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The Law of Unintended Consequences: The ‘Real’ Cost of Top-Down Reform

The Law of Unintended Consequences: The ‘Real’ Cost of Top-Down Reform In most jurisdictions around the world,governments, in the name of economiccompetitiveness, have imposed comprehensive andquite dramatic changes on state schools. Mostchanges require a more centralized and rigorouscurriculum for pupils, a plethora ofaccountability measures and mandatoryin-service for teachers, and carefully definedand more onerous responsibilities for schoolleaders. The province of Ontario is nodifferent. Since 1995, its educational systemhas experienced quite revolutionary changes– all instituted with ‘break-neck’ speed. At thesame time most schools in Ontario are employinginternal change strategies to address theseoutside pressures. These change forces havecoalesced to redefine the work and lives ofteachers and school leaders in many intendedand unintended ways. There is a substantialliterature on both external and internal changeforces, but very little has been written aboutthe conjunction of these change forces with thepersonal side of change for teachers andleaders. Based on two studies undertaken by theInternational Centre for Educational Change atthe Ontario Institute for Studies inEducation/University of Toronto, this paperexamines the ‘unintended consequences’ of thesechange forces on the teachers and principals ofone secondary school in Ontario, Canada. Theteachers and leaders of Lord Byron High Schoolare not averse to change and are generallyquite content to do whatever is in the bestinterests of their students. The school has along history of innovation and change and areputation for attending to a wide diversity ofstudent needs.Through the use of multiple conceptual lenses,this paper addresses the ‘unintendedconsequences’ of systemic change to the schooland its teachers and principals. At a time whenteacher shortages and teacher morale aregrowing problems for many educationaljurisdictions, this investigation will point toan urgent need to build better bridges ofunderstanding between policy makers and policyimplementers, and for researchers to provideresearch that is more sensitive to the work andlives of ‘real’ people in ‘real’ schools. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Journal of Educational Change Springer Journals

The Law of Unintended Consequences: The ‘Real’ Cost of Top-Down Reform

Fink, Dean
Journal of Educational Change , Volume 4 (2) – Oct 6, 2004
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References (49)

Publisher
Springer Journals
Copyright
Copyright © 2003 by Kluwer Academic Publishers
Subject
Education; Educational Policy and Politics; Administration, Organization and Leadership
ISSN
1389-2843
eISSN
1573-1812
DOI
10.1023/A:1024783324566
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

In most jurisdictions around the world,governments, in the name of economiccompetitiveness, have imposed comprehensive andquite dramatic changes on state schools. Mostchanges require a more centralized and rigorouscurriculum for pupils, a plethora ofaccountability measures and mandatoryin-service for teachers, and carefully definedand more onerous responsibilities for schoolleaders. The province of Ontario is nodifferent. Since 1995, its educational systemhas experienced quite revolutionary changes– all instituted with ‘break-neck’ speed. At thesame time most schools in Ontario are employinginternal change strategies to address theseoutside pressures. These change forces havecoalesced to redefine the work and lives ofteachers and school leaders in many intendedand unintended ways. There is a substantialliterature on both external and internal changeforces, but very little has been written aboutthe conjunction of these change forces with thepersonal side of change for teachers andleaders. Based on two studies undertaken by theInternational Centre for Educational Change atthe Ontario Institute for Studies inEducation/University of Toronto, this paperexamines the ‘unintended consequences’ of thesechange forces on the teachers and principals ofone secondary school in Ontario, Canada. Theteachers and leaders of Lord Byron High Schoolare not averse to change and are generallyquite content to do whatever is in the bestinterests of their students. The school has along history of innovation and change and areputation for attending to a wide diversity ofstudent needs.Through the use of multiple conceptual lenses,this paper addresses the ‘unintendedconsequences’ of systemic change to the schooland its teachers and principals. At a time whenteacher shortages and teacher morale aregrowing problems for many educationaljurisdictions, this investigation will point toan urgent need to build better bridges ofunderstanding between policy makers and policyimplementers, and for researchers to provideresearch that is more sensitive to the work andlives of ‘real’ people in ‘real’ schools.

Journal

Journal of Educational Change – Springer Journals

Published: Oct 6, 2004

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