mapping changes in primary schools: what are we doing and where are we going?∗
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Mapping Changes in PrimarySchools: What Are We Doingand Where Are We Going?Paul Clarke a & Tom Christie aa Centre For Formative Assessment Studies ,University of ManchesterPublished online: 09 Jul 2006.
To cite this article: Paul Clarke & Tom Christie (1997) Mapping Changes in PrimarySchools: What Are We Doing and Where Are We Going? , School Effectiveness andSchool Improvement: An International Journal of Research, Policy and Practice, 8:3,354-368, DOI: 10.1080/0924345970080304
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0924345970080304
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School Effectiveness and School Improvement 0924-3453/97/0803-0354$12.001997, Vol. 8, No. 3, pp. 354-368 © Swets & Zeitlinger
POLICY AND PRACTICE
Mapping Changes in Primary Schools: What Are WeDoing and Where Are We Going?*
Paul Clarke and Tom ChristieCentre For Formative Assessment Studies, University of Manchester
ABSTRACT
This paper describes a series of events observed in an English primary school over theperiod 1991-1994. The events are taken as typical examples of school response to anexternally1 imposed innovation, namely, the assessment of pupils against the progressivelearning scale in the national curriculum.2 The patterns of events occurring in the schoolare tabulated together with the responses of teaching staff to the change events. Thepurpose is to inform teacher understanding of the significance of some events in theschool's response to change. The claim is that focused reflective practice through refer-ence to change events and types of teacher response are an important contribution toteacher understanding of the meaning of their 'learning organization'. This practice heightensteachers' collective awareness of the foci for change within their organization and estab-lishes a vehicle for empowered teacher voice.
INTRODUCTION
The juxtaposition of 'internal' and 'external' change establishes 'dualagendas' (Ebel, 1985; Fullan, 1991) of professional and market account-ability (Troman, 1989). Simplistic as this classification may appear, it
1. The externally imposed event is defined here as one which was determined beyond theschool, i.e., a government policy initiative or an LEA directive.
2. Throughout this article the national curriculum which is being referred to is that ofEngland and Wales.
* This paper was first presented at the 8th International Congress for School Effectivenessand Improvement, Leeuwarden, the Netherlands.
Correspondence: Paul Clarke, Centre for Formative Assessment Studies, School of Edu-cation, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, UK. Tel.: +44 161 275 3495.Fax: +44 161 275 3552. E-mail: [email protected]
Manuscript submitted: January 3, 1995Accepted for publication: February 14, 1996
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CHANGES IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS 355
serves to differentiate as either internally or externally motivated thosetypes of change events which occur within a school (Louis, 1994). Thisdistinction provides a point of reference from which the meaning of achange event can be further defined. It is suggested that the clearer themeaning of an event, the more informed staff will be of the reasons whycertain actions occur, and whether improvement is real or illusory, lastingor transient.
Fullan (1991) predicts that collectively held teacher knowledge of theorigins of change events, internal or external, illuminate questions whichcloud the direction and appropriateness of change. A lack of teacherinvolvement in the direction and focus of change alienates staff and dis-empowers their voice. Lack of staff involvement in the direction andfocus of change has been evident in the first phase of national curriculumreform. Therefore, the development of methods which support teacherability to focus upon change events and their response to those events aresuggested as important objectives to sustain a critical discourse on realimprovement.
RESEARCH PROCEDURE
A series of longitudinal case studies have been gathered over the period1991-1994, one of which has been selected for discussion in this article.The process of data collection consisted of site-based discussion withstaff which focused upon the school responses to external reform, and thesubsequent internal school events.3 In sequence with this information onthe structural attempts at reform, typical staff responses to events weremonitored. These responses provided a simple qualitative 'feel' for theevents. The cumulative effect of data on systemic (Cuttance, 1994) events,and current perception of events from staff serve to provide a detail on theperformance and the development of the school (Cuttance, 1994).
The school that is featured in this article has twelve teaching staff, anda non-teaching headteacher. The school is organized around a senior man-agement team consisting of the headteacher, the deputy headteacher, andthree team leaders. Each team leader is responsible for a small team ofpeople who teach or work with teachers as classroom assistants in theearly years (3-5 years), infant (5-7 years), or junior (7-11 years) class-rooms.
3. Those events which are determined by school staff for internal improvement ende-vours.
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356 PAUL CLARKE AND TOM CHRISTIE
Identifying First-Order ChangeThe range of internal school events which have been observed as patternsof response to the external trigger event of national curriculum assess-ment reform are illustrated in Figure 1.
It is suggested that each of the event types, taking responsibility, act-ing on responsibility and reviewing the effect of action, raises possibili-ties for staff discussion on the meaning of the phases of events occurringin school. The event types are a way in which important structural chang-es can be encapsulated (Leithwood, 1994). They describe first-order changes,
Type One: Taking ResponsibilityExternal Stimulus: Release of school assessment data, monitored by LEA's follow-
ing School Examination and Assessment Council (SEAC) guide-lines.
