Abstract
Studies on educational change efforts abound but generally limit themselves to post hoc explanations of failure and success. Such explanations are rarely turned into attempts at providing models for predicting change outcomes. The present study tries to develop such a model based on the teachers’ impact analysis of a management-driven intervention, introducing new public management principles at a Dutch school for vocational education and training. The study uses a mixed method approach, the quantitative part of which encompasses the accomplishment of a cultural domain analysis. It appears that in this case the new public management ideology of result-oriented teacher teams contradicts substantial aspects of the existing teachers’ meaning system, and fails to meet not yet satisfied needs within the current meaning system. As a consequence, the relevance of a substantial number of the cognitions that constitute result-oriented teacher teams appears to be limited. The authors discuss the consequences for the chance to successfully change the teachers’ meaning system and draw conclusions that suggest a set of more general building blocks for assessing change policy plans and practices in educational settings.
Similar content being viewed by others
Abbreviations
- ROTT:
-
Result-oriented teacher team
References
Akkerman, S., Van Den Bossche, P., Admiraal, W., Gijselaers, W., Segers, M., Simons, P. R., et al. (2007). Reconsidering group cognition: From conceptual confusion to a boundary area between cognitive and social-cultural perspectives? Educational Research Review, 2, 39–63.
Argyris, C., & Schön, D. A. (1974). Theory in practice: Increasing professional effectiveness. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Atran, S., Medin, D. L., & Ross, N. O. (2005). The cultural mind: Environmental decision making and cultural modeling within and across populations. Psychological Review, 112(4), 744–776.
Balieiro, M. C., Santos, M. A. D., Santos, J. E. D., & Dressler, W. W. (2011). Does preceived stress mediate the effect of cultural consonance on depression? Transcultural Psychiatry, 48(5), 519–538.
Bate, S. P. (1994). Strategies for cultural change. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann Ltd.
Bernard, H. R. (2006). Research methods in anthropology: Qualitative and quantitative approaches (4th ed.). Lanham: Altamira.
Blase, J., & Blase, J. (1999). Principals’ instructional leadership and teacher development: Teachers’ perspectives. Educational Administration Quarterly, 35, 349–378.
Collins, C. C., & Dressler, W. W. (2008). A mixed methods investigation of human service providers’ models of domestic violence. Journal of Mixed Methods Research, 2(4), 362–387.
Dalin, P. (1994). How schools improve: An international report. London: Cassell.
Dalin, P. (1998). School development; Theories and strategies. London: Cassell.
D’Andrade, R. G. (1995). The development of cognitive anthropology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Fullan, M. (1991). The new meaning of educational change (2nd ed.). London: Cassell Educational Limited.
Fullan, M. (1993). Changes forces. Probing the depths of educational reform. London: The Falmer Press.
Geertz, C. (1973). The interpretation of cultures. New York: Basic Books.
Greene, J. C., & Hall, J. N. (2010). Dialectices and pragmatism; Being of consequence. In A. Tashakkori & C. Teddlie (Eds.), Mixed methods in social and behavioral research (pp. 119–143). Thousand Oaks: Sage Publication Inc.
Gunter, H. M., & Fitzgerald, T. (2013). New public management and the modernisation of education systems. Journal of Educational Administration and History, 45(3), 213–219.
Hall, D. (2013). Drawing a veil over managerialism: Leadership and the discursive disguise of the new public management. Journal of Educational Administration and History, 45(3), 267–282.
Hargreaves, A., & Goodson, I. (2006). Educational change over time? The sustainability and nonsustainability of three decades of secondary school change and continuity. Educational Administration Quarterly, 42(1), 3–41.
Hood, C. (1991). A public management for all seasons. Public Administration, 69, 3–19.
Hopkins, D. (2001). School improvement for real educational change and development. New York: RoutledgeFalmer.
Johnson, R. B., Onwuegbuzie, A. J., & Turner, L. A. (2007). Toward a definition of mixed methods research. Journal of Mixed Methods Research, 1(2), 112–133.
Leithwood, K. A., Jantzi, D., & Mascall, B. (2002). A framework for research on large-scale reform. Journal of Educational Change, 3(1), 7–33.
