From top down approach to empowerment of schools – the case of the project “Didactic

modernisation of the gimnazija”

Zora Rutar Ilc, ph.d.

National Education Institute, Ljubljana, Slovenia

The analysis of the learning and teaching process (1999 -2003) has shown that there is:

- lack of active learning

- lack of interdisciplinary learning and project based

approaches

- too few authentic situations

- less independent thinking from first to fourth grade …

• How to support teachers and schools to improve their practice in weak areas?

The pilot project of Didactic modernisation was designed for:

• 1. Didactic support to teachers: implementing more active methods …– focus on subject teachers and special didactics

• 2. Strategic support for schools - by initiating and introducing changes- focus on school teachers teams and their coordinative role

At first: imposed goals and activities for teachers:

• At didactic level - to stimulate:• process and problem approach • wider repertoir of teaching and assesment methods and

strategies• inter-disciplinary connections, authentic learning situations• new culture of assessment and grading• organisational arrangements, e.g. block schedules, project

work

• At school level – support for former • Denying their needs and experiences, priorities, goals and

strategies …• Lack of clarity in articulating goals and lack of sense

The strategy of implementing novelties has gradually been transformed from TOP DOWN to combination with elements of EMPOWERMENT (by the principle of enrichment not replacement):

• Informing about goals, strategies …

• Strong support from the subject specialists

• Uniform and prescribed activities

• Constructivist approach – discussing the need for changes, analysing the initial stage, priorities …

• Peer support (critical friendship, peer monitoring, reflection …)

• Individualised paths (dev. plans) and networking

cont. – the level of school developmental teams:

• transmitters, coordinators• occupied with prescribed

tasks:

How to stimulate each stageof the project closelyobserving guidelines?

Reports

• change agents -workshops• creating, researching,

negotiat., developing- AR:

What is quality? Indicators?Where are we? What areour capacities and exp.?What are our priorities/aimsWhat are the strategies?

Evaluations, reflections,portfolios

What has happened?

• Schools started to transform into learning and autoregulative communities by:

- creating the “innovations friendly environment” (through preparation activities)

- systematic approach to development (through implementing innovations in devel. planning and AR) – selfregulation

Two crucial mechanisms for this:

• The establishment of the school developmental team (addit value), which was trained to manage the developmental process

• The distributed leadership: headmasters were ready to share their “power”

Some strong areas of the project – the combination of top down and bottom up approach- The inclusion of the entire teaching stuff (seminars/act/ev)- Strong subject consultants’ support (consult/monitor/exch) - The establishment of school dev. teams and their role of

change agents- Focus on long period of preparation- The introduction of action research and developm. plann. - Emphasis on teachers’ individual personal projects / small

groups’ action research plans, school development plans and school evaluations / PF

The sense of participation, ownership and responsibility isdeveloped - empowerment

Important shift

The dydactic context of the project remained the same but it was not implemented top down any more but with the participation of the teachers, who discussed concepts, aims, priorites and strategies and connect them on the school’s level in the developmental plan of the school

What does individual personal project mean?

- teachers select and plan at least 1 innovation (intensive or extensive) each year,

- implement it with the support of subject consultant- discuss and analyse it with critical friend(s)- evaluate it- present it as a case in a subject teachers’ group- exchange experiences and ideas- Follow-up year: upgrading – care for sustainability (spiral

of change)

The same spiral of change on the level of school(s)

- Developmental planning …

- Implementing with the support of consultant

- Discussing, monitoring, analysing

- Evaluating

- Presenting and exchanging (network)

- Upgrading

e.g.: active teaching methods are being upgraded with

interdisciplinary approach and authentic learning …

Evaluation: Didactic aims were fullfilled successfully, but there were also other effects:

• On teachers’ personal level: perception of new chances for their professional development

• On the school level: - improvement of the climate because of more pedagogic discussion and common learning - improvement of the culture because of more self-evaluation, critical friendship and reflection - more developmental orientation through action research and developmental planning

More openness for the changes and widening of their repertoire of methods, strategies and even concepts and beahviours

Basic Principles in change introduction we have learned (our team was also a learning community!):• Teachers and schools as partners – “change agents”• Not depowerment but empowerment – feeling of

importance and responsibility• Individualised approach in relation to schools at

simultanous networking• Accept the annoyment which accompanies the changes

with empathy, because it is a signal of change processes• Spiral development: breaking the old balance and

restablishing on a qualitatively higher level• Interventions should be first oriented towards people and

their capacities and than to changes• Long term effects – the change of culture – patience!

What questions remained open for the future?

• How to stimulate this process in more schools?

• How to introduce changes in the context of systemic reform?

• How to combine top-down and bottom-up approach?

How were these experiences included in the new, widely broadened project:

Emphasis on schools as learning communities:

• Establishment of school’s developmental project teams• Intensive support to them for the inititation and

implementation • Stress on careful initiation before implementation• School’s developmental plans and teachers’ personal

projects at the start and portfolios during and at the end as indicators

• Subject support from consultants and mentor teachers

Steps in the new project (supported with the manual for teams designed by the same steps):

• preparation / initiation: discussion about changes, qualitiy(indicators), SWOT, development priorities

• “content” preparation - common didactic principles : planning, active role of students, interdisc. approach, new culture of assessment …

• development plan• implementation

• evaluation, reflections, presentations, exchange of experiences