February 2014

The know zone

  • Help in testing times
    In the event of illness or worse, what pension benefits can you or your family draw on? David Binnie explains. More
  • A question of balance
    Sam Ellis has been worrying about even-handedness in school since he was a lad. Instead of concerns about being kept behind in class, he’s now anxious about education funding being reasonable and just or, at least, fairer than it was. More
  • Are you ready?
    The new National Curriculum (NC) becomes statutory in September with further reforms in the pipeline to GCSE, post-16 qualifications and performance measures. Sue Kirkham looks at the detail. More
  • Strength in numbers
    The focus in this Leader is on ASCL Council’s Funding Committee, which has a wide-ranging remit that includes all aspects of school and college funding. More
  • ASCL PD events
    Legal Issues, Managing Challenging Pupils: Duties and Powers, Online Safety: Equipping Your School to Avoid Risk, and An Introduction to School Financial Management More
  • Managing change
    ASCL Professional Development (PD) offers high-quality, relevant, up-to-date and competitively priced courses (see left). Our training is delivered by a team of skilled trainers and consultants, almost all of whom have been headteachers or senior school leaders. More
  • What a relief!
    Sport Relief is back on Friday 21 March and schools and colleges up and down the country will be getting active and raising money to help change lives, both here in the UK and across the world. More
  • Adding value
    The Energy vs. Minibus Debate! More
  • New dimension?
    What is the number one issue affecting education that all political parties should agree on? Is it curriculum, funding, accountability or something else? And why? Here, ASCL members share their views. More
  • Leaders' surgery
    The antidote to common leadership conundrums.. More
  • The holy grail...
    Finding the right riposte to a cheeky – or worse – student is never easy, so it helps if you can call on divine inspiration, even if it’s lost on the audience. More
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ASCL Professional Development (PD) offers high-quality, relevant, up-to-date and competitively priced courses (see left). Our training is delivered by a team of skilled trainers and consultants, almost all of whom have been headteachers or senior school leaders.

Managing change

In his article for the last edition of Leader (www.leadermagazine.co.uk/articles/revision_time), Edward Gildea commented on the skills required by today’s leaders for change management. But why is change so challenging for some and not for others? How can school leaders facilitate change and give others the mechanisms with which to cope?

The ability, or lack thereof, within our schools to embrace change will ultimately be determined by the ‘change culture’ established in the school. Think about your own institution: Do your staff embrace change readily? Are they keen to take on new ideas and initiatives? Or are they resistant to any attempts to change with an ‘If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it’ attitude?

Colleagues who are resistant to change often feel that changes are imposed on them. A strong leader will facilitate ownership and encourage colleagues to be part of the change mechanism so it becomes more participatory. Consultation and involvement are key in establishing a change culture. Ensuring that staff understand the need for change as well as knowing how it will be managed will help them to feel more involved.

As well as consultation, managing change requires careful planning and sensitive implementation. Remember that change can be unsettling for some, so make sure that all communication about why change is necessary is clear and carried out face-to-face. Communicating a rationale for change by email or noticeboard is not conducive to developing understanding among colleagues!

Think too about the speed at which you want the change to take place. Go too quickly and there is less time for consultation and involvement by others. Go too slowly and you could be seen as indecisive. Getting the pace and timing for change right is a challenge but one that can help win over colleagues.

Step
 Action
Step 1
 Identify the need.
Step 2
 Audit the current strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT analysis) relating to that need.
Step 3
 Consult widely, equitably, appropriately and intelligently.
Step 4
 Plan the change very carefully.
Step 5
 Advertise, explain, communicate and justify the change.
Step 6
 Implement the change.
Step 7
 Manage the processes required for the change to ‘bed down’.
Step 8
 Monitor and evaluate the change.
Step 9
 Make the necessary re nements.

In their book The Reality of School Leadership: Coping with the challenges, reaping the rewards (Bloomsbury, 2012, p 155), the authors – Richard Parker with David Middlewood – describe a nine-step model for making sustainable change that comprises of these steps (see above).

You should also be prepared to be challenged when introducing change, as strong resistance to something new can often be deeply felt and historically rooted. This is particularly difficult to deal with if you are new in post and not aware of what has happened in the past.

Of course, all schools will have their own established routines, processes and systems, but that does not mean that nothing should be changed; new staff are in a good position to suggest ideas, bring their own experience and expertise and improve things for the better. It is the manner in which these are implemented that is important, as is remembering to recognise and not forget work that has gone on beforehand.

Overall, change should be seen as an opportunity to improve what we do and how we do it. We now have to encourage colleagues to learn to fully embrace it.

  • Sue Bull is Director of ASCL Professional Development.

Further reading:

Gerver, R, 2013, Change: Learn to love it, learn to lead it, Penguin.

LEADING READING