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Ch. 05 - Transforming Music Education Re-Visited: The Significance of Internationalization and Mentoring
Get PDFThis chapter returns to Jorgensen’s 2003 publication Transforming Music Education. Kertz-Welzel revisits significant aspects of transformation in music education which Jorgensen suggests, and which are still important today. The author also emphasizes additional dimensions that are critical in the 21st century, such as internationalization and mentoring. Through the formation of the International Society for the Philosophy of Music Education, philosophy of music education was significantly transformed. Internationalization in a respective field is always connected to the engagement of individual researchers who shape it and attract others to become part of it. Therefore, mentoring young scholars is an important aspect of successful internationalization
Increasing the Effectiveness of English Language Teaching Assistants
Get PDFThe purpose of this Organization Improvement Plan (OIP) is to develop an approach for increasing the effectiveness of Teaching assistants (TAs) working in the English language classrooms of an international university. TAs play an important role in teaching and learning activities of many universities, where they are employed across a variety of academic disciplines. A Japanese university recruits international undergraduate TAs to model the use of English and facilitate group discussions in small-sized classes. However, most TAs are untrained and inexperienced non-native English speakers, and many have expressed not feeling completely effective in their role. To begin to consider this issue, the paper commences with a background on the organization and an exploration of the problem using a combination of Bolman and Deal’s (2017) framework, a PESTLE analysis, and relevant data and literature. Based on findings and the organization’s current readiness for change, a two-pronged solution of developing a guideline for the TA role and providing corresponding training to equip TAs with needed skills, is recommended. Guided by principles of servant, transformational, and shared leadership theories, implementation, monitoring and evaluation, and communication will be achieved using David Cooperider’s (2013) Appreciative Inquiry, and Kotter’s (1996) Eight-Stage Process of Creating Major Change. These approaches will be applied, in addition to the critical and constructivist lenses, to facilitate collaboration on a plan that will address the needs of stakeholders, but most importantly those of TAs – the least powerful, yet the most desirous of and impacted by the change. Lastly, the ethical implications of the initiative will be also considered, to ensure a process which optimizes TA effectiveness, as well as TA, teacher, and student satisfaction levels
Supporting International School Student Social-Emotional Well-being
Get PDFInternational school students face challenges to their well-being that are unique to their context. This Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) aims to support the social-emotional well-being of Third Culture Kids (TCKs) and English Language Learners (ELLs) at a private, for-profit, international school in South East Asia. It is framed around a Problem of Practice (PoP) based on the need to address the lack of strategically-aligned policies, programs, and systems to support the social-emotional well-being of a diverse and international student body. Foundational to this OIP are leadership approaches and lenses of servant leadership, shared leadership, and systems thinking. Bolman & Deal’s (2017) four frames are used as a framework for analysis of change drivers, organizational gaps, and factors affecting organizational change readiness. Necessary changes addressed include alterations to policy, curriculum, training and awareness, equitable access to resources, and school culture. The proposed solutions and framework for leading change are based on the Appreciative Inquiry (AI) approach of Cooperrider, Whitney, and Stavros (2008) supplemented with elements of Kotter’s (2014) accelerators model. The AI approach is foundational to the change implementation, monitoring and evaluation, and communication plans and processes in order to facilitate alignment with foundational OIP principles, foster broad stakeholder involvement, and to build on existing strengths in the school and community
Enhancing the EdTech Ecosystem in a British Columbia School District
Get PDFTechnology has brought significant opportunities to education, but they are largely being lost. In many cases, spending on educational technology (EdTech) has not resulted in improved student outcomes. This Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) addresses the problem of practice (PoP) of a lack of a framework and supports for K-12 teachers to effectively utilize EdTech in classrooms in the Canadian province of British Columbia (BC). Using a BC school district as a case study, I propose strategies for how leaders can craft and implement a change plan to enhance an EdTech ecosystem that best supports teachers and learners. Establishing a framework for effective use of EdTech in schools is complex and multifaceted. Investments in technology must support best pedagogical practices, and leaders must create conditions that boost teachers’ Technological, Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK; Mishra & Koehler, 2006). Leaders must adapt to shifting power dynamics in which teachers have new roles as emergent leaders. Optimizing the impact of EdTech in education requires a confluence of three key factors: technology, pedagogy, and excellent leadership. The change process must be iterative, ongoing, stakeholder-driven, and system-wide. This OIP blends Appreciative Inquiry (Cooperrider, 1986) principles with servant leadership (Greenleaf, 1970) and incorporates the district’s existing approaches into a hybrid transformational leadership model. I explore a three-pronged solution of EdTech capacity building for teachers, an EdTech vetting system, and a supportive leadership framework. This aims to raise TPACK, optimize EdTech usage, support wise pedagogy, and improve student outcomes
Steam Integration at Aro Academy
Get PDFThis organizational improvement plan centres around a problem of practice at a faith-based independent elementary school in Ontario. Faced with several organizational challenges including declining enrolment and pressure by stakeholders to ensure curriculum delivery remains relevant for 21st Century learners, there is a goal of embedding Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math (STEAM) integrated learning in a meaningful way. The school has made physical space and has the technology available to support instructional change including a dedicated Marker Space and Robotics Room. A robotics specialist and an administrator supervising innovation have been hired to support teachers but integration in the past two years has been slow. There are divisions between the English and the faith-based teachers that are pronounced.
