Conceptualising School Change

Teachers' Self-evaluation of Knowledge, Skills and Personality Characteristics Needed to Manage Change

“…Cummings (1997) identi es 'lack of appropriate knowledge' (p. 218) as one of the limitations of the modern management of change, whilst Reed et al (1997) report that most of the comments from their teachers, re ecting on what they had learned from their action research projects leading to change, focused on 'personal growth in professional knowledge' (p. 127). Levin and Riffel (1998) put forward the view that educational changes are not only related to appropriate knowledge, but that such changes actually depend on changes in the knowledge base of teachers (p. 122). The effects of a lack of change-related knowledge were seen in the responses of the teachers in Churchill et al's (1997) study, whose comments showed that 'Much of the initial concern … was, therefore, fear of the unknown [emphasis added]' (pp.…”

Resilience in Children, Adolescents, and Adults

“…Models of RtI vary in speci fi cs such as the number of tiers of service intensity envisioned and the labels attached (Fuchs et al, 2003 ;Marston, Muyskens, Lau, & E. Collaboration is required. Both implementers and educational theorists note that sustainability issues, such as treatment fi delity, require attention and commitment to the larger social environment and in particular the human capital (Levin & Riffel, 1998 ;Turner & Sanders, 2006 ) . There must be wide-scale buy in by the key players in an organization for programs to be sustained (teachers, parents, administrators, and government authorities).…”

“…from broader fi elds, theories of change past efforts and the change agent's role in the process"(p. 855). Levin & Riffel ( 1998 ) point out that while change is complex and attempts at rationality are subject to limitations of human capacity and action an optimistic perspective comes from choosing to focus on the ability of people when motivated and supported to fi nd ways of being in the world that are more conducive to "creating and sustaining the kind of schools, and the kind of society, that most of us want." (p. 125).…”

What is Educational Administration, Anyway?

“…These are only some of the more specific changes. The theorists of social change have thought even more broadly about alterations in our society (as discussed in Hargreaves, 1994;Levin & Riffel, 1998). If we are going through fundamental social transformations, then surely the implications for schools are even greater, and we may need to have substantially new frames of reference on what we do.…”