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THE EMOTIONAL SIDE OF CHANGE IN EDUCATION May 2006 by Dhyan Vermeulen Dear EQEE networkers, Seemingly intractable problems of change in education can easily lead to give up, if we try to change the educational organization. Michael Fullan argues: "Among the fundamental problem of educational change are:
Anyone who spends time in public schools can feel the growing and deepening malaise among educators, whether it seems from a sense on the part of teachers that the public and the government do not care about them, or from an overwhelming sense of despair that the problems are insurmountable and worsening." Teachers and students feel disowned and alienate. This is the case in Europe, USA, Australia, Asia and in developing countries all over the world. In this complex post-modern time we need learning and knowledge exchange as spin off for sustainable change. Can education create time, space, ownership, context and content for 'new' effective learning? For large numbers of the teaching profession, the pressure of the job has taken the joy out of teaching. At the same time a significant minority of teachers has been attracted to specific reform initiatives and networks. The increasing intrusive scrutiny of the performance of schools and teachers is leaving many teachers emotionally drained, with feelings of confusion, anxiety, and professional inadequacy. The presence of a continuous stream of superficial, unconnected innovations justifies the conclusion that the system does not know what it is doing either. The state of educational reform from middle '90 until now is a prime candidate for the lost cause category because none of the current strategies being employed results in substantial, widespread change. We have to face the lost cause; like Mr Smiths father's advice: "Lost causes are the only ones worth fighting for." ( Mister Smith Goes to Washington; Capra's movies from the thirties). We all know smart people who do dumb things, and that many people of modest intelligence who are quite successful. Most of them have they ability to motivate themselves and to manage there emotions. Self-control and empathy, says Goleman, are the heart of emotional intelligence. Moreover, Damasio presents compelling evidence that emotions are indispensable for rational decisions because they inform and narrow the range of choices in solving problems and making decisions. Cognitive intelligence is an advantage, but it is especially so when it combines with emotional maturity. The combination of heart and head is crucial to effectiveness. People with well developed emotional attitudes and skills are more likely to deal effectively with other people's feelings and more content. They master the habits of mind that foster their own learning path. There is no silver bullet no shortcut to reform, management techniques devalued the value and disrespect emotions. Creative (intuitive) people do not accept at face value what comes at them. They do not rush to define the nature of problems; they look at the situation from various angles and leave the formulation undetermined for a long time. They try tentative solutions and check there success- and they are open to reformulating the problem if the evidence suggest they started out on the wrong path.(Csikszentmihalyi's 1996). Suppressing intuition and emotion is a barrier to good judgement and we need to give them both more space in dealing with complex change circumstances. Initiators with greater emotional attitudes/ skills and empathy learn from resisters. They don't just, discontent or deny it. They simply act of listening, of seeking to understand the nature of discontent. This initiators know that emotion is energy. They know that combination of heart and head is crucial in learning the learning process. In essence; the role of enthusiasts in education has been overestimated, and the value of resisters, has been missed. Trying to manipulate or otherwise control the change process in order to minimize or eliminate resistance us not only futile but it is exhausting. Finding a way to reconcile positive and negative emotion is the key to releasing energy for change. Given the complexity and chaotic conditions of post-modern life, emotional development is a crucial factor to survive. We need emotional quality of learning for sustainable development. Please give your re-actions, ideas, stories, questions. Best regards, Dhyan Drs.Dhyan.E.W.M Vermeulen Educational expert Ambassador HVO APS Utrecht http://www.aps.nl d.vermeulen@aps.nl 0031 30 2856856 (secr.) http://www.eqee.org 0031 06 25051957 (work-GSM) European Network on Emotional Quality © 2002-2008 |