Can understanding teachers’ responses to change improve implementation practices?

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Posted October 18, 2024 .
By Simon King .
1 min read.

Can you guess the country of origin of this quote?

“Trouble was, in the initial stages, no one knew how the whole thing would work out in practice. It was like jumping into the unknown; suddenly, everything you knew and did was wrong.”

This quote is from Irene King, a reading expert advisor who supported schools and teachers during education reform days in England in the 1980s. Teachers in most countries have often experienced multiple rounds of education reform.

So, what have we learned from how teachers respond to change that can be used to inform our program implementation?