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Self-Renewing Secondary Schools: The Relationship between Structural and Cultural Change.
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Hannay, Lynne M. Ross, John A. |
| Copyright Year | 1999 |
| Abstract | This paper explores the deep-reform efforts of 9 secondary schools over a 3-year period. The reforms occurred in an Ontario, Canada, school district that empowered their secondary schools to develop site-specific organizational structures that deviated from the traditional subject, departmental structure. The sample for the study included all individuals in the new administrative positions and all secondary-school principals in the school district. A total of 180 interviews were conducted. The study focused on the relationship between restructuring and "reculturing" in secondary schools. The results suggest that two key factors of restructuring facilitate reculturing: structural evolution and new roles and relationships. The paper presents findings on structural evolution; the acceptance of contextual differences; emergent design; goal-driven models; the interactive/reflective process; broadening leadership; new ways of operating; reculturing outcomes; conspicuous reculturing outcomes; increased acceptance of, and capacity for, change; and subtle reculturing outcomes. It concludes that the restructuring process must involve participants in constructing the new organizational structures; this engagement spawned the reflection required for reculturing. The evidence suggests that structural change by itself will most likely not facilitate cultural change; rather, it is the sustained and carefully facilitated process that has the possibility of fostering cultural change. Contains 30 references. (RJM) ******************************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. ******************************************************************************** SELF-RENEWING SECONDARY SCHOOLS: THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN STRUCTURAL AND CULTURAL CHANGE Lynne M. Hannay John A. Ross Associate Professor and Head Professor and Head Midwestern Centre Trent Valley Centre OISE/UT OISE/UT Paper Presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association Montreal U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office t Educational Research and Improvement EDU TIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) April, 1999 tEf This document has been reproduced as received from the person or organization originating it. 0 Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality. Points of view or opinions stated in this document do not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy. BEST COPY AVAIABLE PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) 1 Self-Renewing Secondary Schools: The relationship between structural and cultural changel As the world spins towards the new millennium, there has been an increasing call to reform secondary schools in terms of the educational opportunities offered to students; yet these schools are notorious for either resisting change or assimilating innovations to the point that the innovations resemble past practices. Unless we understand the underlying processes promoting the status quo, then future change in secondary schools is problematic indeed. Possibly, the subject department structure might well be a prime deterrent to sustained change in secondary schools. For almost the last hundred years, the subject department structure has been a taken-for-granted way of organizing and operating secondary schools. This structure covertly defines the interaction patterns and educational values in most secondary schools. As such, the structure perpetuates a culture which values compartmentalization of knowledge and teachers. Further, the role of department head can symbolize not only this compartmentalization but a hierarchical decision-making process. There has been little challenge or questioning of this way of organizing secondary schools and it is not surprising that the subject department structures is one of the most impenetrable structures in education. Seemingly if the secondary school reform initiatives are to be seriously entertained, then there is a need to reculture secondary schools to redefine educational values considered of worth. Fullan (1993, p. 49) suggests that reculturing requires "changing norms, habits, skills, and beliefs". He warns that to restructure is not to reculture and that reculturing must take place prior to restructuring. Yet a paradox exists in secondary schools: without some degree of initial restructuring, the subject department defined culture might prohibit any real or sustained cultural change that challenges the status quo. 1 Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Montreal, April 1999. This research study was funded by a grant from the Ontario Ministry of Education and Training and the Social Science and Humanities Research Council with support from the Kawartlia Pine Ridge District School Board and District #49 Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation. |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED431223.pdf |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
