The Politics of Large Scale Change

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The Politics of Large Scale Change

• University of Oslo
• June, 2007
• Ben Levin
• OISE-University of Toronto

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Outline
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Context for Large-Scale Change

• Public convinced of importance of education
• Governments will act
• More attention to international trends
• But politics are still local

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Challenges of Political World

• Expectations are high and inconsistent
• Citizens are not necessarily
• Knowledgeable
• Reasonable
• Consistent
• Often no agreement on what to do
• Pressure for quick results

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More Challenges

• Always too many issues, not enough time
• Official opposition
• Mistakes are costly
• Small things can turn into big things
• Surprise dominates (Y Dror)

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Growing Body of Knowledge

• Evaluations of major changes
• International scholarship
• Many recent cases

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Ontario as a Case Study

• Large, complex system
• 2 million students, 120,000 teachers
• 4 parallel systems
• Three years of steadily improving results
• Real changes in schools
• Also improving teacher morale

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What We Are Learning

• Changes to structure are not enough
• Must address teaching and learning practices
• Must build educator commitment
• This takes sustained, serious effort
• Also have to address public perceptions
• We only get to do what the public lets us do

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A Quote

• That may be true, but its not what people
  believe

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Key Elements

• Address will and skill
• Clear, public goals and targets
• Focus on a few Pay attention to the rest
• Sustained strategy to address classroom practice
• Balance of central and local
• Requires infrastructure

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Key Elements - 2

• Sustained strategy to build educators commitment
• Pay attention to working conditions
• Improve leadership
• Need for community engagement
• Parents and broader community
• Attention to research and evidence
• Constant recalibration within a stable strategy

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What This Requires

• Political leadership
• Dedicated, skilled senior managers
• Strong partnerships
• Constant communication
• Ways to resolve differences
• Some additional resources

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Constant communication

• Respect for diverse views
• People do not agree on what to do
• Real dialogue with all parties
• Getting to Yes
• Combine optimism and realism

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Resources

• Money matters, but its not the first thing
• Disputes over money generate negative public
  attitudes
• Target resources existing and new to
  priorities
• Evidence of effectiveness instead of mythology

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Role for the Academy

• Bring evidence to bear
• Balance critique with positives
• Recognize political realities
• Remember why we have schools
• Work to influence public thinking
• Get outside the profession

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