Leadership and Change - Reflection

TASK: 
1. Write a reflective memo on 3 course readings related to leadership and change, and introduce the focus of your case study and the models you have chosen to apply.
2. Have a professional conversation about change with a leader who knows your organisation and it vision. 
3. Prepare for the conversation with a set of 3-5 questions. Make field notes of the conversation. 
4. Apply this within your case study to include a leadership theme within Assignment 3 

Reading #1 - Chris Jansen, Positive Change Processes
This video was recorded as part of the educational Leaders Forum in 2011 and features Chris Jansen who is a lecturer at the University of Canterbury. The positive aspect of change was and is really important as life in post-earthquake Christchurch can be tough. Prior to watching the video I had not heard of Appreciative Inquiry so learnt a lot from it. I am familiar with some of Chris' work (e.g. Restorative Practice) as he was one of the lecturers when I went through teachers college at UC.

• Change can be perceived as a negative thing
• Being a change manager is "not a pretty job, but someone's got to do it"
• Richard Pascale - Discussing change with people but often not actually listening to them - social engineering 
• People can get sick of discussing change and potential change, but not being listened to by leadership. Can be very frustrating. 
• Positive psychology can boost positive change processes (e.g. placebo affect) 
• Appreciative Inquiry - Most important aspect is that it looks for the positive. Looks at the idea of going in the direction we focus on (e.g. if we think positively about an issue we will head in the positive direction, and vice versa). 
• 4 Ds - Discover, Dream, Design
• Discover - Experiences around that issue
• Dream - Share experiences with others 
• Design - Strategic planning/design your vision - must be grounded in the process
• Deliver - Action planning, operational goals
• Builds ownership and authorship come as a result (Breakspear, Sheahan, & Thurbon, 2008). 
• Communities, schools and clusters have all used the Appreciative Inquiry process and it has proven successful in the sense that change has been turned into a positive and people are able to work collaboratively. 

Reflection:
I agree that change can be perceived as a negative thing. Often teachers stress over changes if they feel threatened in any way. Changes to the timetable, subjects, teaching or funding seem to be the biggest 'threats' and are often perceived as negative, even though they might not actually be. I have personally seen this on a few occasions, and often it has been related to ICT in the classroom. Some may argue (and stereotype too) that older/more experienced teachers are at times threatened by ICT in the classroom as they think it will change the more traditional way of teaching. This perceived threat is not accurate at times and once this concern is addressed change can be a more positive experience. The CBAM model fits well with addressing these concerns and also links with what Jansen says about the 4 Ds. 

Reading #2 - Michael Fullan, Leading Quality Change 
This EDtalk video of Michael Fullan was made during his presentation to Canterbury school clusters and leaders in 2015. During his talk Fullan discusses what quality change looks like and looks at the links to the New Pedagogies for Deep Learning clusters. These international clusters of schools aims to bring to life to the new pedagogies model which he talks about further in 'A Rich Seam'. Other aims of these clusters is to make sustainable educational solutions which support student outcomes and success enabled by technology.

• In order for change to be successful it needs to be driven by school leadership (SLT, principals). They need to model, participate and drive the change collaboratively. They must also be learners, which allows for a comfortable and more positive environment for staff. 
• Change must be transparent and non-judgemental 
• Change and learning must be valued 
• Leaders need to focus on positive systems, pedagogy and collaboration 
• Discussion of the Ministry of Education's Investing in Success initiative - has the potential to drastically change our educational environment in NZ
• Collaboration and sharing of experiences through school clusters is really important 

Reflection:

The idea of Fullan's that change needs to be driven by school leadership is one that is reflected in many different sources (Davis & Eickelmann, 2014; Zaka, 2012). Cardoza (2013) states that strong leadership is able to maintain and promote change over time. The idea of collaboration around change is also essential, and from a personal view I agree with Fullan. During the change process there needs to be common goals, relevant professional development and teacher choice in order for the change to be successful. There needs to be a "buy in" by teachers in order for the change to happen, especially if it revolves around the classroom.

