Turnaround Schools, Turnaround Systems
by Michael Fullan
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Overview
This video shows Michael Fullan delivering a keynote address to the 2007 Scottish Learning Festival. Fullan discusses the turnaround strategies used in a tri-level partnership between school community / local districts and the state.
As well as describing what has been effective in the Ontario area in terms of educational change, Fullan discusses ‘six secrets of change’:
- Love your employees as much as your customers
- Connect peers with purpose
- Capacity building trumps judgmentalism
- Learning is the work
- Transparency rules
- Systems learn
School leaders could consider using this, and the reflective questions below, in a session on change management with the senior management team.
The video is just over 50 minutes long (708MB). A podcast version can be downloaded for iPod (126MB). A transcript is also available.
Reflective questions
These reflective questions might guide you in your viewing of this video:
Based on the six secrets Fullan talks about, how would you respond to these questions?
- How did Fullans’ work in Ontario affect the attitudes and perceptions of teachers and their teaching?
- Fullan comments that we need purposeful peer interactions. What do you do in your school/principals network to encourage the development of purposeful peer interactions?
- Fullan appears to value capacity building. How does your school’s professional learning plan build the capacity of your whole staff and not just individuals? What changes could you make to ensure there is a greater focus on building capacity?
- How does learning occur in your school’s everyday setting, and how do you manage this without placing any more burdens on your staff?
- How do you compare your school’s data with external references, and how do you go about engaging your staff and community with such data to improve learning outcomes for students?
- In terms of thinking about achieving continuity of ‘good direction’, what sustainable systems can we set up to ensure that we can all learn from each other?
References
Fullan, M. (2007). Turnaround Schools, Turnaround Systems. Keynote speech at the Scottish Learning Festival. Learning and Teaching Scotland.
Watch online (708.3 MB)
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