Scenario 2: The one where the curriculum leader wants to change the game…
by Get Real Leadership Hub
Liz is responsible for Curriculum and Assessment at her school and has been deputy head there for a year now. She previously worked at the school as a teacher and phase leader and gets on well with the staff team (so well she heads up the Thursday night pub quiz team the ‘smartboard squad’)
Recently however, things have felt different…
Liz has been keen on developing the geography curriculum at the school; an area of the curriculum she felt needed strengthening. Liz discussed this concern with staff and explained that she would be exploring curriculum schemes that might raise the standards of teaching and learning in geography. Recently, she introduced a few new schemes of work to get staff’s thoughts on them and then shared the one she felt was most appropriate and liked by staff. Most people seem to be on board but Liz is experiencing some resistance from a core group of staff, who are not keen on changing schemes of work. They’re not keen on moving away from planning they’ve used for years and do not feel a new geography curriculum is required.
How will Liz deal with the resistance so that the implementation of the new geography scheme of work is a success. Some of the things Liz is thinking about:
how to best navigate the resistance from the core group of staff
whether it might be better to hold off on introducing the new curriculum
how she might plan the training around the new scheme to best support all members of the team
1) What information might help Liz decide what do do next?
2) What tensions exist in this scenario that make it a tricky situation?
3) How might Liz address the resistance from the core group of staff?
