CONQUERING ADAPTIVE CHALLENGES: ROLE OF CONTEMPORARY ACADEMIC LEADERS LATA DYARAM, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, DOMS, IIT MADRAS

The times we are in…….  There is no shortage of challenges in school education.  The challenges facing education today must be seen in the broader context of the challenges facing society.  Most often we know what the challenges are. But their roots sometimes look as though they lie largely outside the reach of schools or in deeply entrenched educational processes and structures that are difficult to change.  A practical/political response is sometimes to focus instead on low-hanging fruit and quick wins – to make changes at the margins where change seems possible.

The times we are in…….  However, real reforms and significant progress in improving the quality and equity of schooling depends on tackling our deepest and most stubborn beliefs.  Largely, education has focused on creating standards, aligning curriculum to the standards, creating accountability systems to monitor development and achievement.  Many of the real issues/changes often challenge our beliefs and habits.

Technical Problems They can usually be diagnosed and solved within a short time frame by applying established know how and procedures The necessary knowledge about them already has been digested and put in the form of a legitimized set of known institutional procedures guiding what to do and role authorizations guiding who should do it. (Heifetz, 1994)

Adaptive Challenges Unlike technical problems where the know-how already exists, Adaptive challenges require learning to overcome the conflicts in values, or reduce the gap between the espoused values and reality. They require changes in values, attitudes or habits of behaviour. (Heifetz, 1994)

Some key Challenges…. 1. Low/High Socio Economic Schools 2. Economic model at the cost of quality education 3. Technology 4. School funding policies 5. Raising the professional status of teaching 6. pay disparities in teaching vs other professions 7. 21st-century curriculum 8. class size/Teacher Student Ratio 9. Psycho Social factors - student attitudes and beh, parent involvement 10. Student’s Family factors 11. student health and Safety 12. Life skills 13. student performance 14. Slow learners 15. Low achievers 16. Career path / Employability

What types of Challenges are these?

Adaptive challenges and Adaptive Leadership – A model for meeting the most difficult challenges

Adaptive Leadership within the system…  Adaptive leadership is a notion of change and transformation that enables capacity to thrive.  It is a practice of mobilizing people to tackle difficult challenges and thrive.  Identifying elements that need to be changed and elements that need to be preserved.  Making the best possible use of previous wisdom and know-how.  These problems demands not just solutions but changes in our attitudes, behavior, and values.  To meet challenges such as these, we need a different idea of leadership and a new social contract promoting our adaptive capacities, rather than inappropriate expectations of authority ( Leadership Without Easy Answers, p. 2)

The adaptive leadership challenges are complex: there is no one “right” answer The leader does not impose a solution: solutions emerge from the dialogue of all the stakeholders All stakeholders learn from one another—and learn more about the situation in the process. Everyone adapts their perspective in order for a solution to emerge Adaptive Leadership within the system…

Training / Education

Next steps  Identify these adaptive challenges as key to driving successful educational change.  Consider the underlying purpose and philosophy of our educational systems and their relationship to wider societal change.  Academic leaders must provide opportunities for people to confront uncertainties and challenges in spite of their discomfort, alter and regulate values and perspectives to better develop solutions that address the complex challenges facing education today.  As we move into an age where automation and machine intelligence are likely to spell an end to the very possibility of full employment, where our effects on climate are becoming undeniable, what we are going to teach our children should be steering our policies and governance.

Actionables…..  There are different and several challenges facing education today.  What according to you are top 3 challenges facing your school?  Identify how many of those are adaptive in nature?  What will you do differently??

Thank you for your attention LATA DYARAM