The educators have increasingly recognized the dramatic change in the conditions and educational needs of their communities over time. Therefore, there is a great need to initiate a systemic change in the education system in order to meet the changing needs in the communities. Systemic change refers to an approach to change that recognizes the interrelationships and interdependencies between the education system and its community as well as the interrelationships and interdependencies among the parts of the educational system. Therefore, the primary objective of systemic change is to create a better education system compared to the existing one. The change agents should realize that systemic change goes beyond the scope of a school building. Moreover, the change agents need to ensure that systemic change requires the participation of all the stakeholders in the community. Therefore, the school administrators should help the community and its school system to effectively meet the needs of the students.
There are several key issues of the education system that impact education. The key issues include changes in the in the society, changes in the workplace, the systemic changes in the family, and systems thinking applied to learning. The massive changes in the society have necessitated changes in the education system. The changes that are currently witnessed in the society have modified the relationship between the society and education ( Evers & Lakomski, 2013 ). Therefore, there is a need for a new paradigm shift in the education system in order to accommodate the changes. The needs of the current information society should be addressed through an effective education system that will empower learners to overcome the challenges of the current generation. Therefore, the leadership in the education system should identify and analyze the changes in order to figure out what features the new education system should have. There are major differences between the industrial age and the current information age which have implications for the new educational system. Such changes determine how the new education system should be structured, what should be taught as well as how it should be taught. The current education system is characterized by adversarial relationships between teachers and administrators, between teachers and students as well as between teachers and parents. Therefore, the new education system should embrace corporative relationships between all the stakeholders of the education system.
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Another key issue of systemic change impacting education is the changing workplace environment. During the industrial age, issues of business such as incentives, accountability, and resource allocation were all handled by a bureaucratic system. All the activities and decisions of the business were done in a top-down manner. Therefore, many businesses have been shifting away from the bureaucratic systems to a more team-based organization. In the team-based organizations, decisions are more clients oriented as opposed to bureaucracy driven business systems of the past. Therefore, corporative relationships characterize most of the information age organizations and therefore, the education system should produce individuals who can contribute positively in the decision making processes of today’s businesses. The teachers should therefore educate the whole child in order to develop an all-round individual with key decision making and problem solving skills. This is because the decisions in terms of accountability, resource allocation and incentives in the current business are client driven. Therefore, the education system should be able to churn out individuals with the appropriate skills that will help in promoting growth of current organizations.
The systemic changes in the family have a great impact on education. The education system should address the concerns regarding the changes in current family systems. The society has experience a change in the family landscape whereby there has been a predominance of single parent families as well as the increased number of dual income two-parent families in developed countries like the US. Therefore, parenting in the current age is extremely different from what it was in the past. There is shortage of communication, lack of appropriate care and poor structure of upbringing among latch-key children in the society. Moreover, there are increasing cases of physical and mental abuse of children. Therefore, the needs of such children should be effectively addressed in the education system. The alarming rise in the number of children born with chemical abuse problems indicates that the society is facing great social problems. The education system should therefore collaborate with other social service agencies to enable it to become an effective system capable of developing the whole child in the society. As such, the education system should shift from just being concerned with the child’s mental development to a system that effectively develops the whole child. Therefore, the education system should ensure that the schools provide a caring environment to students. Moreover, each student should be provided with a mentor who will provide the necessary guidance.
The need to transform the systems thinking applied to learning presents a major issue that impact on education. The current education system does not recognize that different children have different learning needs as well as different learning rates. Therefore, the students should not be subjected to a fixed amount of content and a fixed amount of time ( Jenlink et al., 1998). As such, the current education system is more of a selection process than learning. The new systemic change should allow the achievement of the children to vary. Moreover, the new education system should be able to accommodate the fact that different children learn at different rates and that they also have different learning needs. As such, the role of the teacher should be redefined to that of a facilitator rather as opposed to being just a dispenser of knowledge. The education system should also be resource-based in order to utilize new tools that are powerful. Such powerful tools should be offered by advanced technology. Moreover, the systemic change should promote collaborative relationships among stakeholders.
There are several characteristics of effective change agents in the education. Effective change agents are visionary, promote leadership in other people, practice open communication, possess interpersonal skills, are never afraid to make mistakes, treat students as adults, take time to reflect and are ever willing to change ( Schumacher , 2011). Effective change agents do not solely hold their vision. They hold a collective vision with all the stakeholders. Therefore, effective change agents believe that leaders should not only present their vision but should also pay attention to the views of other people. This allows the teachers, students and the community to be part of the stakeholders of the education system. Therefore, effective change agents facilitate collaborative interrelationships among all the stake holders of the education system in order to ensure that there is an effective systemic change.
