Session 2
Acting as a change agent
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Acting as a change agent
It is one thing to create a new curriculum but
you can’t assume that teachers in schools will
be enthusiastic about using it.
2
Common dilemmas faced by teachers
Organising the children on an individual basis
Giving children a degree of control over their
use of time, their activities and their work
standards
Seeking to motivate the children through
intrinsic involvement and enjoyment of
activities
Attempting to integrate various elements of
the curriculum
Trying to build up co-operative and social skills
3
A recent researcher indicated that teachers
have the following teaching styles:
Reproduction teachers – they are
concerned directly with the improvement of
performance – they use cut and dried
methods that work
Meaning teachers – are aware that their
own interpretations are limited. They try
to enable students to obtain better
understandings. They try to clarify their
experiences to students
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Teaching styles continued…
Open teachers – are those who acknowledge to
themselves and others that there are problems of
communication to be resolved. They do not
create the impression that they know all
Closed teachers – are those who do not
communicate to others about their inadequacies.
They are relatively narrow in their
communications
Survival teachers – are those who are not just
really concerned about learning. They just want
to survive in difficult classrooms
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Some definitions
Diffusion is the spontaneous, unplanned
spread of new ideas. It involves a special
type of communication between individuals
and groups because the messages are
concerned with new ideas. Diffusion is
really a one-way process. Most frequently
it is affected by an exchange of ideas and
information between individuals
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Definitions continued…
Dissemination has a narrower focus and
applies to the specific procedures used to
inform individuals and groups about an
innovation and to gain their interest in it.
Some people see dissemination as mainly a
marketing activity. Others see it within a
cultural framework. They maintain that
you need to be aware of a school system’s
attitudes and administrative structure and
use dissemination activities that are
suitable for it
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Change strategies and tactics
A strategy is a plan for replacing an
existing program by an innovation. There
are a number of strategies but as a general
guide the following three are typically
used:
Power coercive strategies are based on
the control of rewards and punishments
and are relatively easy to apply. That is,
they are extrinsic in nature.
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Change strategies and tactics
continued…
Normative/re-educative strategies refer
to actions intended to manipulate
recipients so that they can see the
situation differently. This can be achieved
by biased messages, persuasive
communications and by training
workshops. The recipients are trained or
re-educated to appreciate the beneficial
aspects of a particular innovation
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Change strategies and tactics
continued…
Empirical-rational strategies rely upon
the recipients realising that they should
change to the new innovation in their best
interests. The strategies rely upon
providing detailed knowledge about an
innovation by holding workshops, seminars
and demonstrations
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Change strategies
Power-coercive
Use rewards and punishment
Normative–Re-educative
Persuade persons to see things differently
Empirical-Rational
Use detailed knowledge/evidence
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Tactics
Tactics are specific actions that are taken to
reinforce the impact of a strategy. There are
many possible tactics that might be used.
They can include the following:
Impersonal information
Personal demonstration
Interpersonal field agents
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Tactic Components
There are 5 components for each tactic,
namely:
Relative costs
Relative coverage
Relative impact
User convenience
Feedback
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Direct Mail
Mass Media
L
L
H
H
L
L
H
M
Feedback
User Convenience
Relative Impact
Relative Coverage
IMPERSONAL
Information
Rel. Cost of Implementation
Tactics and their potential effects
Ideal for
Installing or
replacing visible,
H
low-risk, familiar
innovations
L Awareness, arousal
Unsuited to
Incentives Required
Complex
Innovations
Low price, ease of
ordering, guarantee,
bonus, etc
Complex, highcost innovations
Stimulus to act on
information (limited
time, special
introductory offer, etc)
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Relative Coverage
Relative Impact
User Convenience
Printed Matter
L
M
L
H
Professional
Association
L
M
M
M
Feedback
IMPERSONAL
Information
Rel. Cost of Implementation
Tactics and their potential effects
continued…
Ideal for
Unsuited to
Complex
innovations
L Awareness, interest
requiring handson trail
Awareness of
M innovations, data
on trials
Mass-market
adoptions
Incentives Required
Stimulus to act on
information
Professional
membership status,
interaction with peers,
prepaid travel to
meetings
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Tactics and their potential effects
continued…
PERSONAL DEMONSTRATION
On-Site
M L M H H
Trial of high-risk
Low-risk routine
innovations in large adoptions
LEAs
Visitation
H M M L M
Demonstration of
complex, high-risk
innovations
Workshop
M L L M M
Hands-on trial
Released time
for observation
testimonials
Low-cost, routine Released time,
adoptions
prepaid travel
materials to
take home,
testimonials
Persuasion of
Free
university
registration,
personnel
credit,
materials to
take home,
snacks
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Tactics and their potential effects
continued…
INTERPERSONAL FIELD AGENTS
NonCommercial
H M M H H
Implementing
Mass-market
high-risk,
adoptions
unfamiliar,
complex training or
organizational
innovations
Commercial
H H H H H
Installing highmarkup, low-risk,
consumable
innovations
Low-markup,
complex
innovations
Free
consultation,
technical
assistance,
targeted
information
retrieval
system, etc.
Free samples,
entertainment,
volume
discounts,
special deals,
etc.
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To take an example, consider the
following:
Impersonal information e.g. direct mail
to schools
Relative costs
Relative coverage
Relative impact
User convenience
Feedback
Low
High
Low
Moderate
Low
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Do your own summaries for each of the following
tactics, making sure you rate each of the five
components each time as high, medium and low
Impersonal – Direct Mail; Mass Media;
Printed Matter; Professional Association
Personal Demonstration – On-site;
Visitation; Workshop
Interpersonal field agents – Noncommercial; commercial
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