Internal Events: Agreement trialModular PlanningCurriculum ReviewSoA in planningConsultation with staff
Type Two: Acting on ResponsibilityExternal Stimulus: Assessment development plan - 1991. An LEA initiative as part
of the School Development Planning requirements, initiated in1989/90 and requested of schools by the LEA as a referencepoint from which to plan change in school.
Internal Events: Teaching methodsTargeted curriculumStructured teaching groupsEmphasis on curriculum and planningParental involvementSharing criteria with children
Type Three: Reviewing the Effect of ActionExternal Stimulus: Endorsement - Initiated by SEAC in the School Assessment
Folder 1992 and monitored by LEA Audit-Moderation teams aspart of the validation of school assessment procedures for theschool year 1992/3.
Internal Events: Critical evaluationTime allocation to subjectsLocal/national curriculumBaseline assessment
Fig. 1. Types of first-order events taking place in school as a response to external stimulilinked to assessment reform. (Adapted from Clarke & Christie, 1995).
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CHANGES IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS 357
i.e., those which 'involve the rearrangements of parts of an existing sys-tem without disturbing the basic values or structures' (Cuttance, 1994).
Mapping Second-Order ChangeThere is mounting evidence that an almost exclusive focus upon first-order change by those responsible for 'implementation' of mandated re-quirements is associated with failure to institutionalize change after im-plementation (Fullan, 1993; Miles, 1993; Sarason, 1990). The need forattention to be placed upon second-order change is therefore 'essentialfor the survival of first-order change, otherwise the resulting incoherencebecomes unbearable' (Leithwood, 1994). The mapping of second-orderresponses to change explores whether it is possible to make such changesufficiently transparent to enable staff to enter into useful discussionabout it. To establish a form of second-order mapping we developed fivesimple response types from the practical question: 'What use will this befor me and my teaching?' The types of response illustrated range fromenthusiastically engaging with a change event, to a clear reaction to anevent because it appears to indicate no personal benefit to the individualteacher or teachers involved.
Reactive — 'This change is of no use to me'Change is often presented as a move towards 'best' practice. The reactiveteacher is unwilling to change. Reactive responses are those which presenta different view from that which is being presented by the change initiator(Hargreaves, 1994). When teachers express their concerns in relation toan event, they are often in an adverse power relationship to the initiator.As a result the reactive response is often seen by the change initiator as a'negative' view. We believe that the reactive type of response is impor-tant even if it is negative, because it can initiate a renewed considerationof the event from different viewpoints by change advocates.
Engaging - 'This might be of some use to me'This response explores the general 'feel' amongst staff for the event.'What do you think about it?' 'Do you think that we should...?' are thetypes of questions posed. Engaging responses appear to develop an un-dercurrent of staff attitudes to the event which determine whether theevent is likely to be successful.
Active — 'This is useful to me and I'll get involved'Active responses are typified by the practical questions such as 'Howmight we do this?' or 'Who will do this?'. Once an event is attempted
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358 PAUL CLARKE AND TOM CHRISTIE
successfully it often enables staff to rationalize the experience of theevent in order to present it more clearly to their more sceptical colleagues.
Reflective - 'How has this been of use to me'The reflective response promotes actions which have been based on someexperience, i.e., staff practice and feel, which can inform the wider pic-ture of change and complement the teachers' view. The reflective re-sponse establishes the discourse which can legitimize previous events.The outcome of the reflective response either legitimizes the approach toan event or criticises it and promotes a search for something more appro-priate.
Creative - 'Now we know what we can do, how can we develop it?'This response allows staff to use their collective awareness of the eventsto gain a greater control over the understanding of the process as well asthe outcomes or products of the event. This understanding is establishedthrough the knowledge gained through reflecting upon events and upontheir combined responses to those events.
Illustration of a three year mapA sequence of events and the staff responses to events are illustrated. Thecombination of event and response serves to illuminate the dynamic ofchange at each year point in the school. These data enable characteristicpatterns and styles of school response to be explored to inform the ques-tion of whether the school is learning as an organisation.
YEAR ONE: 1991-1992
The characteristics of the first year saw the senior management engagedin events which attempted to establish some control on the change. Theassessment development plan was an attempt by senior management toimplement practices which would establish a consistency of teacher judge-ment against the ten level scale of the national curriculum. The curricu-lum review attempted to monitor what was being taught, senior staffrequested planning forecasts from the teaching staff, although there wasno formal dialogue at this point to the purpose of the exercise.
Overview 1991-1992This year saw senior management cautiously trying to establish 'control'and 'monitoring' practices which would underpin the practical strategies
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Table 1. Events and Responses, Year One.
