Why is educational change so difficult and how can we make it more effective?

Abstract

One main issue in educational research and policy is educational change. Educational authorities, scholars and teachers working with educational change should ask themselves why educational change is necessary, reflect on its challenges and find ways to make change more effective. This theoretical article explores educational change by starting with the most essential questions, asking what educational change is and why it is necessary. By taking a look at the history of educational change and the processes involved when conducting educational change, grounded in empirical examples from large-scale studies and curriculum development in the Nordic context and educational assessment in England and Scotland, this article contributes to shedding light on the complexities of educational change policies and schoolbased research projects. The article concludes with various factors that have proved to be effective in the field of educational change.

The views and experiences of Grade 10 Life Scinces teachers on the compulsory practical examination

“…Thus, knowing teachers' views and experiences about the mandatory practical examination is crucial, as they are the ones who must implement the gazetted curriculum change. Regarding the abovementioned point, Burner (2018) emphasises that any educational change depends on teachers' views and experiences as these views and experiences reflect their pedagogic approaches and choices of materials, content and learner activities. It is also worth noting that in South Africa, studies have been conducted on the compulsory practical work that Physical Sciences teachers have to undertake since the introduction of CAPS (Gudyanga & Jita, 2019), however there is a paucity of research on the mandatory practical examination in Life Sciences.…”

Turkish Adaptation of Change Fatigue Scale: A Study of Reliability and Validity

“…Moreover, because of changing paradigms in technology and knowledge it can be anticipated that educational systems, schools, teachers, students and teaching methods will go on changing at a high speed which means some risks for educational systems (Genç & Eryaman, 2007). Aiming at school improvement (Burner, 2018), educational change may also result in fatigue when it is perceived as too frequent (Jeffrey, 2015;Kirk & Wall, 2010;Leuschke, 2017;Lyle et al 2014;Nunnelly, 2016). Reeves (2010) states that educational administrators with limited time, money and energy are required to implement increasing number of changes.…”

Fra individuel læring og simpel problemløsning til professionel læring i lærerkollektivet

“…Desvaerre kender vi skoleudvikling som en vanskelig størrelse, hvor organisationerne ofte ikke at opnår en vedvarende og ønsket effekt (Burner, 2018). Empiriske storskalastudier peger på, at skoleudvikling vil kunne gennemføres med større succes, hvis indsatsen "raekker ud over klassevaerelset" (Hayward, 2010) og netop involverer dobbelt loop laering og forandringer i de grundlaeggende antagelser, der er styrende for vores handlinger (Fullan, 2007)…”