In this week’s module, we are learning about change and outcomes. Change is inevitable in education as we try to keep pace with the world that our learners exist in outside the classroom walls. Technology is a huge driver of change, particularly recent developments with generative artificial intelligence. Change can be innovative and exciting, but it can also be challenging and demanding of already time-poor education and library staff in schools (Emerson, 2025). For our blog post this week, we have been asked to consider one major change we have experienced at school, and consider how this change was facilitated by leadership, staff reactions and change outcomes.
A few years ago when I was working as a high school English teacher, we were asked by leadership to overhaul all of our curriculum documentation ahead of auditing. We were told, via our Department Heads, that we would need to update every term planner to a Understanding by Design template and store the files in clearly labelled, shared drives. Leadership used a distributed leadership approach, offering consultative ‘drop-in’ sessions with two leading teachers, and released some video content of the steps required. We were also given deadlines to work towards.
Many of the staff could see the purpose for the changes, but the amount of work it would take to update all of the documentation within a 9-week term (with the usual assessment and reporting schedules) felt immense. Many staff advocated for time release to get this project completed, particularly if they worked across multiple subject areas and teams, or were sole practitioners teaching VCE subjects.
In the end, we passed the audit and all of the curriculum documentation was updated and accounted for. It was helpful to have leadership guidance through this process, and deadlines in place to motivate our efforts. I think that staff need as much notice as possible ahead of change, and offering support throughout the process goes a long way.
Reference List
Emerson, M. S. (2025, February 24). Seven reasons why change managements strategies fail and how to avoid them. Harvard University Division of Continuing Education. https://professional.dce.harvard.edu/blog/7-reasons-why-change-management-strategies-fail-and-how-to-avoid-them
Image Source: Photo by Peggy Sue Zinn on Unsplash
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