Time Order Event Type Internal/External Staff Response
Spring 1991
Summer 1991
Autumn 1991
1
2
34
Assessment development plan
Curriculum review
Agreement trialSoA in planning
External
Internal
InternalInternal
SM
SM
SMSM
Engaging
Engaging
EngagingEngaging n
otnin
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2>so
on
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l * >
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360 PAUL CLARKE AND TOM CHRISTIE
i
100%
90%
80% -j
70%
60%
50%
40% .
30% -
20%
10%
0%
Reactive Engaging Active
response type
Fig. 2. Staff response frequency in year one.
Reflective Creative
they wished to introduce to staff. The informal discussions with staff didnot become official discussions on policy, instead they retained a probingquality establishing a picture of what staff felt about the proposed chang-
es.
YEAR TWO: 1992-1993
During year two senior management and the staff become interwoven inthe change effort. The coming together centred around the analysis ofdata resulting from the Key Stage One assessment results.4 This provideda forum for senior management to consider the problems associated withcurriculum achievement and the optimization of performance of learners.This consideration led to a curriculum restructure where the senior man-agement planned curriculum modules of study and piloted the attempt inthe classes they taught. The outcomes of these activities were reported tostaff in response to their question of how to improve results. Staff re-sponse was a mixture of uncertainty and reaction. Senior managementused the restructure to clarify the concerns which staff expressed, somepractical solutions to the problems such as baseline assessments, agree-ment trials, and a full-scale curriculum review were proposed.
This was a turbulent year, and for some time the teachers did not feelthat the events were of any benefit. However, some of the teachers used
4. The outcome data arising from tests and tasks performed by seven year old children.
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Table 2. Events and Responses, Year Two.
Time Order Event Type Internal/External staff Response
Spring 1992
Summer 1992
Autumn 1992
56789
10
111213141516
Interpretation of dataModular planningTargeted curriculumConsultation with staffAssessment development plan
Curriculum planning
Baseline assessmentAgreement trialInterpretation of dataCurriculum reviewAgreement trialSoA in planning
11212
2
3
ExternalInternalInternalInternalExternal
Internal
InternalInternalExternalInternalInternalInternal
SMSMSMWSSM
SM
SMSMWSWSWSWS
ReactiveEngagingEngagingReactiveActive
Active
ActiveActiveEngagingEngagingReactiveEngaging
CH
AN
GE
S IN P
RIM
AR
Y S
CH
OO
LS
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U)ON
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362 PAUL CLARKE AND TOM CHRISTIE
Reactive Engaging Active Reflective Creative
type of response
Fig. 3. Staff response frequency in year two.
the style of the standard tasks to focus their planning. Other staff lookedat this strategy and recognised that it served a practical purpose. Thisform of curriculum planning was subsequently adopted across school as away of achieving common ground for assessment of pupil performance.
Overview 1992-1993The second year built upon some of the strategies discussed by seniorstaff during the first year. Staff concern moved from strategic control andmonitoring, the main concern of senior management, to teaching andlearning, where the practicalities of the learner achievement was the keyfeature for teaching staff.
YEAR THREE: 1993-1994
This year is characterised by the distribution of responsibility away fromsenior management to the staff as a whole. Senior management initiated areflective role asking 'What worked and why?'. The events in which staffwere involved were met with increasing confidence. Events continued tobe curriculum focused, with review and evaluation being a notable intro-duction often involving all staff. Some events were of an exploratorynature, built upon prior practice and asking developmental questions suchas 'Now we know what we can do, what else can we do with it?' (e.g.,modular planning which built upon the previous planning efforts). A
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Table 3. Events and Responses, Year Three.
Time Order Event Type Internal/External Staff Response
Spring 1993 17 Endorsement 1 External SM Active18 Teaching methods 2 Internal SM Active19 Modular planning 1 Internal WS Active20 Agreement trial 1 Internal WS Active21 Sharing criteria with children 2 Internal WS Active22 Parental involvement 2 Internal WS Active
nSummer 1993 23 Critical evaluation 3 Internal W S Reflective ^
24 Agreement trial 1 Internal W S Creative g25 Time allocation to subjects 3 Internal WS Creative ^
ZAutumn 1993 26 Interpretation of data 1 External SM Reflective to
27 Modular planning 1 Internal W S Creative 228 Agreement trial 1 Internal WS Creative TO29 Curriculum review 1 Internal W S Reflective ^
noo
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364 PAUL CLARKE AND TOM CHRISTIE
50%
45%
40%
35%
S1 30%
§ 25%j [ 20%
15%
10%
5%
0%Reactive Engaging Active Reflective Creative
response type
Fig. 4. Staff response frequency in year three.
sustained feature of work was the agreement trial, which continued toimprove teacher assessment (Clarke & Christie, 1996) providing a forumfor teaching and learning styles to be discussed and developed.
