Pernille Berg

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The reluctant change agent

THIS DISSERTATION CRITICALLY analyses the discourse on educational change. By placing educational change in the context of globalisation and innovation the author argues that the current discourse on educational change is un-nuanced and omits the important perspectives on change. The author has analysed an educational district in Sweden and one of its projects on competence development, named 'Striving for Action Teachers' in the dissertation. The project has involved 75 teachers and both pre-school, primary, secondary and special ed. schools. By interviewing some of the participating teachers and analysing their reflections on the competence development programme the author is able to develop four different types of categories of teachers and their perception on change and teaching. The four categories consist of the change agent, the reformer, the passionate pioneer and the dedicated teachers. These four different types of teachers are placed in the spectrum of top-down initiatives and focus areas encompassing teaching to the school as an educational organisation. By providing this research the author is thus able to elaborate on the research regarding educational change. By analysing the proposed four categories the author critically assesses the way in which top-down change initiatives may fallaciously assume that change can be brought about. The author presents different explanations to why change initiatives may be rejected and argues that when change is represented in a physical manifestation in one teacher supposed to be the vector of change, the teachers expected to assume this role of change end up rejecting this responsibility. In critically discussing the research on educational change and innovation the author situates the discourse on educational change in the growing research and discourse on innovation, especially public and social innovation. The author addresses similar concern when it pertains to innovation as previously purported in relation to educational change. The discussion illustrates the problematic tendency that the ambiguity inhibiting these debates leads to obfuscation. This obfuscation manifests itself in the way in which educational organisations address and respond to these demands. With the four categories of teachers the author argues for a further debate and nuanced perspective on innovation and educational change in order to continuously ascertain and critically assess the why’s, the who’s and the how’s behind each innovation and change. The dissertation is based in a cross-disciplinary field of theories: innovation, globalisation, sociology of education and organisational theories. Methodologically the dissertation is based within qualitative methods: observations, interviews and written materials.

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