Leithwood, K. A., Tomlinson, D., & Genge, M. (1996). Transformational school leadership. In K. A. Leithwood, J. D. Chapman, P. Corson, P. Hallinger, & A. Hart (Eds.), International handbook of educational leadership and administration (pp. 785–840). Dordrecht/Boston/London: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
McLaughlin, M. W., & Mitra, D. (2001). Theory-based change and change-based theory: Going deeper, going broader. Journal of Educational Change, 2(4), 301–323.
Morgan, G., Frost, P. J., & Pondy, L. R. (1983). Organizational symbolism. In L. R. Pondy, P. J. Frost, G. Morgan, & T. C. Dandridge (Eds.), Organizational symbolism (pp. 3–35). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
Onderwijsvernieuwingen, C. P. O. (2008). Parlementair onderzoek onderwijsvernieuwingen. Tweede Kamer der Staten Generaal: ‘s-Gravenhage.
Paulsen, N. (2005). New public management, innovation, and the non-profit domain: New forms of organizing and professional identity. In M. Veenswijk (Ed.), Organizing innovation (pp. 15–28). Amsterdam: IOS Press.
Robson, C. (2002). Real world research (2nd ed.). Malden: Blackwell Publishing.
Romney, A. K., Weller, S., & Batchelder, W. (1986). Culture as consensus: A theory of culture and informant accuracy. American Anthropologist, 88, 313–338.
Schön, D. A. (1973). Beyond the stable state. London: Pelican.
Sperber, D. (1996). Explaining culture; A naturalistic approach. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.
Sperber, D., & Hirschfeld, L. A. (2004). The cognitive foundations of cultural stability and diversity. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 8(1), 40–46.
Spillane, J. P., Brian, J. R., & Reimer, T. (2002). Policy implementation and cognition: Reframing and refocusing implementation research. Review of Educational Research, 72(3), 387–431.
Swidler, A. (1986). Culture in action: Symbols and strategies. American Sociological Review, 51(2), 273–286.
Tashakkori, A., & Teddlie, C. (Eds.). (2010). Mixed methods in social and behavioral research (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, Inc.
Thomas, R., Sargent, L. D., & Hardy, C. (2011). Managing organizational change: Negotiating meaning and power-resistance relations. Organization Science, 22(1), 22–41.
Thomson, P. (2008). Headteacher critique and resistance: A challenge for policy, and for leadership/management scholars. Journal of Educational Administration and History, 40(2), 85–100.
Troman, G., & Woods, P. (2001). Primary teachers’ stress. London: Routledge.
Valsiner, J., & Van der Veer, R. (2000). The social mind. Construction of the idea. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
van den Berg, R., Sleegers, P., Geijsel, F., & Vandenberghe, R. (2000). Implementation of an innovation: Meeting the concerns of teachers. Studies in Educational Evaluation, 26, 331–350.
Veenswijk, M. (2005). Cultural change in the public sector: Innovating the frontstage and backstage. In M. Veenswijk (Ed.), Organizing innovation; New approach to cultural change and intervention in public sector organizations (pp. 3–14). Amsterdam: IOS Press.
Weick, K. E. (1995). Sensemaking in organizations. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Weick, K. E. (2001). Making sense of the organization. Malden: Blackwell Publishing.
Weiner, B. J., Amick, H., & Lee, S. D. (2008). Review: Conceptualization and measurement of organizational readiness for change: A review of the literature in health services research and other fields. Medical Care Research and Review, 65(4), 379–436.
Weller, S. C., & Baer, R. (2002). Measuring within- and between-group agreement: Identifying the proportion of shared and unique beliefs across samples. Field Methods, 14(1), 6–25.
Weller, S. C., & Romney, A. K. (1988). Systematic data collection. Newbury Park: SAGE Publications.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Wierenga, S.J., Kamsteeg, F.H., Simons, P.R.J. et al. Teachers making sense of result-oriented teams: A cognitive anthropological approach to educational change. J Educ Change 16, 53–78 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10833-014-9240-2
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10833-014-9240-2