Teacher Development - Rhema Group

The Government’s education agenda for schools provides broad parameters within which schools can work to deliver the new strategic objectives for education.

These objectives include:

A child centric approach to education.
A narrowing of the gap between full time education and employment.
A broader approach to the delivery of education using para-professionals on a flexible basis.
Resource sharing between schools operating in a cluster environment involving the use of business partners.
Creation of co-ordinated curriculum opportunities to deliver new diploma lines.
A move towards cluster results versus individual school results requiring a high level of mutual support between schools.
A change in the teacher’s role from operating as a subject specialist in their own ‘silo’ to operating as a specialist/generalist in a far more interdependent, “virtual team” environment.
Extensive use of leading edge IT within a school, a school cluster, or wider ‘virtual’ learning environment.
Devolved responsibilities and accountabilities to Head Teachers and their team of Teachers to manage their schools to a given budget.

To deliver on these objectives we at Rhema Group believe that Head Teachers and their team of Teachers will need to lead and manage transformational change at a significant level. This will require a whole new set of skills.

The challenge for them is to create a future of their choosing rather than be the victim of a future of someone else’s choosing. Interpreting the Government’s parameters and taking the initiative to craft solutions at a school or cluster level will be key to their success.

We believe that slow change leads to a quick “death”, and that step change leads to long term health and sustainability.

In order to deliver step change, together with the urgency it requires, we believe that three key issues need to be addressed:

Understanding the current and future education context and creating a vision, strategy and plan to deliver a preferred future.
Understanding the leadership and change management skills required to gain commitment to future plans and to deliver them.
Understanding how to equip and empower others to deliver the necessary changes at their level.