ARE TEACHERS READY FOR CHANGE?
Teaching and Learning pedagogy is in a constant state of flux and development. This has accelerated in recent years with the rapid advancement of digital technologies and the need to use these to engage learners on their own terms, and in a way that prepares them for the modern working environment. The increasingly fractured educational landscape: different delivery models; and the changing demography of learner groups with diverse needs, also necessitates constant reflection and development of teaching practice. But are teachers ready to face the challenges raised by these changes? This was a question posed at the ERASMUS+ project ‘New Skills for VET Teachers’ in March 2020 in Lahti, Finland. The response from partner organisations from Finland, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Netherlands was unanimous and unambiguous; best summarised as, “not all of them.” Even in organisations where staff are unanimously supportive of change, the rate of that change can still be divisive. The real question, therefore, is how educational organisations can support and encourage change in their workforces.
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Barriers to Change
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A number of barriers to embracing change were identified at the Lahti workshop: ageing workforces; the sheer rate of technological advance; and a perceived lack of time or opportunity to develop new skills key among them. To create a culture that embraces change and professional development it is necessary to both remove barriers and promote the value of change.
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The latter point is not always easy to address. There is often resistance to developing pedagogical or technological practice based on the argument, “my way has always worked in the past; what makes it wrong now?” This may be particularly prevalent in practical subjects, for example, workshop-based or trades. The way we build walls has not changed, so why should the way we show students how to build them change? There are, however, viable answers to such questions. For example, even in a practical context, practice around assessment can still evolve. Digital technologies can make the submission, grading, return, storage and quality assurance of assessment quicker, easier and more accessible. The benefits to students and teacher are clear, and this in turn may help promote the benefits of developments in practice.
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In an article for xanedu.com, Cortney Peters1 cites the inability to see the relevance; fear of change; the perceived punitive nature of some staff development; and intrusion on staff time among nine key reasons why employees resist professional development training. The ability for teachers to see the benefits both to learners and to themselves can help remove these barriers.
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Proving the Case for Change
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For a meaningful process of change to occur, organisations should prove the case for that change. Learner feedback can play a key role here. If qualitative or quantitative learner feedback suggests that students want or need, for example, audio-visual learning and teaching materials, it is difficult for teachers to deny this need. The voice of the learner is often seen as more relevant than that of the manager. Of course, the organisation must fulfil its role in providing the digital platforms and staff training to empower teachers to meet this need. The technological infrastructures provided by the organisation must be fit for purpose and accessible in order to further remove barriers to staff development.
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Motivation: Recognition, Choice & Wellbeing
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With the removal of barriers comes the removal of excuses, but perhaps the other factor in encouraging staff to embrace development is recognition. Most human beings benefit from being recognised for their achievements. In the context of staff development this recognition could be informal, such as feedback from a line manager or acknowledgement of accomplishments through an annual review or appraisal process, or could be a more formal system such as awarding Open Badges to identify competences and acknowledge achievement.
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Any staff development process also needs to be implemented with due attention to staff wellbeing. Change in working life is often cited as a key source of stress and anxiety, so organisations must meet their duty of care to their employees and ensure that support for mental wellbeing is in place and effective at times of change. Staff development strategies and wellbeing strategies should simultaneously and be cross-referenced, where appropriate. It may also be worth considering the rate of change: where organisations attempt to change working practices at a pace that causes stress and anxiety to the workforce, the end results may be counterproductive. The National Health Service in the UK reports that 602,000 British workers suffer from work-related stress, with 8% citing organisational change as the main source. 44% cite workload as the key stress driver, which also has obvious implications for planned staff development, given that lack of time is often cited as a major barrier to engagement.8
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Individual choice and personalisation are a growing part of curriculum design across Europe. Learners are invited to be co-authors of their own learning experience with increasing input from their employers, where relevant. If this is best practice, then it should also be considered when designing staff development programmes. Resistance to development often comes from a generic ‘one size fits all’ approach, which does not suit a body of teachers working across diverse vocational areas. Whereas it is necessary that staff development must support the operational goals of the organisation (for example creating a digital skills ‘baseline’ to support modern pedagogy), an element of individual choice may help persuade teachers to engage meaningfully. In this respect, an entirely top-down approach to professional development is probably unhelpful.
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Early Adopters: A Force for Change
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There are, of course, many teachers who are keen to embrace change and will pro-actively seek to develop their own skills and methodology. These ‘early adopters’ are perhaps the most powerful tool an organisation has to develop practice throughout the workforce. Where teachers themselves lead staff workshops, using concrete examples from their own practice, and illustrate how embracing change has benefited them and their learners, the impact is greater. Not only does peer sharing minimise the perception of a top-down and didactic approach to staff development but such an approach also avoids the abstract and allows practical examples of how teachers might adopt new methods or technologies into their own work. Real experiences are more powerful than hypothetical explanations.
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Early adopters may also be used as ‘champions’ in a cascade model, whereby they receive formal or external training provided to them by the organisation and its partners, and disseminate it themselves to the broader staff body, retaining all the advantages stated in the paragraph above.
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Perhaps the natural extension of this is peer review or mentoring. Many educational centres operate or are moving toward such a model. Classroom observations by peers rather than managers can encourage an open, honest and supportive sharing of methodology and good practice that may not be present in a review process that is perceived as hierarchical, evaluative or even potentially punitive.
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Certainly, early adopters will be vital in any process of professional development or culture change. Simon Sinek refers to this while outlining what he calls the Law of Diffusion of Innovation in his TED talk on inspiring leadership3. Sinek believes the bulk of a population are loathed to try something new until someone else has tried it first – early adopters fulfil this need and encourage the larger population to follow suit. Similarly, ‘design thinking’ suggests engaging with your ‘extreme users’, early adopters on one side and those resistant to change or training on the other. Consultation with both ‘sides’ will identify any issues or barriers to change, which can be resolved, and both groups are more likely to embrace change. With the extreme users on board, the ‘middle ground’ could then follow suit more quickly.
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So, are teachers ready for the change?
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In most educational organisations, there are early adopters, late adopters, refusers, those who want to change but don’t know how, and a large middle ground who will embrace change when others have done, when they understand the need for it, or when it becomes inevitable or unavoidable. Putting a recognition of the barriers for change, what motivates people to change, and how to maximise the positive influence of those who are ready to change, at the heart of an Organisational Development strategy may help bring this change about quicker and more meaningfully.
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References:
1. http://blog.xanedu.com/blog/9-reasons-your-employees-are-resisting-your-training
3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVXuN2drSpg
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John Clarke/ John Gallagher
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