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Doing it for, Doing it for,
doing it to doing it to
or doing it with?or doing it with?
By: Earle J Warnica Ed D
Professor of EducationAmerican University of Ras Al Khaimah
United Arab Emirates
“Education reform isn’t exactly rocket
science: it’s tougher,”
Dr. Mick Randall, in The National, 12/28/09
Overview
Brief description of reforms in Ministries of Education of UAE and Oman
Were they successful?What the literature says about making reform
work: what does work? Proposed Reform Model Conclusion: When are schools “good enough”?
Common Features of Oman and UAE Reforms:
both were “top-down” models both started with reports by outside consultants group both had a vision: world class education both hired foreign advisors to lead reform both had strong support from government
Observation by Observation by PresenterPresenter
Oman’s reform was a relative SUCCESS.UAE’s reform was a relative FAILURE.
WHY??WHY??
Then why did one reform succeed
- while the other did not?
Let’s let the literature help us
decide.
Michael Fullan (1988)“Resistance to reform is a reality to be
recognized and to overcome.”
“Reform often misfires because we fail to learn from those who disagree with us”.
“Resistance can actually be highly instructive”.
Judith Zimmerman (2006) “Resistance is a major factor in reform failure”
- provided research-based strategies to promote change and steps to overcome
resistance:
shared decision-makingprofessional developmentprincipals’ modeling preparedness for limiting resistance.
Art Costa in “The School as a Learning Community”
“changing public education is like. . .
moving a cemetery;after you’ve done all the work,
you still have a cemetery”.
Sergiovanni (2007)
. . . building community must become the heart of any
school reform effort
Hedley Beare (2001)There is a fixation with the status quo of education:
“If we remain wedded to the way education is currently provided we cannot imagine other ways.
We need some imagination, some fantasy, some new ways of thinking
– some magic, in fact.”
Roland Barth “Rarely do outside school remedies work their way into the fabric of the
schoolsor into the teachers’ lives,
and more rarely into the classrooms.
Therefore they only offer a modest hope of influencing
the basic culture of the school”.
Roland Barth
“Too much emphasis has been placed
on reforming schools from the outside through policies and mandates.
Too little has been paid to how schools can be shaped from within”.
Stoll and Fink
'Many of our schools are good schools
if only this were 1965'.
‘Are we educating students for our past or their future?’ (Anon.)
Peter Senge (1994)
“You cannot have a learning organization
without a shared vision.”
“A shared vision provides a compass to keep learning on course
when stress develops.”
Michael Fullan (1994)
“Neither top-down nor bottom-up strategies for educational reform work;
What is required is a more sophisticated blend of the two”.
“What matters most is local motivation, skill, know-how and commitment””
Kalman R. Hettleman, 2010,
“It’s the Classroom, Stupid (School Reform Where it Counts
most)”.
“education administrators resist change, protect their turf . . .”,
and mismanage classroom instruction due to their lack of management skills”
Kalman R. Hettleman, 2010,“Management reforms must find their way
onto the public radar and into classroom teaching and learning.
Even the best and brightest teachers must get more support than they now get.
It’s the classroom, stupid. The future of school reform won’t succeed otherwise.”
Howard Levin, Stanford Professor of
Economics
“A school isn’t good enough
until it is good enough for our own children.
In fact, it’s not only that it must be good enough for our own children,
but it must be the dream school we want for our children”
What can we conclude from the literature?
The school is the unit of change.The key to successful educational reform is
leadership. And leadership is not restricted to principals,
nor is leadership synonymous with management.
Successful reforms require leadership by teachers and by principals.
