Case for change
This first section in this Guide puts a case for a change in traditional thinking and working in schools. In today’s fast changing world, education needs thinking that is creative and critical. It needs problem-solving and decision-making, all to prepare students to be lifelong learners and enterprising citizens. Traditional models of schooling and conventional approaches to teaching and classroom organisation are inadequate for delivering 21st century learning agendas, especially for the most disadvantaged students (Schleicher, 2012). Quick fix attempts at school improvement have little to offer complex change processes in schools.
Achieving the best outcomes for students is a core objective of every school and school system. The outcomes that schools seek are not only academic. Students’ interests, motivation and well-being help shaping their learning (Dumont, Istance, & Benavides, 2010). Hargreaves said learning is the most important resource for organisational renewal in the postmodern age (Hargreaves, 1994). Learning in the 21st century is different from learning in the 20th century. Many schools are looking for alternative approaches to the narrowed curriculum, results-driven teaching and reform initiatives, to school-wide changes that focus valuable attention on the positive factors which promote the learning and development of students. A convincing body of evidence exists for reframing schools as “learning organisations” (Doherty, 2018; Doherty, 2020; Harris & Jones, 2018; Kools & Stoll 2016; Seashore & Lee, 2016; Welsh Government, 2017). A school that is a learning organisation deals better with the changing external environment, facilitates change and innovation, induces improvements in the human resource outcomes of school staff and enhances student learning. In this strategy, schools function as a learning organisations in order to continue to improve performance and build capacity to manage change. This Guide offers a new view, one in which schools are seen as dynamic and enterprising, learning and learner-focussed, able to meet the demands of the 21st century.
References
Doherty, J. (2018) Developing Learning Schools IMPACT: Journal of the Chartered College of Teaching. Spring
Doherty, J. (2020) Connecting people, learning and school systems through ‘learning schools’. Education Exchange, Chartered College of Teaching. July.
Dumont, H., Istance, D. & Benavides, F. (Eds) (2010) Nature of Learning: Using Research to Inspire Practice. Paris: OECD Publishing
Hargreaves, A. (1994). Changing Teachers. Changing Times: Teachers’ Work and Culture in the Postmodern Age. London: Cassell
Harris, A. & Jones, M. (2018) Leading schools as learning organizations. School Leadership & Management, 38:4, 351-354
Kools, M. & Stoll, L. (2016) What Makes a School a Learning Organisation?, OECD Education Working Papers, No. 137, Paris: OECD Publishing
OECD (2016). What Makes a School a Learning Organisation. OECD Publishing, Paris. http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264245914-en
Seashore L.K. & Lee., M. (2016). Teachers’ Capacity for Organizational Learning: The Effects of School
Culture and Context.” School Effectiveness and School Improvement 27 (4): 534–556.
Schleicher, A. (2012), (Ed) Preparing Teachers and Developing School Leaders for the 21st Century: Lessons from around the World, Paris: OECD Publishing.
Welsh Government (2017) Schools in Wales as learning organisations. https://beta.gov.wales/schools-learning-organisations-slo-overview.
