ERIC Number: EJ960655
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2012-May
Pages: 17
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1389-2843
EISSN: N/A
The Challenge of Change: Using Activity Theory to Understand a Cultural Innovation
Bourke, Roseanna; McGee, Alyson
Journal of Educational Change, v13 n2 p217-233 May 2012
This article explains how an inservice teacher education organisation in New Zealand embarked on a cultural innovation to challenge and build bicultural pedagogies, policies and practices. To understand the process and the impact of a three-year cultural innovation both intended and unintended changes need to be explored. Using a framework of second generation cultural historical activity theory, the article examines the individual and institutional changes, exposing both tensions and learning. Key successful factors included establishing a clearly recognized purpose, widening individual and group involvement, and creating flexibility to build a strong platform to support the innovation. However, tensions were created when externally imposed factors such as changes in government policy and re-prioritization of funding were introduced. The external tensions challenged the internal organisational structures and stability, which in turn affected the cultural innovation and destabilised the change process.
Descriptors: Inservice Teacher Education, Innovation, Educational Change, Foreign Countries, Public Policy, Models
Springer. 233 Spring Street, New York, NY 10013. Tel: 800-777-4643; Tel: 212-460-1500; Fax: 212-348-4505; e-mail: service-ny@springer.com; Web site: http://www.springerlink.com
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: New Zealand
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A