STEAM will be a driver for design thinking and 21C skill development across both the English and the faith-based teaching groups and the Design Thinking Cycle will guide the process. Many aspects of change management are addressed, including managing resisters, conflict teams and how to implement a lateral leadership model when historically the organization has been hierarchical in nature.
Using a Logic Model to identify and articulate the problem of practice and choosing transformational leadership alongside incremental change theory provides the theoretical frame for this process. The Design Thinking cycle provides the conceptual frame as it articulates the change and ultimately the goal for all stakeholders. This problem of practice seeks to build staff capacity and cohesiveness through a process of lateral leadership. Ultimately a final curricular document that outlines STEAM learning at each grade level will be created by members of the STEAM Team and staff will have built capacity. Equity issues such as religion, gender and internal bias will be made transparent and problem solving around these issues will be paramount. Ultimately, the document will be continually revised to react to the global market and as each new technology emerges onto the global landscape and job market the school must pivot and redesign the nature of the STEAM curriculum to reflect these shifts
Strengthening Academic Leadership Practices in a Regionally Dispersed Multi-Campus College in Canada: A Collective Approach to Leadership
Get PDFPostsecondary institutions are expected to respond to constantly changing and varying interests and needs of businesses, communities and students. An increasing number of postsecondary institutions now offer multiple programs and services to respond to this new reality, expanding their activities outside of traditional education, through research, community partnerships or corporate training opportunities. As a result, many now have multiple campuses and departments to support this new reality.
This Organizational Improvement Plan explores one regionally dispersed multi-campus college, College X, in the context of academic program delivery across campuses. It focuses on the challenges of alignment and coherence in program delivery across campuses and examines how leaders can improve academic leadership practices in order to address the challenges around alignment and coherence of program delivery across campuses and departments.
The framework for leading the change process of the Organizational Improvement Plan is done using Cawsey, Deszca and Ingol’s (2016) Change Path Model. It is accompanied by Nadler and Tushman’s (1989) Organizational Congruence Model, which provides an examination of College X through the identification and assessment of the gaps and the organizational dynamics, which help determine the needs for change.
This Organizational Improvement Plan contextualizes the challenges around alignment and coherence in program delivery across campuses. It proposes a change implementation plan that endeavours to integrate a leadership framework which embeds leadership practices that focus on a collective, cohesive and systems approach to leadership and address the challenges around alignment and coherence and to enhance academic leadership across campuses
Black Students At-Risk: The Problem of Overrepresentation in the Student Success Program at FSS
Get PDFAbstract
In Farmside Secondary School (FSS), Black students are disproportionately identified as at-risk and are overrepresented on the student success teacher list. The school climate survey, supported by literature, indicates that racialized students feel targeted, excluded and marginalized in their classrooms. In FSS, social stressors such as systemic oppression, deficit interpretations, non-inclusive learning environments, and inadequate access to supportive structures create gaps. Given the threats these social stressors pose to Black student success, this Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) frames the problem within the context of FSS and provides transformative approaches to the problem. While this OIP creates awareness of the problem, it focuses on two major general goals: (1) influencing change of staff and faculty mindsets and deficit thinking; (2) building and sustaining affirming learning environments. Viewing the problem through a critical race theory (CRT) lens, the change team interprets the problem as anti-Black oppression, recognizes the various forms of systemic oppressive elements existing within FSS cultural learning milieu, and understands the impact of social injustice on these Black students brought about by the social stressors. Through storytelling and counter-narratives regarding how these students are impacted by systemic oppression, and addressing the problem through a transformative leadership approach, the team will generate actionable solutions that will influence faculty to self-examine unconscious biases and recognize the hidden stressors. Cawsey et al. (2016) Readiness for Change Questionnaire will be accessed to determine FSS readiness to address the problem, and the change process will be guided by Cawsey, Deszca & Ingol’s Change Path Model. To determine the outcomes, the entire change process will be appraised using the Edward Deming (1993) Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles. With supportive teacher-student relationships, engagement in equity literacy, teaching with culturally responsive and relevant pedagogy, while providing adequate and timely support to the students in question, the academic achievement of these Black students will soar. More Black students will be empowered to rise to equitable outcomes in their mainstream classrooms alongside their peers. Finally, the ripple effect will produce a reduction in the number of Black students flagged as at-risk.
Keywords: Black Students at-risk, equity and inclusivity, transformative leadership, critical race theory, anti-black racism, intersectionalit