Change management

Leading change in education

Two of the most important aspects of managing change are finding support and team building. This involves challenging, motivating and empowering yourself and your team. To do this you and your team will need to develop your understanding of all aspects of key skills (knowledge and continuous improvement) and have a shared vision (i.e. share your plans).

Sources of support

Make the most of all support available to you, both within your centre and external to it.

Senior management support - you will need to enlist senior members of staff to support the introduction and development of key skills within your centre. Many centres choose to highlight one of their most senior people as a 'Key skills Champion', this highlights the importance of key skills within the centre and it is a part of their role to ensure that key skills are considered at every senior management meeting. This is essential for a whole organisation approach. Senior management will also be crucial in ensuring support in terms of resources: funding, staffing and timetabling.

"2. Senior managers should demonstrate their commitment to putting policy into practice, by allocating responsibilities, providing sufficient resources and opportunities for staff training, programme planning and evaluation, and disseminating key messages for improving provision.”

(QCA standards and guidance page 101272 and page 9 of 1294)

The whole organisation approach to Skills for Life provides useful tools and ideas for key skills centres. A whole organisation approach to Skills for Life places the literacy, language and numeracy entitlement of learners at the heart of all provision. See the Skills for Life Improvement Programme Website. http://www.sflip.org.uk/woa.aspx

Using coaching and mentoring tools – there are many forms of coaching and mentoring which could be used to support you and your team. Look at http://www.subjectlearningcoach.net/ for more information about the National Teaching and Learning Change Programme.

Leading from the middle – LSN have produced this good practice guide which is aimed at middle managers in schools, colleges and other settings who have been given the responsibility for leading the transition from key skills to functional skills over the coming years. Accompanying this publication is an addendum for senior managers. It is intended to alert them to the need to plan for the transition to functional skills and to support middle managers in leading the change. However it contains useful hints and tips for dealing with any change https://www.lsneducation.org.uk/user/order.aspx?code=072785&src=XOWEB

Collaboration with other centres collaboration is now central to the way we are being encouraged to work whether in Diploma consortia, working with employers, schools, FE colleges or work based learning providers. We are encouraged to do this through the Common Inspection Framework (CIF) http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/assets/Internet_Content/Publications_Team/File_attachments/3884.doc

Planning for success

To be successful you will need to plan for the implementation of key skills and you will need to share these plans with your team, ensuring that they know what they are required to do. The Critical Success Factors can be used to ascertain where to start with your planning and in setting targets. http://www.keyskillssupport.net/qualproca/critsuccfact/

Think carefully about the targets you are going to set for achievement, retention and completion of key skills for any cohort of learners. Your local LSC may have local benchmarks. You could also consider previous achievements within your centre. The Self Assessment Report (or SEF) for any centre will need to refer to key skills targets. Consider who needs to be involved in this process to ensure that key skills are the responsibility of the whole team.

Roles and responsibilities

Success with key skills cannot be the responsibility of the key skills coordinator alone. It is a whole centre issue. Supporting your learners to achieve relies on the recognition of the importance of key skills by all, including the learner. Key skills success will support success in a learner’s main programme of study. This is a powerful motivator for learners and tutors. All staff who are in contact with learners must understand this important link and it must be clear from the learner’s very first contact with the centre in:

Course literature
Contact with reception
Initial interview
Initial assessment
The main programme of study
Key skills support sessions
Applications to employers, universities etc

in other words, throughout the learner journey.

Establishing the key skills team can be supported by section 1.4 (and in appendix 1) of the key skills handbook for coordinators https://www.lsneducation.org.uk/user/order.aspx?code=051960

Considerations

Linking into other strategies within your centre. The Common Inspection Framework states that we must consider the extent to which provision (including key skills provision) is meeting the following five outcomes for children and young people:

Being healthy
Staying safe
Enjoying and achieving
Making a positive contribution
Achieving economic well-being

this can be supported by linking key skills to other strategies and plans within your centre.

http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/assets/Internet_Content/Publications_Team/File_attachments/3884.doc. A whole organisation approach to key skills would encourage this.

There are five key questions within the Common Inspection Framework (CIF).

How well do learners achieve?
How effective are teaching, training and learning/
How well do programme and activities meet the national targets, and needs and interests of learners?
How well are learners guided and supported?
How effective are leadership and management in raising achievement and supporting learners.

Timescales and Piloting. If you are considering implementing key skills within your centre, then planning will be crucial. Although you may have a vision of what key skills provision you would like within your centre, you must consider the steps along the way to achieve this vision. Many centres have chosen to initially pilot key skills in a particular vocational area or with a particular cohort of learners and then spread the good practice learned to other areas of their centre.

Setting reasonable and achievable timescales to achieve your vision will motivate both staff and learners. Building capacity within your centre may require a phased approach to implementation. See Good Practice Guide Leading from the Middle (page 18) https://www.lsneducation.org.uk/user/order.aspx?code=072785&src=XOWEB. Also look at “A quality audit toolkit to support the delivery of change of change on the ground: for managers and teachers planning to introduce 14-19 qualifications, courses and programmes.” https://www.lsneducation.org.uk/user/order.aspx?code=062371&src=XOWEB

Collaboration with other centres. What can you learn from other centres? Do they have expertise that you do not? How can you work collaboratively to support continuous improvement? Find out what links already exist with other organisations.

The main success factors for starting and sustaining effective 14-19 collaborations are outlined in “Collaborating for success: collaborative arrangements for 14-19 provision in the West Midlands: summary and analysis of research findings from six case studies”

Tools

Forcefield analysis is a management technique that will help you and your team to:

Analyse complex and difficult situations
Identify positive and negative forces
Weigh up the pros and cons of any proposed action and decrease the restraining forces inherent in any change..

SWOT analysis is another management technique that will help you to:

Assess the strengths, weaknesses opportunities and threats in your current or possible future situations
Begin to identify actions you can take.

Flowcharting can be used to analyse existing and potential systems and processes. Flowcharting is a means of visually representing a process. This can be done by breaking down processes into individual events and noting the links/relationships between them.

Flowcharting can be done very simply e.g. by using post-it notes for the events, connections are represented by lines between the events. This can be a useful exercise to carry out with teams as it can promote creativity (solving problems) and can also highlight where there is, or is not a shared-understanding as to how the process should/does/does not work i.e. create a common understanding.
Flowcharting can be particularly useful during periods of change and review. It can be used to clarify what actually happens and then decisions can be made as to whether this is how you want them to be done.

Hint and Tip for flowcharting:
Always give your chart a title before you start.

Flowcharts can be produced in a range of software packages (including Word) which can be used on Whiteboards and then saved.
The Skills for Life Framework is another quality improvement tool developed through the Whole Organisation Approaches project. The Framework likens the process of developing a whole organisation approach to a journey which starts with analysing local need and finishes with learners ready to progress to further learning opportunities http://www.sflframework.org/

The Critical Success Factors can be used to ascertain where to start with your planning and in setting targets as well as checking on progress and continuous improvement. http://www.keyskillssupport.net/qualproca/critsuccfact/

Website links

www.qca.org.uk
http://www.sflframework.org/
http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/assets/Internet_Content/Publications_Team/File_attachments/3884.doc

The KSSP can support you with these changes through a number of publications including the good practice guide ‘Leading from the middle’ which can be downloaded from the publications page of this site.