Ability to promote leadership in other people is another good characteristic of effective change agents. Such change agents are effective leaders who understand the people they work with such as teachers and the community members. Therefore, they delegate much of their duties in order to take up more challenging tasks hence facilitating effective systemic change in the education system. As such, effective change agents are able to take into account the leadership skills of the people that they work with in the process of initiating change in the system. Effective change managers have good understanding of the staff and they empower them by developing their strengths in order to contribute more effectively in implementing change. This ability to encourage people to work together towards achieving an important goal facilitates collaboration among the team members.
Effective change agents practice open communication among the team members. Therefore, such leaders are able communicate openly and effectively hence promoting trust among the participants of the systemic change process. Good communication skills among change agents improves the staff morale and encourages positive parental support in the decision making process. Moreover, the effective change agents are more receptive to information from other stakeholders. As such, useful suggestions and opinions can be gathered from the teachers, students, parents and the community in general helps in developing policies that will bring effective systemic change in the education system. The staffs, students, parents and the community members have expertise, knowledge, and perspectives that benefit the leaders in the process of implementing change.
Possessing good interpersonal skills is another good characteristic of effective change agents. This is because the process of initiating and implementing change involves people. Such change agents should operate from a philosophy of life that promotes a willingness of the leaders to get out and engage the stakeholders. Good interpersonal skills make communication among the stakeholders to be open and effective. Effective change agents are not afraid to make mistakes and they have the ability to forge ahead despite any challenges that come their way. Mistakes form a basis for developing better ideas that can work effectively in facilitating a proper systemic change in the education system. Moreover, effective leaders who can facilitate change should also treat students as adults. This ensures that they take the opinions and concerns raised by the students seriously. Taking the views of the students into account, results to development of effective systemic change policies in the education system (Adelman & Taylor, 2003).
Effective change agents are able to prioritize tasks. They recognize that they cannot possibly do everything at ago. Therefore, setting priorities is important in planning and effecting change in the education system. Moreover, effective change agents should also be willing to change in order to enable them to evaluate the systemic change more carefully. Therefore, the ability and willingness to change among effective change agents helps in appreciating the need to initiate a systemic change in the education system.
There are several actions that are taken by effective change agents that result in systemic change. They set goals, plan and partner with stake holders in the process of effecting systemic change. The change agents set the goals of the change process in the education system by laying out the roadmap (Joseph & Reigeluth, 2005). They also come out with effective plans that assist in realizing the milestones of the systemic change. Furthermore, the change agents partner with the stakeholders to come up with practical ideas necessary for developing important systemic change policies.
Effective change agents are capable of rallying support from teachers, staff, the community and other stakeholders to promote systemic change. The change agents build and maintain political support. The change agents assist in negotiating political issues in order to facilitate positive political support from all the stakeholders for the systemic change efforts (Duffy & Reigeluth, 2008). The change agents are responsible for nurturing understanding of as well as respect for the politics of change articulated in the systemic change initiatives. The change agents also promote and sustain motivation among the participants in the process of systemic change. This inspires the stakeholders to collectively participate in the systemic change process. The change agents also build and maintain trust of all teachers, students, parents, community and other stakeholders. Trust facilitates goodwill among the stakeholders. Furthermore, change agents evolve the mindset and culture of all the stakeholders. Evolving individual and collective mindsets ensures effective culture change in order to accommodate the realities involve in the systemic change process.
Systemic change is important in the education system. Systemic change ensures that the unique needs of the society regarding education are effectively met. The changes brought about by the information age have made it necessary to initiate systemic change in the education system. The changes in the families, workplaces and the varying educational needs of the students necessitate systemic change in the education system.
References
Adelman, H., & Taylor, L. (2003). “On sustainability of project innovation as systemic change”, Journal of Education and Psychological Consultation , 14; 1-26
Duffy, F., & Reigeluth, C.(2008). “The school system transformation (SST) protocol”, Education Technology , 48(4), 41-49
Evers, C. W., & Lakomski, G. (2013). Methodological individualism, educational administration, and leadership. Journal of Educational Administration & History , 45(2), 159.
Jenlink, P. M., Reigeluth, C. M., Carr, A. A., & Nelson, L. M. (1998). Guidelines for facilitating systemic change in school districts. Systems Research & Behavioral Science , 15(3), 217-233.
Joseph, R., & Reigeluth, C. (2005). “Formative research on early stage of systemic change process in a small urban school system”, British Journal of Education Technology , 36(6); 937-956
Schumacher, G. (2011). Key factors for successfully implementing and sustaining quality improvement in K-12 education. Journal for Quality & Participation , 33(4), 17.