Reading #3 - Stuart et al. - Extending innovative leadership to better enable e-learning for better student outcomes in primary schools

This article in New Zealand Principal magazine focuses on the elements of the TLRI project. The principals associated with this project describe their role and how their schools benefitted from being involved in the project. The project was called 'Extending innovative leadership to enable e-learning for better student outcomes in primary school' and ran for two years. Principals involved partnered as co-researchers with the help of a team from the University of Canterbury. They looked at a case study of digital leadership at Tawa Intermediate and then went on make their own findings in their contexts. Initially data gathering and identifying projects was the main focus, but then it shifted to implementing these digital projects.

• Tawa Intermediate 
• Staff PD important to reinforce the process
• Student digital portfolio - school wide reporting document
• Some parents not so keen on the idea of digital portfolios - preferred face to face or emails from teachers 
• Belfast School 
• Looked at targeting underachieving students as well as supporting Maori learners 
• Devices needed to be supplied by the school
• Results showed that student engagement, achievement and behaviour all increased positively 
• Important to involve staff in the planning process to enable ownership 
• Levin Intermediate 
• Looked at trying to sync/make it easier for parents and students by coordinating digital technologies with other schools and the community 
• Collaboration with other schools and wider community was beneficial for all 
• Digital technology vision had to match/be similar to the community in order for it to be successful 
• Churton Park School 
• Didn't want teachers getting "bogged down" by ICT issues 
• BYOD implementation 
• Staff set ICT related goals 
• Relevant PD provided 
• Positive introduction of BYOD as the bigger picture had been looked at (e.g. digital citizenship, cyber safety etc). 

Reflection:

A lot of what these e-Learning leaders said were not only relevant but practical too. Whatever the change is there needs to be a benefit or reason for the change. As some leaders suggested, infrastructure and equal accessibility is very important. In my view, it cannot be compulsory for all students to have devices without something in place to cater to those who cannot afford their own device. Most schools have special funds available to those who cannot afford or access a device. 

Professional conversation with a school leader:

Note: Context of change is the implementation of BYOD in 2016

1. How do you approach leadership of e-learning?

• Collaborative approach
• Shared vision that all staff are aware of and have contributed to 

2. Why has the school decided to implement BYOD? Do you think this is important for our students?

• 1st reason = The world is changing and students need technology for their careers in the future. As a school we need to meet the 21st century needs of students.
• 2nd reason = Students were already brining devices to school so we need to look at supporting the pedagogical aspects to match this. 

3. Did the school consult outside parties/communities/parents etc prior to this decision being made?

• The school consulted teachers, parents, the board and students. 
• Outside community not consulted 

4. Did you need to consider aspects such as infrastructure prior to this? 

• Yes - we employed New Era IT to help us with supporting IT
• Invested in a fulltime IT technician to support staff & students
• Microsoft was chosen over Google as more free PD and products were offered to support teaching & learning 

5. What do you think are some of the benefits of BYOD? 

• Collaborative - not just stuck in the classroom 
• Learning is available 24/7 - anywhere, anytime 
• 21st century learning and skills 
• Change of communication 

6. Will BYOD support our priority learners (Maori, Pasifika, GATE, special needs)? 

• Will be beneficial for special needs students as technology can and does already support their learning (e.g. enlarged screens for vision impaired). 
• Will only support other priority learners if the teachers and the pedagogy are also suitable and relevant to them. ICT is just a tool and by itself it will not make a difference to these priority learners. Content and context still needs to be relevant and engaging, not just substituting ICT. 

7. Are you aware of any concerns based model of adoption such as CBAM?

• Not exactly but we did do a survey of teachers and parents to establish their feelings about BYOD
• Have discussed concerns with SLT and aim to address these concerns through PD and policy documents. Some of these concerns have already been addressed. 

