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Regulus
Leadership and Governance
3
Thinking
change
for
Among the eight learning values
at St Andrew’s College - Achieve,
Co-operate, Inquire, Innovate, Think,
Know, Strive and Organise, it’s the
concept of innovate that is behind a
new teacher-led initiative to explore
how teaching practices at the College
can be aligned to global advances
in pedagogy.
Dr Cheryl Doig, a leadership futurist
who works internationally, was
invited to facilitate an Innovation
and Research group made up of
St Andrew’s staff. As well as
facilitating teacher discussion on
Innovative Teaching Practice, Dr Doig
is also supporting the team to design
a professional learning programme
with opportunities for mentoring, peer
feedback and external connections.
Dr Doig, who is Fellow of the New
Zealand Institute of Management
and a member of the Association of
Professional Futurists, has high praise
for the progress the group has made
after just two sessions. “There is a
lot of talent in the room. People have
been open to sharing ideas, have been
thoughtful in the conversations, and
presented ideas enabling them to
move forward to innovate in their
own practice.”
The idea around the Innovation and
Research group is that this inaugural
year of the programme will be about
prototyping ideas so that 2015 will
have a more structured approach.
“We want to create a programme that
meets teachers’ needs, will excite and
challenge them, and most importantly
create practices that can feed back
into the school programme,” says
Dr Doig.
“At the heart of Innovative Teaching
Practice is the willingness to
explore new ideas that haven’t
been tried before, dig deeper into
the latest research on what makes
good learning, and connect with
other educators and researchers
internationally who are at the cutting
edge of curriculum pedagogy and
research practice.”
Dr Doig’s role is to act as a
provocateur and push boundaries
through robust conversations and
debate to confront thinking. “Teachers
need to keep challenging themselves
and have an outward mindset. It’s
easy to be focused inwards and forget
you are part of a bigger, global picture
of learning.”
The initiative is also about identifying,
developing and encouraging leaders
who are open to change, and have
the will to continually improve, and
try new ideas. Dr Doig is a proponent
of change specialist John Kotter,
the Konosuke Matsushita Professor
of Leadership, Emeritus at Harvard
Business School and author of 17
books on change management. Kotter
wrote in an article in the
Harvard
Business Review
in November 2012
that: “People… are working within
a system that basically asks most
people to shut up, take orders, and
do their jobs in a repetitive way. The
inevitable failures of single operating
systems hurt us now. They are going
to kill us in the future.”
Dr Doig says creating a dedicated
Innovation and Research group within
the school that actively seeks out new
research and ideas bodes well for
the College. “Often this research will
run parallel to the ‘business as usual’
running of a school. Members of the
group who spend time in innovative
thinking now have a supported way to
feed back into the school system.
“Schools can get caught up in the here
and now and miss what’s happening in
the wider community. St Andrew’s has
grasped an opportunity to move away
from being insular and rather look
outwards and support its staff to do
different things.”
Dr Doig says that while she will be
facilitating the group initially, the
intention is for it to become self-
supporting. “The obligation is always
to start something that creates its own
space and has its own momentum
so it doesn’t require an external
supporter. Certainly this is their (the
teachers) project, that requires their
energy and their direction.”
Dr Cheryl Doig