Change Drivers

There have been a few key words and phrases that have certainly enabled and influenced the change to happen in our organisation. Two important words have been EMBED and ABANDON. Before any change can be implemented something needs to go (be abandoned) to allow the space for the change. Change after change continues to be rolled out and added to the already complex load of a classroom practitioner. We have learnt that change can be adopted more readily and at a faster pace if time and thought is put into what is being abandoned. What practices are redundant? What do we do just because we have always done it like that? What practice has a positive impact on student achievement? Does collecting loads of assessment data actually inform students next learning steps? To make room for the change to happen we started by critiquing the current assessment practise. We questioned why each piece of evidence was collected. Our 20 page assessment profile on each student fine tuned to 4 pages. These decisions created time for the intentional teaching of Life Long Learning competencies to happen.
Other key change drivers that have certainly aided the change process would include
Creating a shared language – building on a common language
Alignment – synthesising trends and information to create simple models
Split screen – helping to keep process/competencies and content knowledge in balance through a split screen approach
Less is more –giving permission to slow the process down
Going deep – taking the learning from surface to deep and then profound levels
Developmental progressions – providing scaffolds for learners so they can talk about how they are going, where they are going and what their next learning step is.
Using Metaphors and Images