CHANGE ESSAY INVOLVEMENT 4

Change Essay Involvement

EDU 5200: Building Professional and Community Relations

August 1, 2021

In the history of educational reform and innovation, examples of good ideas or programs that are not adopted or that are successful in one scenario but not in another abound. The appreciation and application of what we refer to as change knowledge: expertise and insight into the change process and the fundamental drivers of effective change in practice, is a critical component that is frequently missing in failed cases (Baggett & Radhakrishna, 2004). While the presence of change knowledge is not necessary for success, its absence is.

Closing this chasm will be difficult. Policymakers do not wish to be slowed down by environmental changes. Addressing this knowledge takes time, even if, strangely, unsuccessful implementation ultimately slows them down even more. There is a lot of research that has been done in the past concerning innovative processes that seem to work and those that fail. We are therefore going to use this as a challenge to make a change in schools (Rahim, 2008). We have eight drivers, according to Fullan, Cuttress, and Kilcher, that can lead to effective and long-term transformation in schools. “Engaging people’s moral objectives, creating capacity, understanding the change process, developing cultures for learning, developing cultures for assessment, focusing on leadership for change, promoting coherence, and cultivating a tri-level development.” The change initiative that we are going to implement in the school is the moral purpose or in other words the moral purpose in changing education (Baggett & Radhakrishna, 2004). Moral change in schools is all about the improvements done in societies by improving the systems of education which will, in turn, improve the learning of each member of the society. This initiative will be of help in the field of education because moral purpose entails a commitment to raise the bar and close the achievement gap — for example, raising literacy for all students, with a special focus on the most disadvantaged.

There is a significant disparity among groups at the lowest and those who are at the top, notably in some countries. Schools must “raise the floor” by figuring out how to accelerate the learning of individuals at the bottom of the educational ladder, those for whom the system has been ineffective.

For initiative to occur some people will be involved both internally and externally. Internally we have the school principal and the teachers, external we have parents and the community. “Moral purpose is not simply a goal in change knowledge; it is a process of involving educators, community leaders, and society at large in the moral purpose of reform” (Muth, 2004). The specific people that will be involved with their roles include the headteacher whose role is to ensure moral values are implemented in each teacher’s teaching and the headteacher will confirm this by doing close monitoring on the teachers. Then we have the class teachers who are close to the students, and they can shape the students towards the moral change in education by implementing this in their teaching. Parents from the external part are responsible for their children therefore their role is to instill moral knowledge in these children when they are at home. Village elders or the community here is responsible for the morality of these students both outside school and away from home (Muth, 2004).

Getting the team to be involved in the change initiative can be challenging but first, they must know about the change that is about to be initiated in the school especially on their children. Therefore, educating both the society and the teachers will make it easy to implement the change because they will have an idea of what will be happening (Muth, 2004).

The students need to be educated on the process of change that is to be implemented and when they are aware of this process, they will make it easy to implement it. Understanding the change process is important because it cuts across all elements of the organization. Because it necessitates leaders taking into consideration factors that they would prefer not to have to stop and deal with, the process of change can be difficult and frustrating to grasp. They would prefer to lay out the purpose and plan first and then get to work. Change does not operate in this manner. Putting change into action necessitates the participation, ideas, commitment, and ownership of everyone involved in the improvement process (Baggett & Radhakrishna, 2004).

One of the important roles that the team is faced with is the ownership of the change process. This is the most important role. After all, it does not just come at the beginning of the change process because it is a thing that is usually created as change occurs and in the most quality way. When the team carries in hand a shared vision and ownership of the change there is a guarantee of quality change in the school. The headteacher to be specific is faced with the most important role of building capacity (Rahim, 2008). In building capacity, the headteacher is required to provide strategies, resources, policies, and implement actions that are meant to increase the collective power of the other members in changing the moral education system. And as the leader of the school, the headteacher is required to focus on the leadership for change. The leadership that will make this change process a success is the leadership that will be spread through the whole school system (Rahim, 2008). The headteacher is supposed to foster success in each team member and ensure he leads as an example.

References:

Baggett, C.D., & Radhakrishna, R. (2004). Educational reform as innovation: A qualitative study on the perceptions of Brazilian agricultural school teachers. The Journal of Agricultural Education and Extension, 10, 171 – 179.

Muth, R. (2004). Toward an Integrative Theory of Power and Educational Organizations. Educational Administration Quarterly, 20, 25 – 42.

Rahim, M. (2008). The Development of a Leader Power Inventory. Multivariate behavioral research, 23 4, 491-503.