Applying the Research to UAE and
Oman
Led by Local Omani educators in MoE (the public face of the reform was Omani)Many Omanis in MoE were sent abroad
for graduate study in education and returned to senior leadership positions
Foreign Consultants “advised” and mentored but decision-making was Omani
“doing it with”
Oman’s reform was gradual and spread over several years
All stakeholders were involved, trained, and ‘won-over” – teachers, principals, zone officials, parents, public
• Professional development was comprehensive, and sustained over many years
• The vision became their own
• Schools have reformed and continue to reform
UAE Reforms
Office of Policy and Planning was established to lead the reform – all foreign educators
Ministry was reorganized by OPP
Little to no input from senior MoE staff
After the fact, MoE staff were informed and expected to “buy in”
Met by “passive resistance” by MoE leaders, zones, principals, teachers
Minister received and approved the reforms
But – most reforms were never implemented
Reforms were perceived to be “foreign”, and could not work in UAE
“Passive resistance’ had become “active resistance”!
UAE Reforms
One bright spot (a glimmer of hope) in the UAE reform movement:
Madares Al Ghad (MAG) program ‘Schools of The Future’
has had some success in the approximately forty project schools and is in the third year of implementation.
It remains to be seen if the Ministry and government will expand MAG across the
nation or simply let it die quietly.
A government in a hurry said
“Do it for them”
But locals perceived that foreigners were there to
“Do it to them”
Implementation did not happen
Implementation never happened
even though new standards had been developed or adopted
for curriculum, assessment, teachers, principals,
professional development
Syndrome
It could be argued that in UAE MoE:
“Talking about reforms is as good as having done them”
in UAE reform?
New Minister (2009)
Contracts cancelled for foreign consultants/advisors
New reform plans being developed – virtually the same focus as the previous
Maybe this time the reforms will be implemented?
A Model for Educational Reform
Educational Reform and Improvement Model
School-Based with external input
Bottom-up with Top-down support
The Modelindividual schools within pods of schools
teachers and principals as leaders of the reforms
MoE Educational Zone in a support role
The ModelUAE federal Ministry of Education in role of setting national standards and policies
universities and colleges in collaborative role with schools and pods of schools
The school as the basic unit of changeSome teachers and principals in graduate study
Each school adopts its own plans and priorities for change
Teachers and principals enrolled in graduate education programs take the lead in reforming their own school and contribute to the reforms of the pod of schools
The school as the basic unit of changeStaff professional development (PD) should be
focused at each school or pod of schools; large scale PD program imposed and delivered from above have little impact on schools and learning
Parent and community information and support
Pods of SchoolsFeeder schools, geographic proximity
Collaboration and support between schools of the pod – teachers and principals
Regular meetings to share and learn together
Joint professional development as needed
Ministry of Education Education Zone
Agreement with the reform model, plans; support to each pod and school within the pod to implement
Relaxation of some existing policies and procedures to allow/encourage innovation
Changed role of supervisors to be supporters of reform, not inspectors and maintainers of status quo
Ministry of Education UAE
Professional development as requested by the
schools/pods and within the MoE
professional development standards
Ministry of Education UAE Nation-wide standards for curriculum,
assessment, examination reform, professional development, standards for teachers
Nation-wide professional development as required for the implementation of the various MoE standards
Ministry of Education UAESupport for education zones and
schools/pods reforms through relaxation of existing policies and procedures
Financial incentives and support for zone and local reforms
Universities and Colleges Faculty members involved in each pod of
schools: team-work, collaboration, advising, modeling
PD assistance when requested
Graduate programs (M Ed) for teachers and principals
Grad program learnings put into practice in schools
So - What can the MoE do?
- Trapped with “in the box” thinking (not “outside the box”).
- There are so many educational “boxes”:
textbooks, teaching methods, examinations, traditional supervisors (promoting practices of the last century), poorly educated teachers, old rules, policies, procedures and ways of thinking, virtually guaranteeing that nothing will change.
MoE
MoE An education ministry needs education!
Senior leadership, department directors and key personnel are desperately in need of graduate study in education.
Accept and support a new model of reform
How will we know when education reform in UAE becomes a reality?
When Ministry leadership, educators and parents at all levels deem that they will send their own children to government schools.
Until that happens, the schools are neither “dream schools” nor “good enough!