Search

This paper presents the results of a preliminary investigation into the innovative capacities of secondary schools. The content of the innovation in this case was the implementation of a core curriculum for Dutch secondary education. The goal of this preliminary investigation was to refine the conceptualization of the innovative capacity of schools. A review of the literature was performed and interviews (N = 46) were conducted based on the results of this review. The nine schools involved in the research were recruited from a “high innovation group” and a “low innovation group.” The results of the interviews proved to be largely comparable to the expectations derived from a tentative conceptual framework.

During the 1990s, large-scale reform efforts intensified as a strategy to implement educational innovations (Fullan, 2000). Evaluations of innovation efforts from past decades have made clear that these reforms have produced unsatisfactory results in many cases. In particular, we can conclude from this literature that changes in teaching practice are extremely difficult to accomplish. Within this context of intensifying educational reforms, it is important to examine the organizational potential for innovation and capacity of schools to realize large- scale innovations.

Item does not contain fulltext In this article, a number of scientific schools of thought and research results are reviewed and found to show the importance of identifying the existential attributions of teachers. Important points of anchor are existential phenomenology and symbolic interactionism, the approach to organizations as emotional arenas, social-psychological theories, concerns theory, and, finally, a number of different perspectives on the professional identities of teachers. Next, those policy developments responsible for the emergence of specific existential attributions are considered. At the same time, the results of some recent studies attempting to explain the emergence of certain existential attributions are discussed: studies of the professional development of teachers, analyses of the feelings of uncertainty and concerns that occur among teachers during innovations, and research on tolerance of uncertainty among teachers during the current intensification of their jobs. Finally, redesigning the innovation process is discussed with an eye to just how the existential attributions of teachers can best be handled.

Item does not contain fulltext

Item does not contain fulltext 0ntbrkt

Item does not contain fulltext the present contribution, the question of the conditions under which innovations appear to succeed stands central. Such objective conditions as organizational structure, technological possibilities, and budgets are clearly important for innovations to succeed. Of particular interest here, however, are, the concerns of teachers and the role that these concerns play in the innovation process. A plea is made for increased attention to the individual questions, needs, and opinions that arise among teachers in response to innovations. Concerns are presented as indicators of the subjective realities of teachers and, at times, the expression of ambivalence with regard to the innovation in question. After sketching the relevant theory, we show that increased attention is needed to the involvement of teachers and, thereby, their concerns with regard to even such recent innovations as adaptive teaching. This need is illustrated on the basis of the research material we have collected over the past few years. The data show, among other things, that teachers at different stages in the innovation process express different types of concerns. Clear attunement of innovation policy to those (possibly subjective) factors influencing the implementation process is thus seen as a necessity. Among these factors are the framework of phases in the innovation, the scale of the innovation, the individual orientations of the teachers involved in the innovation, and the match between the orientations of the teachers and the concerns elicited by the innovation.

Item does not contain fulltext Schools are increasingly responsible for their own future. Therefore, it is fruitful to examine these organizations' potential for innovation and their capacity to realize large-scale innovations in particular. With this goal in mind, a strategy for the study of the innovative capacity of schools was developed. In a previous article for this journal, a preliminary study of the innovative capacity of secondary schools was reported. The results of this research were then used to create a conceptual model of the innovative capacity of schools. In the present study, the innovative capacity of primary schools in The Netherlands was examined. The purpose of the present study was to validate the model developed in the previous study and go one step further by examining the possible relation between the innovative capacity of schools and intensity of concern among the teachers and school leaders. A number of high-innovation and low-innovation primary schools were selected for study. A questionnaire was administered and two interviews were undertaken with the teachers, internal supporters, and school leaders in these primary schools (N=64). The results of the questionnaire and the interviews provide a better understanding of the innovative capacity of schools.

Item does not contain fulltext Examines the nature of transformational leadership and its relation to teachers’ changed practices within the context of Dutch large-scale innovation. Presents two qualitative studies and a survey. The qualitative studies produced three dimensions of transformational leadership: vision, individual consideration, and intellectual stimulation. Within the framework of the survey, these dimensions were further operationalized and exploratively related to teachers’ concerns, teachers’ learning activities, and teachers’ changed practices. The results indicate the significance of the dimensions of transformational leadership in relation to changed teacher practices. The results also suggest the significance of intervening constructs for future research into the impact of leadership on changed teacher practices.

In Western Europe, educational innovations can be characterized as increasingly large scale. Nevertheless, in every innovation one always confronts the question of the appropriate strategy for introducing the innovation. With regard to large-scale innovations, it is also important to search for supplemental support strategies.