How to manage educational change

Dr Martin Wedell, Senior Lecturer, University of Leeds presented a session around planning for change in education.

He said that we are better at planning for change than seeing change in practice.

He also said change is unlikely to be identically implemented and that ultimately it is what teachers do in classrooms that determines what changes have taken place.

The neglect of how people actually experience change as distinct from how it might have been intended is at the heart of the spectacular failure of most social  and educational change policies.

Transition is a complex process – changing teachers to facilitators – we often think that training will take care of that. But it is also a matter of systemic support  – both visible and invisible.

Societal expectations and assessment systems must also change as well as the teachers and their teaching to ensure successful change processes.