Change Matters

Book excerpt: While many books address the 'what' of change in education, this addresses the 'how'. The pressure for continuous adaptation and innovation in education is relentless, yet there is more failure in implementation of change than success. These failures are damaging to staff and students, as well as costly. Change Matters offers a practical guide to change management for teachers and administrators across all education sectors and for training managers in workplace settings. Change Matters assists educators to develop their abilities to manage their own change projects, and also to help their organisations to manage their overall improvement and innovation activities. Geoff Scott draws on successful experience to create a framework for the educational change process. He shows how to initiate, develop, implement and evaluate a new learning program, and how to manage continuous quality improvement and innovation at the organisational level. The need for leadership is assessed, and the particular circumstances of workplace trainers are discussed. The book is illustrated with case studies and reflective exercises which can be used individually or with other educators. 'An eminently readable and practical guide for those who want to make sure that the educational changes they attempt really do make a difference for their students. Highly recommended.' - Professor Michael Fullan, Dean, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto, and author of The New Meaning of Educational Change and of the What's Worth Fighting For trilogy with Andy Hargreaves.