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Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to present findings on educational change and effective

techniques for leading and managing change. These findings are obtained from past studies on

the above two topics, how they intertwine, and how they can be applied to our organization’s

search of a new Chief Executive Officer (CEO). A literature review approach was utilized to

assess the opportunities and challenges of educational change, as well as some guidance on how

to select a dynamic leader to lead us toward effective transformation. The need for educational

change and its challenges will be discussed. A set of characteristics of successful transformative

leaders will be provided and based on those, recommendations for our CEO selection will

conclude this paper.

As times change, the way education is done globally also has to change. Changes are

driven by factors such as innovative people and processes within an organization (internal) and

the rise of new technologies in the educational sector (external). They represent the methods for

schools and educators to achieve their goals. Easier said than done, educational change can

succeed or fail; it can be a triumph or a disaster and can promote change or make us feel resistant

to change. Therefore, it requires strong educational leadership to lead schools through the

difficult journey of change. Over the past years, a variety of conceptual models have been

employed to better match leadership with the evolving educational trends. One model that

focuses on the innovation (Hallinger, 2003) rather than coordination and supervision is

transformational leadership. Transformational leaders are more sought-after by modern

organizations due to their ability to develop and commit to change.

Literature Review

Educational Change: Purpose, Opportunities, and Challenges

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First, let’s explore educational change. According to Wong (2007), the ultimate objective

of educational change is to help educational institutions accomplish their goals more effectively.

They can do so by reconstituting their current structures and practices with newer and more

enhanced ones. Reconstitution mainly deals with school improvement, which includes student

learning, learning conditions, and learning processes (Hargreaves et all, 1998). A successful

educational change, therefore, goes through a three-step process identified by Wong (2007). First

of all, the need to change must be established, along with an evaluation of the school’s current

capacity and human resources to better prepare for change initiatives. Second of all, the actual

implementation takes place with changes in multiple dimensions including (but not limited to)

management, teaching and learning activities, instructors’ and learners’ values and beliefs, and

the overall educational culture. Finally, the last step identifies the strengths and limitations of

change initiatives to further improve the process for future activities.

Fullan (2001) also argues that aside from the above factors listed by Hargreaves,

successful change implementation needs a successful change in practice. In particular, Fullan

emphasized that there were three dimensions of educational change: the introduction of revised

materials, the use of new teaching approaches, and the alternation of people’s beliefs. The level

of difficulty increases from the first to the last dimension, with the most challenging one to

employ being the changing of beliefs, such as the theories underlying particular policies.

In terms of challenges of change, the first one identified by past studies is teachers’

resistance to change. Over the past years, teachers have been overwhelmed with innovations.

Humans tend to prefer the familiar and therefore, are afraid of drastic changes (Gustavson,

1955). It is natural to predict that most teachers will respond to changes with resistance. The

issue with resistance here does not come from ethics but overload. Teachers who are swamped
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by a big amount of changes over a short period of time will find it exhaustive and difficult to

keep up. As a result, their willingness to change diminishes eventually. Many have argued that

while change is much appreciated, it constrains their autonomy and creativity (Datnow, 2020).

According to Fink and Stoll (2005), the pressures and limits placed and imposed on teachers’

involvement in making changes are the main causes of resistance.

Another challenge to change identified by Hayward (2010) is how change can be

sustained on a broader scale. She introduced two models of promulgation: transmission, which is

based on a belief that change happens through information dissemination; and transformation,

which is more collaborative. Education is highly contextual and putting it in a highly uncertain

future makes it difficult to predict what we can do to scale up educational change (Burner, 2018).

In the next section, I will explore the advantages of transformational leadership and how it

connects to effective educational change.

Transformational Leadership and Educational Change

Transformational leadership focuses on the distribution of goals and supports to stimulate

change, also known as a bottom-up approach (Hallinger, 2003). Instead of managing the existing

relationships, transformational leadership pursues a shared vision that, with the involvement of

the entire organization’s members, helps shape the future of that organization. Transformational

leaders, therefore, aim to develop the capacity of their team rather than directly influence others’

actions. For example, a leader who creates new perspectives to achieve sustainable growth and

wealth for the organization and society with the commitment and passion of his staff is one that

uses the transformational approach (Koreian & Shahbazi, 2016). His followers, as a result, are

less likely to depend on top-down specific directions, making room for self-motivation and

creativity. Transformational leaders aim to convert individual interests into collective interests
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that explain the organization’s shared goals. To do that, they have to look for potential motives in

their followers. Those led by a transformational leader tend to invent and innovate in their work

and this is how changes are made.

In an educational setting, this concept suggests that strong transformational leadership by

the school leader is highly essential in supporting the teachers’ commitment to change. As

mentioned in the earlier section, teachers’ resistance might be a barrier to change; therefore, they

should be encouraged to share leadership functions instead of only passively follow change

initiatives. The above points bring us to a set of characteristics often found in transformational

leaders (Hay, 20016), summarized in Figure 1.

Figure 1

Characteristics of a Transformational Leader

Generally, they can be put into four main categories: idealized influence, inspirational

motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individual consideration (Farnsworth et al, 2019). The
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first category describes those who are viewed as role models through their big influence over

others. The second one deals with motivation – how they can inspire and encourage others to

reach the shared goals. The third one includes critical thinking and problem solving, promoting

creativity and innovation by challenging the normal beliefs of an organization. Finally, the fourth

category describes those who act as advisors and coaches to their followers. With individual

consideration, leaders can encourage others to reach goals that are important to their success and

the organization’ success.

Conclusion

Regardless of the starting point, all organizations must change and learn how to do so

successfully to stay competitive (Sethuraman, 2020). The educational sector is no exception.

Change helps educational institutions and individuals achieve their goals more effectively,

keeping up with the evolving changes in the world. Nevertheless, to successfully change, schools

often come across several challenges, from the limited capacity to resistance of human resources,

to those in terms of scaling up. Constantly pushing change will not be enough to overcome those

challenges. In fact, we have to draw people into what interests them and challenge them through

leadership. Having a leader with a transformational mindset is highly crucial for maintaining

successful change. The most important characteristics of a transformational leader are provided

in the previous section. Among which, in regards to finding a new CEO for our company, I

highly recommend paying our most attention to the following traits: strategic and visionary,

value-driven, risk-taking and sharing, and considerate of the personal needs of employees.

Someone with a clear vision and set goals that knows how to encourage others to do their best

and also challenges them to be creative and innovate, with good guidance along the way, is an

effective leader who can bring us toward transformative change.

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