EDUC43210 Leading School Development

Academic Year 2021/2022

Schools and fundamentally, people oriented organizations. Their primary task the formation of minds, hearts and dispositions of the rising generation. Critical to this enterprise are: values, beliefs, knowledge and dispositions of the adults whose task it is through the curriculum, planned and unplanned, to make teaching, learning and leading a positive experience for both adults and learners, as well as for parents and the wider school community. As always in such circumstances, school leaders and their colleagues struggle to find an appropriate equilibrium between using ‘bricolage’ from the past as the raw material to build the future.

The process of change therefore requires an appreciation of past, present and possible futures as a means of building continuity while institutionalizing change; no easy balancing act, particularly given the demands on teachers. At a minimum, an appreciation of the lives and work and career stages of teachers and principals is a necessity; to understand that a positive working environment is the basis of daily interactions, and the quality of those interactions are critical to building trust, learning to collaborate while building capacity in a sustainable manner within the current structures and strictures on time, particularly time to meet, collaborate and plan together while seeking to avoid overload.

While module 3 took quite a focused perspective on ‘school improvement’, this module takes a more ecological and holistic approach to schools as communities, in order to better understand their traditions, transitions and trajectories. Its point of departure is the assumption that taking leave of the past is painful and challenging, while recognizing that creating the future is a selective process, selecting what is considered the best of the past and to reconstruct anew with vitality and imagination as integral to the process of building the future. In this regard, since learning is cumulative, you should regard the readings provided for module three as a resource for module five, to be used selectively as you make your way through module five, and write its assignment.

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Curricular information is subject to change

Learning Outcomes:

On completing the module and its assignment, students will have:
- increased their understanding of the challenges of leading educational change and the level of the school
- will have analysed and documented a particular change initiative
- and be articulate about the change process, and its implications for leadership
- reflect more on their own leadership capacities in light of the research completed

Student Effort Hours: 
Student Effort Type Hours
Lectures

24

Total

24

Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
blended 
Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations

Not applicable to this module.


Module Requisites and Incompatibles
Not applicable to this module.
 
Assessment Strategy  
Description Timing Open Book Exam Component Scale Must Pass Component % of Final Grade
Assignment: 5,500 word assignment Coursework (End of Trimester) n/a Graded Yes

100


Carry forward of passed components
No
 
Resit In Terminal Exam
Spring No
Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 
Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

Not yet recorded.