Introduction
According to Wagner, there are five basic principles that guide the implementation of changes in the education sector. These principles are contained in what is referred to as “the five habits of the mind that count”. These principles areas outlined in the following five steps. The first step in change implementation involves the understanding of the problem which needs to be solved and the existing stumbling blocks to the learning process (Wagner, 2004).
After understanding the problem, there is a need of understanding the measures which are in place to address the problem and how appropriate are the measures in addressing the problem, and why those particular measures and not others. In other words, there is a need to identify the theory or plan of action (Wagner, 2008).
Main body
What should follow is an understanding of who should know what in order to make the strategy more effective. There is a need to know for example what the teachers, parents, and the students should know in the change strategy and what role they should play in the proposed change. There is also the need to know who should be held accountable for what and what measures should be taken to make those involved to become more effective. Finally, there is a need to come up with indicators for monitoring the progress of the proposed change. The indicators should be able to point out the changes both in the short term and long term and should be in form of observable behaviors or outcomes.
My insight on how educators can lead change through communities of practice is that they should focus on several aspects of learning such as teaching, role-plays, and collaboration between various stakeholders in the education sector such as parents, teachers, students, and the community at large. There is also the need to involve all the stakeholders in the change process.
Imperial Tobacco is one of the organizations which support the notion of collaboration in impacting change. In 2007, the organization through the collaboration of the employees and the remuneration committee had its Chairman Pierre Jungels replaced by Michael Herlihy, who had been a member of the remuneration, audit, and nomination committees since 2007.
One way in which collaboration can help an organization to implement change is by having teamwork which enables the team members to learn from each other about the change and how to overcome any challenges which the change might bring.
Human beings are always comfortable with what they know than what is new or strange to them. Due to this fact, they always form what is known as comfort zones. It is this formation of comfort zones that make them resist organizational change. Resistance to organizational change manifests itself mainly in three levels namely level one, level two, and level three
The difference between a strategy and an action is that a strategy is comprised of several actions that are related to each other. An example of “a school that works” is the John Stanford International School. The school’s strategies for change include having professional learning communities, training teachers as leaders, and having networks of teachers for collaboration purposes.
Conclusion
One action which corresponds to the school’s strategy is the creation of awareness about the importance of having learning communities comprising all the stakeholders in the education sector. Another action is the mobilization of the stakeholders to hold regular meetings where they would develop a plan of action that would take into consideration the views of all the stakeholders involved.
References
Wagner, T. (2004). The Challenge of Change Leadership: Transforming Education through ‘Communities of Practice’. Change Leadership: Transforming Education for the 21st Century. Web.
Wagner, T. (2008). Leading for Change: Five Habits of Mind that Count. Change Leadership: Transforming Education for the 21st Century. Web.
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