Schools of little thought: why change management hasn't worked

Abstract

The management of change in English and Welsh schools has been an authoritarian affair seeking to impose rather than win consent for new ways of working. While no practitioner should challenge the fact of constant change in natural and social life, school staff have had little choice in the nature and direction of changes that have significantly re-shaped their professional practice and conditions of service. This is symptomatic of a wider democratic deficit in recent public service management models, which, ironically, are usually far more doctrinaire than processes adopted and implemented in the private sector. There is no shortage of evidence for the long-term damage being wrought on students and their communities by such top-down methods. Equally, there is no shortage of evidence that alternative, inclusive practices can and do deliver quality learning experiences.