8. How do you think the school can further support BYOD implementation?

• More PD for staff showing the range of things that cane be done using ICT
• Explain what BYOD is 
• Plan for the change this year 
• Collaborate and share new ideas and tools 

9. Many academics state that change is a process, rather than an event. How does this fit with the school and the implementation of BYOD?

• Yes, it is a process. It takes around seven years for change to be fully implemented. 
• Planning and reflection is essential and part of the change process 
• I like to think of our BYOD implementation as a journey 
• The BYOD programme will take a few years to reflect good pedagogy
• Change has to be for a reason and the benefits have to be shown/proved to the teachers in order for them to be willing to be part of the change 

My Observations: 

This member of the SLT was very open and transparent with all of the questions. A very friendly and useful conversation. After the interview we discussed the CBAM model and its potential to support and engage teachers in 2016 in regards to BYOD. 

Application of this interview data into Assignment 3: 

As recommended by Niki, I need to focus and elaborate more on the leadership aspect of BYOD implementation. I also want to look at how leaders in schools can support teachers and involve the school community in the change process. This reflects aspects of both of my chosen change models - CBAM and the 'Arena of Change'.
I also want to look at leadership around supporting "priority learners" with e-learning. Specifically looking at supporting Maori and Pasifika students, as I feel I was lacking in this area in Assignment 1 in EDEM630. I will look at MoE documents in this area, such as Ka Hikitia and the Pasifika Education Plan.

“The potential of new technologies to transform teaching and learning is heavily dependent on educators’ abilities to see the affordances and capacities of ICT in relation to the underpinning themes for learning for the 21st century. It is further dependent on schools having the infrastructure, inspiration, capability and opportunities for innovation to achieve these kinds of teaching and learning.” 

Bolstad R. & Gilbert J. et al, (2012)2

References:

Bolstad, R., Gilbert, J., McDowall, S., Bull, A., Boyd, S. & Hipkins, R. (2012). Supporting 
future-oriented learning and teaching - a New Zealand perspective. Report for the Ministry of Education. Wellington: Ministry of Education. 


Breakspear, S., Sheahan, P., Thurbon, D. (2008). Talent Magnets. Retrieved from http://www.simonbreakspear.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/Talent-Magnets.pdf 

Cardoza, Y. (2013). An exploration of teachers’ adoption of the bring your own technology program (Doctoral thesis, University of North Texas, Denton, TX). 

Davis, N., & Eickelmann, B. (2014). The restructuring of schooling with digital technology and implications for policy makers and practitioners. (Notes for American Educational Research Association (AERA) annual meeting, 3-8 Apr 2014). 

Fullan, M. (2015, April 15). Leading quality change. EDTalk for CORE. Retrieved from 
http://edtalks.org/video/leading-quality-change


Fullan, M., & Langworthy, M. (2014). A Rich Seam: How New Pedagogies Find Deep Learning. London: Pearson.


Jansen, C. (2012, March 5). Positive change processes. EDTalks. Christchurch, New Zealand.  Retrieved from http://edtalks.org/video/chris-jansen-positive-change-processes#.UKdFZJEaySM

Ministry of Education. (n.d.). Priority Learners. Retrieved from http://elearning.tki.org.nz/Ministry-initiatives/Priority-learners

Stuart, C. Henderson, B. Lye, A. Jeffries, T. Riccard, K. Simpson, P., Mackey, J. & Davis, N. E. (2015). Extending innovative leadership to better enable e-learning for better student outcomes in primary schools. New Zealand Principal, 10-12. Retrieved from http://nzprincipal.co.nz/view-the-magazine/#376/2015-term-1-march-issue 


Tanner Pascale, R. (n.d.). Change, Agility and Complexity Thinker. Management and Business Studies Portal. Retrieved from http://www.mbsportal.bl.uk/taster/subjareas/busmanhist/mgmtthinkers/pascale.aspx