Readiness for change is an individual’s or organisation’s motivation to implement a change and their belief that they have the capacity (skills and resources) to make the change happen. A school’s readiness for change is one factor that affects the implementation of a new program in an educational setting. There is emerging evidence that a higher level of readiness for change may be associated with greater implementation success in schools.
The Australian Education Research Organisation (AERO)’s and Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI)’s first research snapshot, Variations in Schools’ Readiness for Change, assessed readiness for change in 9 schools commencing the Getting it Right from the Start (GIRFTS) project. That snapshot showed that each school has a unique readiness for change profile, and that tolerable workload and tolerable stress are perceived to be the greatest barriers to change.
Increasing a school's readiness for change has the potential to mitigate the negative impact of low readiness for change. This second snapshot outlines strategies school leaders can use to increase their school’s readiness for change and highlights real-life examples from the Getting it Right from the GIRFTS project.
Keywords: organisational change, school change, response to intervention, implementation, barriers for change