Overview 1993-1994The third year built upon successes which were noticed through the out-comes of the curriculum review. The confidence of the staff was evidentin their ability to recognise and to shape the direction of the events. Thesignificant increase of internal events was an example of this new foundconfidence in the collective ability of staff.
NATURE OF CHANGE: SUBSTANTIVE OR TRANSIENT?
One could suggest that the school 'learnt' to 'enculture' (Hargreaves,1994) practices which assisted the staff to have a greater feel for itsdirection of the change. The questions which need to be considered con-cern the nature of that enculturing. Are the changes substantive, reallyeffecting school culture, or, do they remain at the structural first-orderlevel? This raises the issue of whether it is necessary to be conscious ofchange in order to effect school culture, or does the evidence in thisarticle illustrate a school staff in the process of transition, journeyingtowards a more conscious form of performance? In response to theseissues, factors which enhance the performance of the staff have beenidentified and discussed in school as a deliberate intervention discourse.
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CHANGES IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS 365
We believe that staff analysis of these factors can clarify the dynamics ofchange within the school, and lead to enhanced awareness of school per-formance.
Performance Enhancing FactorsFactors which would seem to have had an effect on this school's perform-ance are: (1) a recognition by senior staff that they had to risk the involve-ment of staff in the change rather than attempt to control by deterministicmanagement.5 Involvement of staff in the change was risky because itmeant that change events would not be implemented as quickly, or at all;(2) to have opportunities to discuss the events, formally, and informallyin school and with external consultants; (3) frequent validation of staffresponse that was listened to and accepted as a true reflection on thecurrent value of the event by senior management; (4) removal of thepressure of implementing a change according to a time schedule. Thetime pressure inhibits cultural change because it belittles the value of theteacher's voice and it enhances the adoption of intelligent (Hage & Pow-ers, 1992) management of events rather than promoting creative approachesto them; (5) agreement that a failing event can be stopped. This is prob-lematic because of the internal/external agenda and the power and author-ity of decision making in the school, but it was seen as vital as a factordemonstrating that teachers had a real voice in the change that was occur-ing; (6) the curriculum and the enhancement of pupils' learning wereparamount. Teachers were more responsive when the effect of the changecould link back to the classroom; and (7) there was a sustained effort toprovide meeting time which considered the process of learning, ratherthan continually focus upon administrative duties.
DISCUSSION
The adoption of first-order changes by schools, initiated externally orinternally in response to the national curriculum and their collective abil-ity to determine the 'feel' for second-order change will demand methodsthrough which teachers can identify points of stability within increasing-ly complex changes. They will also need to respond to the informationthey gather in 'school relevant' ways. The development of diagnostictools for future understanding of the changes which are being attempted
5. Cuttance (1994) describes this phenomena as an internal/external territorial war, in thecase study the phenomena of the 'politics of control' is observed within a school.
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Intelligent paradigm Creative paradigm
Mindset of managed change Mindset of change as chaosFirst-order dominated First and second-orderChange as delivery ReflectiveImplementation defined Process definedVisionary VoiceChange as simplification of self Change as complexification of selfIsolationist and individually accountable Collaborative and collectively responsible
Fig. 5. From intelligent to creative paradigms.
by school staff are becoming more and not less important after the exter-nal process of rationalization6 impacts upon the internal requirement todeliver. This implies that the phenomena of change needs to be seen as acomplex issue, and prompting creative rather than controlling mindsets(Figure 5).
The intelligent paradigm is characterised by the mindset of 'managed'change where change is perceived as a set of deliverables, controlledthrough an implementation schedule. It is predetermined, and it demandsvisionary exemplification so that people know where it is going and whodoes what in order to get there. When presented to the recipients ofchange, it is necessary to suggest that the change will make life that littlebit simpler once the change has been introduced. To ensure that everyoneagrees to this view, individual accountability is demanded, atomizing theorganization.
In contrast, the notion of change as a creative paradigm where allchange is seen as non-linear and initially chaotic, enables all those peopleinvolved in the change to search for suitable ways to respond and toensure that they are heard. This approach assumes a reflective elementwhich serves individual and organizational needs. The change is seen asevidence of a complex picture with many layers of impact upon the or-ganisation requiring continual refinement and discussion amongst thosewhom it affects.
Establishing a belief that school can make a difference and that the'culture' of a school lies within the control of those who participate (Nias,Southworth, & Yeomans, 1989) are notable points in empowering practi-tioners with the language and strategies with which to engage with theiraction. For schools simply to leave to chance or ignore the second-orderaspect of change because it is unpredictable and complex (and therefore
6. The national curriculum was recently reviewed and 'slimmed down'by the SchoolCurriculum and Assessment Authority.
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