From Where Should We Transform Education?

The WHAT and the HOW are not the only meaningful considerations when transforming schools. Today, more than ever, the FROM WHERE acquires relevance.

At Reimagine Education, we observe that the management teams in schools and universities are concerned about the changes and transformations of our educational institutions. We have attended a multitude of training sessions, workshops, and webinars where we have been able to flush out all the concepts and elements that come into play in this complex and exciting task of educational transformation. If you have come to know us and incorporated the RIEDUSIS methodology into your change process, you have undoubtedly appreciated having a powerful tool and the direct support of Reimagine’s consultcoach. Regardless, for sure, the path of educational change is complex for academic managers and directors.

To profoundly transform the educational organization as the living organism that it is, we have to put in motion, at the right time and place, each of the elements that configure the complex educational institution and all the people and sectors that comprise it. It is no longer just about transforming what happens within the classroom, but about changing everything that has so far constituted internal culture: how to do things and the beliefs, customs, values, horizons, decision-making, and relationships of collaborative teams. This requires firm conviction and leadership to transform and mobilize all the protagonists toward the shared dream of change.

All this puts on the game table a fundamental recognition to ensure change: From where do I want to transform and focus change? It is no longer that only the WHAT and HOW are essential; now, FROM WHERE becomes very relevant, and more so after COVID-19’s impact on education. Educational transformation requires self-knowledge, internal learning, and actions that lead us to change. Only then can we inspire others to change.

So, this is where the “Reimagine Yourself Transforming” program comes in, which we launched a few months ago. This program is not leadership training. Instead, it is a path, a harmonic process that proceeds from the full consciousness of Me to identify my potential areas of growth and the examining and questioning of my context (where I am and where I want to go), establishing an internal diagnosis. Stop, withdraw momentarily from the front line of activism to ask the big question: from where do I want to change?

Let’s lead from who we are, from the resonance of our values, beliefs, fears, convictions, and priorities. Not from a manual.

Stop, question everything, dare to ask yourself powerful questions, learn, forgive, rest, express yourself from who you are and what you feel, appreciate, prioritize taking care of yourself (leading transformation should not cost your lives), write, meditate, collaborate with others to design the future.

Let’s lead from who we are, from the resonance of our values, beliefs, fears, convictions, and priorities. Not from a manual. Let’s lead from our being, together with the beings who accompany us, toward what we want to build for our students, for their world, their lives, their vital projects.

Moreover, all this, in the Reimagine Yourself Transforming program, is personalized. We share the path in a group, generating a community of managers and directors who learn, where each becomes an accomplice and source of inspiration. Do we genuinely believe that we can lead the educational transformation without reflecting on WHERE in the current context and complexity? Can we direct and inspire others toward change without entering the inner space where all our relationships, beliefs, and perspectives are built? To reimagine education, we must have the courage to reimagine ourselves as a person, a manager and ask the critical questions linked to our vital projects; otherwise, it will be challenging to mobilize our environment for this great dream.

When we have acquired the technical knowledge, when we have already internalized the methodology that will lead us to change, when we have “played with all the chips on the table” of this educational transformation, when we have experienced what it means to lose and win, then we only have the most critical game left: the one that each individual plays.

This post was first posted on Xavier Aragay’s blog.

Jonquera Arnó is a teacher and accompanier in change processes. Her vital and professional project lies in the accompaniment, growth, and personal development of managers and teams from a systematic, inclusive, and transformational vision.

Xavier Aragay is an expert and international consultant for transformation in institutions and leadership for change. He specializes in changing education through disruptive innovation processes through his original and proven methodology.

Both are part of Reimagine Education Lab, a team that aims to accompany, promote and implement disruptive, innovational processes and experiences in educational institutions through reimagining education using elaborated, original, and proven models.

Translation by Daniel Wetta.

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This article from Observatory of the Institute for the Future of Education may be shared under the terms of the license CC BY-NC-SA 4.0