Reculturing Schools for Greater Impact: Using Appreciative Inquiry as a Non-Coercive Change Process

Abstract

The benefits of a collaborative school culture include reduced teacher isolation, social and emotional support, opportunities for professional development and learning, and closer ties with significant stakeholders, such as families and community organizations. While collaborative cultures may be powerful, they also may be either misguided or superficial. Further, cultural change is difficult and norms such as teacher isolation and autonomy are well entrenched. These concerns point to the need for a change process that has a positive focus, is essentially self-organizing, encourages deep reflection, and avoids the pitfalls of manipulation by school administrators. This analysis points to consideration of appreciative inquiry, a strengths-based process that builds on 'the best of what is' in an organization. This paper presents research on the impact an appreciative inquiry process had on building a collaborative culture in 22 schools located in British Columbia, Canada.

Case study of a school wellbeing initiative: Using appreciative inquiry to support positive change

“…This inclusive approach served to promote new connections and relationships across the school. Dickerson and Helm-Stevens (2011) argue that top-down change efforts in schools are often unsuccessful because they "bump up against a school culture…of privacy and autonomy" (p. 67). In contrast, AI creates shifts in the social groupings that break down the silo mentality.…”

“…In complement to the ideas above, many prominent writers in the field of school culture suggest that staff agency is a necessary condition for creating school change (Elmore, 2000;Fullan, 2001;Heck & Hallinger, 2009). Finally, a growing number of researchers are also calling for the application of appreciative-based techniques to create cultural change in schools (Calabrese, Hester, Friesen, & Burkhalter, 2010;Dickerson & Helm-Stevens, 2011;Doveston & Keenaghan, 2006;Willoughby & Tosey, 2007). Hoy and Tarter (2011) argue that strengths-based approaches offer important new ways to assist schools to build administrative structures, processes, policies, and practices that enable a positive institution.…”

Evidence-Based Approaches in Positive Education

“…Doveston and Keenaghan (2006), Schiller (2003), and argue that AI is useful for many of the contemporary challenges in educational administration, including school improvement, capacity-building and distributed leadership. In 2004, Lehner and Ruona found very limited use of AI in educational settings; however, more recent research suggests that it is gaining acceptance as a change method in schools (Doveston and Keenaghan 2006;Dickerson and Helm-Stevens 2011).…”

“…In addition to identifying the positive core of an organization, research has shown that the AI technique is an uplifting experience for participants, who show increased enthusiasm and morale, and reduced employee isolation (Cooperrider and Whitney 2005;Dickerson and Helm-Stevens 2011). This experience has been shown to contribute to positive affect at work (Fisher 2010;Thoreson et al 2003).…”

Enhancing Community-Based Participatory Research Partnerships Through Appreciative Inquiry

“…It has also been used in partnerships to build collaborative capacity. 19 However, no references could be found regarding the use of AI to improve relationships in challenging CBPR partnerships. The aim of this article is to describe how this evaluation method contributed to the strengthening and empowerment of ongoing and future community–university relationships in CBPR collaborations.…”