Change

From November 2009 archived post

by Renee Tonquest

Change…we all must deal with it from time to time.  Some of us seem to do a better job, but nobody really likes it. So then, why is change so difficult?  Why do some individuals do better than others?  Why can’t things just stay the same? These are questions I guarantee everyone has thought of from one time to another – especially educators. “Schools and teachers get involved in new things to make the educational process better and to improve themselves or their students' capacity to learn” (Stiegelbauer 1994).

There is a progression that teachers go through when new resources and strategies are introduced. According to the Concerns-Based Adoption Model (Hall & Loucks, 1979) developed at the Research and Development Center for Teacher Education at the University of Texas at Austin there are seven levels that teachers experience as things change:

• Awareness. Teachers have little concern or involvement with the innovation.
• Informational. Teachers have a general interest in the innovation and would like to know more about it.
• Personal. Teachers want to learn about the personal ramifications of the innovation. They question how the innovation will affect them.
• Management. Teachers learn the processes and tasks of the innovation. They focus on information and resources.
• Consequence. Teachers focus on the innovation's impact on students.
• Collaboration. Teachers cooperate with other teachers in implementing the innovation.
• Refocusing. Teachers consider the benefits of the innovation and think of additional alternatives that might work even better.

Change is a process that each individual must work through and accept it is not an event that will happen overnight (Sweeny 2003). The initial stages are basically just awareness and a time to gather information. Next is the personal stage. Researchers feel that “the key to the acceptance of change lies in the Personal stage”(Fisher 2003). Once the teacher can accept the change then it is time for implementation and collaborating with others to achieve the maximum level of success for students. Hopefully as teachers are experiencing all the new opportunities in CTE over the next year, they will remember that change takes time. It is a very powerful force and there are infinite possibilities.

Resources

• Hall, G. & Loucks, S. Implementing innovations in schools: A concerns-based approach. Austin, TX: Research and Development Center for Teacher Education, University of Texas, 1979.
• Hall, G.E., Wallace, R.C., Jr., & Dossett, W.A. A Developmental Conceptualization of the Adoption Process Within Educational Institutions. Austin, Texas: Research and Development Center for Teacher Education, The University of Texas, 1973.
• Fischer, Max W. (April 2003). Finding "New Cheese" Requires Adjustment to Change. Retrieved from: http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/voice/voice083.shtml
• Stiegelbauer, Suzanne M. (September 1994). Change Has Changed: Implications for Implementation of Assessments from the Organizational Change Literature. Retrieved from: http://www.ed.gov/pubs/EdReformStudies/SysReforms/stiegel1.html
• Sweeny, Barry. (2003). The CBAM: A Model of the People Development Process. Retrieved from: http://www.mentoring-association.org/membersonly/CBAM.html http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/educatrs/profdevl/pd2stage.htm