There are many factors why most schools fail to change or to manage change successfully, which the basic school managers in Mongu Township should take note of in the manner they manage curriculum change in their basic schools. For Squire and Reigeluth (2000:150), the most noticeable “outcome of any fundamental change process must be a change in the stakeholders’ mindsets and beliefs about education.” Without change in the users’ mindsets, no changes are likely to succeed. Schollaert and Leenheer (2006:163) argue that change efforts fail because of certain factors:
… voluntarism (the willingness to change), determinism (non- influencibility and non-marketability of change), learning capacity (lack of feedback), and lack of memory of organisation (lack of capacity to store experiences in an appropriate way).
Pellicer (2008: 51) and Schollaert and Leenheer (2006:163) claim that barriers to change will occur if there is a low morale, if change agents are not respected, if existing track records of failed innovations are evident, if risk taking is discouraged and if leaders have negative attitudes towards change and little outside support for change. Reiss (2007: 53), Murphy (2007:74), and Schollaert and Leenheer (2006:163) proffer further that barriers to change may occur if teachers lack motivation, if there is no practical training and support, if change agents do not adapt to developing circumstances, if there are no recognised local needs, if managers offer no sense of collective ownership to change agents, if managers do not build a critical mass for change, if change shows no beneficial innovations, if change is not clearly understood, if change agents are at odds with the professional beliefs, and if change is inadequately resourced. The school managers in Mongu Township should, by and large, take serious consideration of these pertinent issues presented herewith for them to manage their schools efficiently in order to assume optimum standards of achievement (see Chapter 5 paragraph 5.3.1 and 5.3.2.1).
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According to Goldberg (2000:84-85), one of the major reasons why schools do not change much is that change needs management skills which most managers do not possess. Goldberg (2000:84-85), claims that change needs commitment, intelligent managers, an agenda and awareness of the conditions that have to be in place and a grasp of the strategies that one has to use to effect change well. Goldberg (2000:84-85) further attests that change requires management to stay in a school for over a long period of time. Most school managers do not stay in the job long enough to effect curriculum change and change processes. It is important to see if staying short in the managerial positions or jobs to effect change was the case with the basic school managers in Mongu Township after the restructuring programme of the Ministry of Education in 2003 (Ministry of Education 2005b: 25) (see paragraph 5.3.2.1).
The cultural dimensions in a school tend to influence effective learning (Van der Westhuizen, Mosoge & Van Vuuren 2004: 705). Many children in the school environment come from different cultural homes where different cultural practices are experienced and where different languages are spoken. These different backgrounds that learners possess and experience in a school tend to influence effective learning processes. This may in turn affect the management of change processes in the school environment and thus need to be taken into account.
Fullan (2007:26) argues persuasively that change fails partly because of planners’ assumptions and because it is difficult to solve complex problems. The character of change, the working of the local district, the culture of individual schools and their external relationships interact to produce what change will be like (Fullan 2007:26). The basic school managers in Mongu Township must learn from these challenges, lest they fall into the pit of the mismanagement of their school affairs in managing curriculum change.
It is important to reflect on the many challenges which the national education is concerned with regard to managing planned changes in the Zambia schools, especially the lower sections of the education system. Nyambe (2012b:2) clearly articulates that a number of limitations occur in the implementation of curriculum change and change processes:
• difficulties in finding appropriate personnel to implement and manage change. • negative attitudes towards change by change agents in schools.
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• lack of financial resources for the implementation of curriculum change. • lack of skills for teachers to implement curriculum change.
• lack of assessment and evaluation skills by school managers and inspectors. • inadequate manpower to facilitate the monitoring process.
• unfamiliar change to most teachers and school head teachers.
• unlikely that the curriculum change will take into account every local culture, values, ethics, ideals and the tradition of the society or schools
• problems in selecting the language of instruction which suits the needs of learners and finally,
• some teachers believe that they have to follow the official curriculum designed for instruction.
Tomlinson, Brimijoin and Narvaez (2008:11) identify ten (10) critical factors that contribute to the failure of managing planned change efforts. The basic school managers in Mongu Township need to take note of the factors outlined below that contribute to the failure of managing planned or systematic change. They need to come up with the best management practices to manage curriculum change effectively in their school settings. The factors that contribute to the failure of managing planned change efforts in the school management programmes and systems include the following:
• Understanding the complexity of the change processes
Managers of schools are often not ready to deal with the implications of the change for the school or classroom practice. They superficially deal with change; they are not committed to the change and are not ready to deal with fear, tension, loss and conflict that accompanies change.
• Mandating change
It is difficult to alter routines even when there is a good reason and on top of that the change agents seldom perceive it as a good mandate.
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• Insufficient management versus providing a vision
The managers for change must be keepers of a vision, well informed about the vision, and good communicators of a vision. This management aspect is lacking in some school managers who manage change processes.
• Insufficient support and inadequate resources provision
The change efforts affect the actual school routines that require more support, implying that there is a need for long-term and reliable information, feedback collaboration, guided reflection, material and resource provision and indeed reassurance about change.
• Failure to deal with the multifaceted nature of change
Making changes demands alterations in beliefs, attitudes, practices, use of materials, and the culture of the school itself. Failure to alter undermines the possibility of change.
• Lack of persistence
Significant change takes many years to evolve and must be nurtured for long.
• Inattention to change agents’ personal circumstances
Change agents have high-levels of job stress and personal lives, different levels of professional expertise and different approaches to their work and learning styles, which must be taken into account for change processes to succeed.
• Lack of shared clarity about a plan for change
Change agents must have a plan with regard to the change process, must understand the plan well and what is expected of them in the change processes so that support is available during the time of implementing and managing change processes.
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• Weak linkages to learner effect and outcomes
A change initiative must not be discussed without ensuring that it remains focused on the change agents who will experience it and examining their implementation.
• Missteps with scope and pacing
The scope and pacing of change is critical with regard to its outcomes.
Van der Westhuizen discovered striking results of resistance to change in the implementation of Curriculum 2005 that the secondary school principals in South Africa exhibited as articulated below:
... loss in job security, loss of established customs that provided security, increased work pressure, fear of unknown, perception that change was not an improvement, disruption of status quo, fear that change would not succeed, absence of a need to change, lack of creative power, lack of courage to take risks, inability to handle uncertainties during change process, irreconcilability of cultural characteristics with the proposed change, low tolerance for change, lack of resources to facilitate change, insufficient evaluation of the progress of the change, incomprehensible purpose of the change, doubt about own abilities, lack of positive climate for change, unclear role definitions, wrong timing of the implementation of change, no need for change as revealed by previous experiences, lack of application of work strategy for change, lack of power performance innovations, lack of support from the management of the school during change process, weak strategies for managing resistance to change, absence of participative decision making, high level of organisational conflict, authoritarian school management, insufficient communication between schools, staff, the community and school district in the management team of the school (Van der Westhuizen 1996, in: Blandford
1997:179-180).
It must not be forgotten that the new curriculum had its own experienced challenges and successes as discussed in chapter five in this study. The issues discussed above point to the many factors regarding why most schools fail to change or to manage curriculum change successfully. Consequently, basic school managers in Mongu Township should take note of these many factors in the manner they manage curriculum change in their schools. The most noticeable outcome of any fundamental change process must essentially be a change in the stakeholders’ mindsets and beliefs about change in the education system. Presented below are
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the many strategies a manager of a school could consider to manage curriculum change and change processes proficiently, consistently and effectively.