Abstract
The focus of this overview is on the role of the user (student, teacher, parent) in the process of educational change. In the first section research literature is reviewed by critically examining the assumptions of existing models and approaches to educational change, and by analyzing evidence on actual user experience with educational innovations. The main conclusion is that the modal process of change whereby innovations are developed external to schools and then transmitted to them has led to no significant change at the user level. In the second section of the paper, the analysis is extended by relating the basic contentions and findings of the authors in the present issue to the criteria for effective change identified in the first section. These articles provide important state-of-the-field analyses of various aspects of school innovations in “organization for learning” and in curriculum. The overall conclusion in the final section is that a radical restructuring of the role of the user and a complete reversal of the direction of influence in the process of change are required if effective innovations are to occur. Finally, the main principles and elements of reform—techniques, activities, organizational forms—necessary to support this active user role, and other factors beyond the user level that might impinge on this role, are outlined.
Résumé
Cet article concentre l'attention sur le rôle de l'usager (étudiant, professeur, parent) dans le processus de l'évolution en éducation. Dans la première partie, l'auteur passe en revue les rapports de recherches et se livre à une étude critique des hypothèses servant de base aux modèles existants et des moyens d'aborder le problème de l'évolution en éducation; il analyse par ailleurs les preuves sur l'expérience réelle de l'usager en matière d'innovations éducatives. La conclusion principale tirée de cette étude est que le processus conditionnel de l'évolution, selon lequel les innovations se développent d'abord à l'extérieur de l'école pour y être communiquées par la suite, n'a pas abouti à un changement important au niveau de l'usager. Dans la deuxième partie, l'auteur pousse plus loin son analyse et compare les affirmations et les découvertes de base des auteurs de la présente publication, auteurs qui se sont penchés sur ce problème aux critères indispensables à l'évolution et identifiés dans la première partie. Ces articles renferment d'importantes analyses sur l'état du problème et sur les aspects relatifs aux innovations scolaires en matière “d'organisation en vue de l'apprentissage” et du programme d'études. Dans sa conclusion générale, exposée dans la dernière partie de l'article, l'auteur affirme que si l'on veut aboutir à des innovations efficaces, il faudra procéder à une restructuration radicale du rôle de l'usager et à un renversement complet de l'orientation de l'influence qui s'exerce dans le processus de l'évolution. Il énumère enfin les principes et les éléments fondamentaux de la réforme qui sont nécessaires à appuyer ce rôle actif de l'usager: techniques, activités, formules d'organisation—ainsi que les autres facteurs qui dépassent le niveau de l'usager et qui peuvent empiéter sur le rôle en question.
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I would like to thank Andrew Effrat and Paul Paschke for their many valuable contributions in developing this issue, and Glenn Eastabrook for many ideas included in the introduction. I would also like to thank Nancy McIntosh for typing this introduction, and Barbara Finch and Catherine Cragg for their extensive editorial work.
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Fullan, M. Overview of the innovative process and the user. Interchange 3, 1–46 (1972). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02137634
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02137634