2 Some theories behind change, planning and implementing change in school

Theory 1: Change as a series of steps

Knoster et al. (2000) saw five dimensions of change (Figure 2).

Figure 2 Knoster et al.’s five dimensions of change.

Knoster et al.’s work showed that if any one of these dimensions was missing, the change was likely to be unsuccessful. This has been captured in Table 1. A tick () indicates a dimension that is in place; a cross (✗) shows where a dimension is missing. For example, where there is no vision (as in the first row), there will be an outcome of confusion because the reason for change and the intended outcome is unclear.

Table 1 Outcomes if one of the dimensions of change is missing.

Vision	Resources	Skills	Incentives	Action planning	Outcome
✗					Confusion
	✗				Frustration
		✗			Anxiety
			✗		Complacency
				✗	Gradual change
					Effective change

One word of caution surrounds resources. Resources include human and material resources. Many changes in school can be made within existing material resources or through relatively minor additions. The most significant resource in most educational change is the human resource. A poor teacher in a high-tech classroom is still a poor teacher. A good teacher with few resources is still a good teacher.

Figure 3 A teacher asking a student a question.

Case Study 2 demonstrates that even if all the elements of change are present (vision, resources, skills, incentives and action planning), then the change might not be successful. In this case, developing the skills required was more difficult than Mr Chadha expected – teachers needed ongoing support and encouragement rather than a single training course.

Theory 2: Change formula

No theory of change is a perfect description of how change happens, but it can help a leader to think about change in their context. Gleicher’s change formula (quoted in Beckhard, 1975) is another theory that can be helpful when embarking on the change process. The formula charts the necessary qualities that the change needs to contain if it is to become embedded in your school.

The formula is:

It is explained as follows:

• ‘D’ is the need for change already being registered by people’s dissatisfaction with the reality today.
• ‘V’ is the vision for change being sufficiently compelling that most people are able to visualise what is possible.
• ‘F’ represents the first steps towards implementing the change being valued by the whole community.
• If the previous three are in place, then it is likely that together their impact will be greater than the inevitable and understandable resistance (‘R’) that there will be to the change.

The challenge for a school leader is to persuade teachers that they are ‘dissatisfied’ with the thing that you want to change. Your teachers are likely to be ‘dissatisfied’ by a number of things, such as a lack of resources, the size of their class, the amount of work they are expected to get through or the number of students completing their homework on time. They are less likely to be ‘dissatisfied’ with the amount of participatory learning taking place in their classroom, or the amount of CCE that they are doing.

There are a number of things that you can do to motivate your teachers and persuade them to make the sorts of changes that you desire. Here are two examples from school leaders in India:

• The teachers in Mr Aparajeeta’s school were always rushing to complete the syllabus. He had noticed, however, that the exam results were consistently poor. Even though the teachers were covering the whole of the syllabus, only half of the students could achieve the 40 per cent grade that was required to pass. Mr Aparajeeta decided that it would be much better for them to teach key concepts properly so that students really understood them, rather than to cover every detail in the textbook. After all, the students all have the textbook and if they understand the work they are more likely to be motivated to read it for themselves. He therefore told his teachers that they did not have to stick rigidly to the textbook. They could introduce a new topic however they wanted, as long as it engaged the students, and they had to pick out the activities that related to the key concepts rather than try and do every activity. He encouraged them to work in departmental groups to identify the key concepts and created time for subject group meetings by not holding any staff meetings for a term.
• Mrs Kapur was frustrated because her teachers would not complete the marking sheets for tests and exams so she could not do a proper analysis of how each year group was progressing. They marked the tests and handed them back, but then said they did not have time to keep records. She said that they would need the record sheets for the parent’s meeting, but some of the teachers pointed out that hardly anyone came to these meetings. Mrs Kapur went to the local village to talk to some of the parents. She listened as they told her about their farm and how busy they were. She used an analogy to explain why they should come to the parents’ evening. She pointed out that when they had planted their seeds, they didn’t just leave them in the field. They checked regularly to make sure that they had enough water, that there were no pests and that the plants were thriving. They needed to do the same for their children. She explained that their child was like a seed and that they should take the opportunity to check that they are learning and thriving at school. At the next parents’ evening, the attendance was much better. Some of the teachers were embarrassed because they were not able to show the parents detailed records of their child’s progress. The record-keeping in the school soon began to improve and Mrs Kapur was able to analyse progress more effectively.

In the first example, Mr Aparajeeta tackles an issue that his teachers are already dissatisfied about. In the second example, Mrs Kapur has to employ a certain amount of cunning in order to create the circumstances in which the teachers realise for themselves that they need to keep records of student progress. Other strategies that you could use include the following:

• Making it clear that the change is coming from the government and that you are all going to work together to make it work.
• Involving teachers in the school review process (see the leadership unit on school self-review) so that they have first-hand knowledge about how the school is performing.
• Encouraging teachers to take responsibility for issues in their class. This could be attendance, the proportion of students completing their homework, appearance, punctuality or the smartest classroom. You could do this by instigating a weekly award for the class which performs the best in your chosen category.

Pause for thought Think about the changes that you listed in Activity 1. Which changes that you thought of address something that many people are dissatisfied about? Which of the changes would require you to think of a way of creating some dissatisfaction?

Theory 3: Force field analysis

Another theory of change is ‘force field analysis’. This approach to change encourages you to focus on the conditions that are already in place that will firstly support the change and secondly identify the likely sources of resistance.

Figure 4 Force field analysis.

How to do a force field analysis:

1. State clearly the change that is wanted.
2. Draw a vertical line from the statement of change down a large piece of paper (or on a board or computer screen).
3. Draw the driving forces on the right-hand side of the line and the restraining forces on the left.
4. For each force the length of the arrow (from 0–5) reflects the extent of the factor, with 5 being the most powerful.
5. The thickness of each arrow represents the relative importance of the force.

In the following case study, Mr Agarwal uses force field analysis to help plan a change in the approach to homework in his secondary school (although it could be used in a primary school as well).