Changing the whole

I very often have the impression, and it is one that I find is shared by many colleagues, that we are constantly fighting what can seem like a losing battle. This is not to say that there are not some notable successes, but the overall trend seems to be one of increasing struggle.

This is a very vague statement. The world of education is complex and has many stakeholders at different levels and degrees of participation, so pick any area you think this comment may apply to.

However, I believe it is true to some extent that overall, we are struggling, as we must, to find our way and some problems and difficulties seem to be constant.

Could it be then that we are not addressing the right issues? Could it be that the problems and difficulties we are dealing with continually in the world of Islamic education are in fact not specific to that domain?- do not have their causes exclusively within the world of Islamic education and therefore do not have their solutions within that world?

Suppose that the problems we are constantly having to deal with have their causes in the wider society, the global context. If we are not addressing those issues at source, then we will find ourselves endlessly dealing with the consequences as they arise in specific, localised domains within that overall context.

If I am right, then we have to deal with the whole of society in order to effectively address the issues we find in our part of it; our schools and our communities.

How do we deal with the whole of society? Perhaps there are two basic approaches: top-down and bottom-up.

The top-down approach is to come up with a solution in the form of an end product, a plan of how society should be. We then take that plan out and find ways to impose it on society. This is analogous to an conqueror marching in with his army and imposing control.

The bottom-up approach is to enable small groups of people to ‘grow their own’ solutions. As these grow, they spread and link up, gradually transforming society by re-writing its DNA, cell by cell. Think of it as the ‘viral infection’ approach.

Bottom-up change

Obviously, bottom-up change has to be led by a person or persons at the bottom. This is a paradox for change managers who hold senior positions in the formal hierarchy. The initiative for bottom-up change cannot come from them, authentically or even logically.

But you cannot just say to the pupils: what do you want to learn? You can’t say to ordinary people: what do you want for your community?. They need to be educated before they can answer such a question.

Someone once coined the phrase ‘inside-out’ to describe a process that was neither top-down nor bottom-up. I suppose it has something to do with realising values.

Supposing that as a change manager you want people to change because they want to themselves, as a part of their process of realising their values. Supposing you have experienced the power of authentic values realisation when conducted effectively and want that to be the driving engine of your organisation or colleagues.

They need first the thinking skills necessary to be able to implement an effective process of values realisation (the first one being the skill of recognising the need for change where it exists and accepting responsibility for your part in that).

The education that children and adults need is one that empowers them to take on the management of their own affair, design their own curriculum, develop and realise their own values.

Values realisation is one way of understanding the process of Action Research.

IBERR Forum

The IBERR forum took place in Leicester last weekend. Inshallah, some of you reading this were there, or some of you who were there are reading this.

I came away thinking that we should pay attention to the idea that educational change could be led by the students. More on this later.