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Self-renewal

Day, C. (1999). 'Self-renewal: Appraisal, change and personal development planning.' In Developing teachers: The challenges of lifelong learning. Educational Change and Development Series. Bristol: Falmer Press. ED 434 878.

Day writes:

The raising of doubts is only the first in what will be a number of potentially painful steps along the road to change - a road which can be littered with obstacles of time, energy, resources and, perhaps more important, self-doubt.

Effective change requires ownership, commitment and motivation. Day quotes Rudduck (1991, p. 93).

If we accept that the practitioner's own sense of self is deeply embedded in their teaching, it should not be surprising to us that they find real change difficult to contemplate and accomplish.

Day provides three fundamentals for change.

  • Professional development cannot be forced. It is the teacher who develops actively: it is not the teacher who is developed passively.
  • Change which is not internalised is likely to be cosmetic, 'token' and temporary.
  • Change at deeper sustained levels involves the modification or transformation of values, attitudes, emotions and perceptions which inform practice. These are unlikely to occur without participation in, and a sense of ownership of, the decision-making change processes.
    (Day, 1999, pp. 97-98)

Principles of 'sustained interactivity' among communities of practice provide one way of achieving change through 'institutionalisation' and 'continuation' phases, promoting cultural change from within through:

  • the mobilisation of broad support
  • a commitment from principals
  • embedding cultural change into classroom practice through structural changes and incorporation into policy
  • a skilled and committed critical mass of staff
  • procedures for ongoing assistance, especially for newcomers
  • the removal of competing priorities
  • inbuilt evaluation
  • assistance, networking and peer support.

(Fullan, 1991, in Stoll & Fink, 1996, in Day, 1999)

Importantly, change may not always be radical, but, rather, might be evolutionary (implicit, unconscious, natural); additive (sudden modification of values, practices); or transformative (conscious, planned) (Rossman, Corbett & Firestone, 1988, in Day, 1999, p. 99).

Day refers to the work of Stallings and colleagues, who found that teachers are more likely to change and sustain change when they:

  • become aware of a need for improvement through analysis of their own observation profile
  • make a written commitment to trying out new ideas in their classroom the next day
  • modify ideas to work in their classroom and school
  • try the ideas and evaluate the effect
  • observe each other's classrooms and analyse their own data
  • report their success or failure to their group
  • discuss problems and solutions
  • use a wide variety of approaches, models, simulations, observations, videotapes and presentations at professional meetings
  • learn in their own way
  • set goals for professional growth.

(Stallings, 1989, pp. 3-4, in Day, 1999)