Lessons learnt from a large-scale curriculum reform: The strategies to enhance development work and reduce reform-relate
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Lessons learnt from a large‑scale curriculum reform: The strategies to enhance development work and reduce reform‑related stress Lotta Tikkanen1 · Kirsi Pyhältö1,2 · Janne Pietarinen3 · Tiina Soini4
© The Author(s) 2019
Abstract Sustainable school development is suggested to result in both meaningful learning and enhanced well-being for those involved in the reform work. The aim of the study was to gain a better understanding of the relations between the strategies utilised in school development work, school impact of the reform and burdening in the context of curriculum reform in Finland. Altogether 550 district-level stakeholders responsible for curriculum reform at the local level responded to the survey. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was utilised to explore the interrelations between the reform implementation strategy, collective proactive strategies of well-being, as well as reform-related stress and the perceived school impact of the reform. The results showed that the top-down–bottom-up implementation strategy was related to the school impact of the reform and to the use of collective proactive strategies and reduced levels of stress. Collective proactive strategies also contributed to lower stress levels and enhanced school impact. The results indicate that the top-down– bottom-up implementation strategy provides an effective way to promote sustainable school reform in terms of enhancing the collective and cumulative learning and reducing burdening of those involved in the reform. Keywords Curriculum reform · Reform implementation strategy · Proactive strategies · School development · Work stress
Introduction Sustainable school development results in both meaningful learning and the advancement of pupils and teachers’ well-being (Hargreaves and Fink 2006; Thoonen et al. 2012). Reforming the curriculum is suggested to be a tool that can enable such development (Ng 2009; Yuen et al. 2012). Yet, curriculum reforms do * Lotta Tikkanen [email protected] Extended author information available on the last page of the article
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Vol.:(0123456789)
Journal of Educational Change
not automatically result in sustainable changes in the everyday practices of schools (Cuban 2013; Fullan and Miles 1992; Fullan 2007). In fact, school reforms are often shown to increase workload (e.g. Germeten 2011; Graczewski et al. 2007; Lainas 2010; Lasky 2005) and demand new competences (Valli and Buese 2007; Van Veen and Sleegers 2006), causing stress. This further increases teachers’ and other reform stakeholders’ risk for burnout (e.g. Yu et al. 2015), and reduces the chance of the reform taking root (Mendenhall et al. 2013). Reform strategy is shown to be one of the most central determinants of reform success (Pietarinen et al. 2017; Ramberg 2014). We presume that in addition to affecting reform success, the implementation strategy also significantly contributes to reform-related stress and the strategies used to manage it. However, research on the interrelation between school reform implementation strat
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