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Change is something that we fear or embrace. It is widely considered as the one constant in our lives. For education at present we face a deluge of reports that the pace of change shall only accelerate and its scale become more absolute. No wonder then that many teachers feel now is a good time for a move out of the profession. For others the changing face of education is seen as bringing exciting new possibilities wrapped in engaging challenges. Regardless of how reliable predictions for change may prove to be it is worth considering how individuals and groups respond to it.

Can a bunch of school kids really change the world in five minutes a day? This class of primary school kids demonstrate over the course of a week that it only takes five minutes a day to make a positive impact-from recycling to planting fruit and veg and telling jokes. You can find out more and contact the filmmaker, Tristan Bancks, at www.tristanbancks.com This film was made for Film Australia's Change the World in 5 Minutes project. See more films and upload your own ideas for Changing the World @ http://programs.sbs.com.au/changetheworld

 Embedded in the very weave of the organisation, culture is the most difficult aspect of an organisation to change and the hardest form of change to sustain 'That's because transforming a culture requires influencing people's deepest beliefs and most habitual behaviours' (Rogers, Meehan & Tanne 2006 p5). Rogers et al indicate that as little as 10% of all organisations that set out to develop a high performing culture achieve their goal.

You do not need to look very hard to find a report claiming that schools and education needs to change. But real change needs more than teacher blaming and increased accountability. What will drive real change is . . .

n practical terms, any change effort that does not consider the culture into which it is introduced is unlikely to succeed. The worst-case scenario is that the change effort is resisted to such a degree that it is never truly implemented. In many cases, however, the change effort fails to produce the sort of results initially imagined despite the efforts of all involved to adopt the change. Although the new behaviours are adopted, something goes wrong, and it isn't always that the new idea itself is to be blamed. - Maybe it's culture?

The potential for reliably predicting the outcome of any change effort is surely difficult if not even impossible once the number of influences becomes large. Acknowledging the complexity that exists and seeing the potential for growth, creativity and innovation that can exist within an organisation at 'the edge of chaos' are useful strategies as schools face a period of unprecedented change. 

Understanding responses to change is critical and with the predicted future of education increasingly being linked to innovative practices which prepare students for an unknown future change is a central theme

The frog in the pot of boiling water in An Inconvenient Truth is a cinematic moment that has the desired effect. It is one of the moments from the film that the audience remembers long after the credits roll. I have often thought about how this metaphor applies to change and particularly the way that change operates in schools.

We are living in interesting, frightening and rapidly changing times. Where rapid changes and transformations through technology, politics, globalisation and the climate, conspire against normality. These times demand a fresh approach to education, one that provides learners with the thinking dispositions they need to turn challenges into opportunities.  "All that was 'normal' has now evaporated; we have entered postnormal times, the in-between period where old orthodoxies are dying, new ones have not yet emerged, and nothing really makes sense." But what thinking might guide us through this time of volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity?

Society confronts educational change in an odd, entirely counter intuitive manner. On one hand we acknowledge that education can and should do a better job of preparing our children for the future while on the other we cling to the models of education that we knew. This led educational writer Will Richardson to state that 'the biggest barrier to rethinking schooling in response to the changing worldscape is our own experience in schools'. Our understandings of what school should be like and our imaginings of what school could be like are so clouded by this experience that even the best evidence for change is overlooked or mistrusted.

The role of the teacher is slowly but surely changing and with this come new challenges. Change becomes inevitable and processes for managing this and capitalising on the opportunities it brings becomes paramount within organisations. It is perhaps not surprising that educational institutions may evolve to become what are termed 'Learning Organisations' or 'Professional Learning Communities' within which there is a focus on the application of the principles of learning to manage change and explore new opportunities. 

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Concepts * What is a walk? * What are tags? * What is the Twilight Zone? * Why no photos or videos, just voice? Recording and uploading * How do I record and share an echo? * How do I give recorder permanent permission to use microphone? * I've got a .wav audio file how can I upload it? * How do I encode audios to mp3? Managing echoes * How many echoes can I create? * How do I place an echo on its exact location? * How do I change an echo license? * How do I change an echo location? * How can I change the title of an echo? * How can I delete an echo? Using the site * How do I register? * How do I find echoes from some place? * How can I keep favorites? Community * How do I contact another user? * What should I do if I find an offensive or illegal echo? Legalese * Is Woices free? * Can I modify or redistribute any echo? * Which kind of license do my echoes have? Other * Can I help translating woices.com to my mother language? * Will you go GPS? * Problems playing echoes and walks? * How do I report bugs or feedback about woices? Concepts top What is a walk? Registered users can group some of their echoes and create a walk. A walk is a collection of related echoes, usually geographically close so that they can be listened in sucession (during a 'walk'). Walks are dynamic since users can keep adding or removing echoes from their walks.

This 2020 Forecast is a tool for thinking about, preparing for, and shaping the future. It outlines key forces of change that will shape the landscape of learning over the next decade. The forecast does not predict what will happen, but rather serves as a guide to the as-yet-unwritten future. It is designed to help you see connections among things that once seemed unrelated and to help you consider the changes and challenges that you are facing today within the context of wider patterns of change. Ultimately, the 2020 Forecast aims to provoke your own thinking about what role you want to play in creating the future of learning.

Dynamic Einstein picture You can change the text on this image to whatever you like. Change the text in the form below, then click on "preview image". The text in the image will change accordingly. You can align the text with spaces and enters.

With the newest USDA changes to school lunch menus across America, will students finally have a healthy lunch program? And if these changes are activated how will schools encourage students to change their poor eating habits?

As marketers, you must be on the lookout for new opportunities to capitalize on the changing behavior of your customers. Today, social media marketing trends are undergoing rapid change due to increased usage and rising user expectations.

As marketers, you must be on the lookout for new opportunities to capitalize on the changing behavior of your customers. Today, social media marketing trends are undergoing rapid change due to increased usage and rising user expectations.

Demonstration of the ease of changing an LPG bottle on the updated RCM Mille sweeping machine. Machine imported from Italy by Sweepers Australia Pty Ltd, telephone 1800 358 770.

Demonstration of the ease of changing an LPG bottle on the updated RCM Mille sweeping machine. Machine imported from Italy by Sweepers Australia Pty Ltd, telephone 1800 358 770.

The foundational stability of schools might be our greatest strength.Getting the fundamentals right and protecting them during change efforts is essential. 

Taken simplistically there could be a feeling that due to the complexity of large systems change becomes an uncontrollable beast with a mind of its own. 

I am currently reading "Thank you for being late: An optimist's guide to thriving in the age of accelerations" and have found in this the answer to these questions. In essence we are confronting two types of change, one that we have always faced and one that is unique to our current times.