after staff were experience with the content and pedagogy. Discuss problems that could arise and how to fix them. Communication is key – so get writing. Write down exactly what staff need to do. Get into the fine details, use the writing to focus your thinking. Our new curriculum was a major change in pedagogy and content so I wrote down how staff should approach learning and why – but not how to teach. Create a “How to…” guide: even if staff were emailed, put it in the guide as well so staff have a single central reference.

With your plan in place 4) Get people working on the change. Get staff working on a small piece of the new curriculum in lessons straight away. New content and pedagogy? Let staff use the new content with their old pedagogy. I gave staff a sample unit to trial. Then 5) Remove barriers to change, especially those that stop staff from innovating and making the “new” their own. Do staff need training? I will deliver three CPD events per year to keep our change moving. What resources do staff need? As it is staff that deliver the new learning, I invested in books for staff to inform subject knowledge. Is there a naysayer who needs 1:1 support to change? Give them extra and private 1:1 support. Fear of failure or a punctured ego can be as much a barrier as knowledge.

6) Generate short term wins: foster enthusiasm with pre-made sample units to teach and innovate on. Ask staff to share those first lessons and what they thought went well. Share your own lessons and show what went not so well – your humility will inspire.

Now for the harder part: 7) Sustaining change. Keep pushing the change. Unveil the next part of the curriculum as planned for in your strategic vision. Have termly staff meetings to revisit and allow staff to give their input. Let staff be their own cheerleaders: your time leading the change is coming to an end.

8) Institutional change. The “new” should now be “the normal”. Current research suggests it takes 2 months (or 66 days to be specific) to form a new habit. We teach RE weekly, so I estimated 6 months for the approach to be fully embedded. I planned termly CPD to support and embed the new normal.

“Change is hard at first, messy in the middle and” - to complete the opening quote “so gorgeous at the end.” Change can be messy, but with forethought and planning, it does not have to be.