The Power of Persistence: Education System ... - EQUIP123.net

Among the many aspects of systems thinking that are useful for education, three
ideas are particularly relevant to education. One is that systems are resilient,
which combines both stability and resistance to change. The second is that
systems have the capacity for self-organization—to create new structures, to
learn, to adapt, and to diversify. The third is that a focus on the structure and
dynamics is essential—the stocks, the feedback loops, and the rules of the game.
Effective education reform will define goals, use information as leverage, and
encourage feedback loops that reinforce positive behaviors.
An Analytical Framework for Systems Change in Education
EQUIP2’s conceptual framework is an analytical
tool based on a theory of change in education. This
framework does not attempt to identify what specific
changes in curriculum, teacher training, school
management, or financing are needed to improve
education quality. Instead, this framework applies
systems thinking to better understand how to introduce
and foster sustainable change in the complex, dynamic
Systems happen all at
once. They are connected
not just in one direction,
but in many directions
simultaneously.
—From Thinking in Systems:
A Primer by Donella H. Meadows
system that is education. The framework is based on the interaction among three
major dimensions of the education system—political, institutional, and technical.
These dimensions are not independent elements, but rather are interactive
factors that both create and respond to change. The EQUIP2 framework is
used for analyzing issues and developing strategies for system improvement,
which emphasizes alignment and coordination among the three dimensions
of system change.
To understand how reforms—or changes—take place in a complex system it is
important to understand how the elements of the system relate to each other.
Effective reforms take hold in a system through interaction across political,
institutional, and technical dimensions at multiple levels. Each school and
classroom requires an effective teaching and learning process that is supported
by effective school management and governance. The performance of teachers
and principals is, in turn, a product of institutional conditions that create
incentives, provide resources, establish policies and procedures, and define skills
and outcomes. Likewise, the institutional conditions—policies, resource levels
and allocation, roles and responsibilities—do not arise in a vacuum. Institutional
conditions and policies are shaped by factors that may be cultural, historical,
political, economic, or the result of power imposed by interest groups. Changes in
policies and practices almost inevitably require initiative either from the political
dimension, or from powerful outside forces.
SECTION 1: INTROdUCTION
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