http://www.senteacher.org

This site, SEN Teacher, has been going for a number of years now and I am surprised it is not more popular than it is. The resources here are excellent and free. In my teaching days, I used to use the letter fans and number lines, which could be customorised and printed off. Now there are many more resources for the teacher to use.

The site says it is for SEN teachers but believe you me, almost any primary teacher could make use of the resources in their teaching.

So the site is well worth a look if you are a primary or special needs teacher in need of quick simple tools or worksheets for use in the class.

http://www.senteacher.org

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Why is Change Management necessary in education?

We find ourselves in a time when the organisations and institutions in which we work are changing dramatically in terms of their structure, their strategies, their systems and, not least, their expectations of their staff. The rate of change and discovery often outpaces our individual ability to keep up with it. These statements I have paraphrased from the book ‘Making Sense of Change Management: ’ by Cameron and Green, as they seem to ring true in our schools, especially those involved in capital build projects such as BSF or PCP.

What is Change Management?

Change Management seems to cover a wide brief; you may come across it in business or commerce where a new system or way of working is being proposed or implemented, you may come across it in project management where a change or amendment is being considered within the project, and you may come across it in coaching or counselling where individuals or teams are being better prepared to cope a change and its effects.

For me, effective change management in schools should have elements from all three of these examples, with an emphasis upon the third example. I like to see the emphasis upon the third example, where individuals or teams are being better prepared for the change and its effects, because in schools we are principally concerned with the outcomes of our teaching and learning, for which we rely upon our staff and our learners.

CPD and Change Management

Sometimes we see Change Management combined with CPD or training and there is little doubt that elements of training are important in successful change management. Change Management, though, requires more than just one day’s INSET or time in staff meetings to be effective. Change Management needs to be planned, it needs to be ongoing and it needs to be geared to the levels of the individual or teams affected. It requires time and finance, two things we are often short of in schools especially with all the other ongoing demands on resources. Additionally, effective change management needs to be able to respond in ‘emergencies’ where an individual is having difficulty coping with new ideas, aproaches, systems or just the thought or prospect of their introduction or, indeed, where a particular new system is misfunctioning or having unforseen adverse effects.

Change Management and Financial Control

Effective change management may also have an effect upon finacial controls or budgetting. I daresay we can all think of a project, an initiative or piece of equipment which has been introduced at great expense but which has subsequently failed to live up to expectations or lain idle or rarely been used to its full potential. Such situations will often give rise to thoughts, or even accusations, of money and time having been wasted. My thinking here is that where a new project or initiative is combined with a process of change management, then the potential benefits of the project are more likely to be realised and there would be a lower likelihood of accusations of misspent money.

Let’s not go overboard here. I am not saying that we need a full blown Change management implementation every time a school acquires an additional piece of equipment, especially where that piece of equipment is just an augmentation of what already exists. However, where a complete new system or a new way of working is being considered, then I believe that change management should be implemented to ensure its effective introduction and subsequent use.

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I hate going to the opticians. I hate it not just because it can be expensive and not just because I don’t like being told my eyesight is not as good as it used to be. I hate it because I do not like the current fashion in spectacles. To me, this current ‘retro’ look with thick frames and solid, heavy look arms is very reminiscent of the spectacles we used to have in the 1960s.  I guess that’s why it’s called ‘retro’. Okay, I know the spectacles we buy nowadays are not the same as those in the 1960s, they’ve employed newer technology to make the lenses thinner and the frames lighter, technology has also created lenses with varifocal correction rather than just single vision correction of the past.

 The trouble is that during the first 9 years of the 21st Century, ‘retro’ seems to be everywhere; it’s as if we are having trouble facing the modern 21st century world. Take my wife’s car for example, I recently bought her a new Fiat 500 which is designed to look much like the Fiat 500 of the 1960s but which uses modern technology to make the ride safer and more comfortable.

Then there’s my neighbour’s wife’s car, which is a BMW mini. This again is designed to mimic the looks of the classic 1960s mini but which uses modern technology to create a car that is more pleasant and safer to drive.

So what does all this tell you, apart from the fact that my neighnour appears to earn more money than I do? Well it tells us that the ‘retro’ style is very much in vogue at the start of the 21st century. This is possibly because we are uncomforatble with the modern 21st century image or that no one is quite sure what the 21st century image should be.

The trouble is that ‘teaching’ can also have a retro look about it which is reminiscent of the 1960s whith the teacher at the front dictating to rows of desks with the top pupils at the front or to groups of tables with the best pupils having best view of the teacher.  As with cars and spectacles, this form of teaching nowadays also makes use of modern technology, it has a couple of computers on the side and a whiteboard with projector at the front. The trouble is, it is still an outdated style of teaching despite its use of technology.

We have to ask, though, why this style of teaching is still evident today? Is it just that this is what teachers are comfortable with, is it that this was the way teachers were (are?) being trained to teach? Or is it that nobody is really sure what 21st century teaching should be like?

To me, this is the real challenge. When we talk about Next Generation Learning or transforming learning or personalised learning, nobody has yet given a clear image of what this sort of learning should be like. This has led to confusion, bemusement and some opposition among teachers and educationalists. Those of us involved in technology and education need to present a clearer picture of what modern learning is to be like and how technology can support this.

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