Education is a tradition driven profession---plain and simple---and the people that are drawn into education are tradition driven. We find comfort in routine.
The sense of "the way we do things around here" can coat a school like a layer of lead.
Clashes with tradition are regular occurrences in schools that are trying to establish learning communities. At the classroom level, teachers are forced to reframe their thinking---no longer is simply teaching material enough. True learning communities ensure student success by analyzing data and then providing remediation for students who have struggled. Structures for collaboration need to be established and isolation has to be replaced with consensus.
That ain't easy!
Changes are necessary at the school level as well. Positions need to be allocated in ways that support the mission and vision of the faculty. Holding on to every established position simply because "they've always existed" limits the resources available to help children. Purchasing decisions need to be reconsidered.
Time needs to be used in creative ways. Parents and paraprofessionals need to be fully engaged as equal partners. The work of every adult outside of the classroom needs to contribute to the learning goals of the building. Priorities need to be set and bold decisions have to be made that can be uncomfortable because they are non-traditional.
All too often, the traditions win.
We hedge in our commitment to change because we take great comfort in what we have always been--or because we back away from the risks involved in a revolution. Innovation is seen as the enemy.
Make no mistake, commitment to tradition is one of the most significant barriers to school improvement---it is simply impossible to create something new in a culture clinging to the past.
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So how do you decide which traditions are worth keeping, because they really do work, and which ones aren't? What criteria do you use to make those decisions, and how do you support teachers (professionally, emotionally, psychologically) as they struggle with those decisions?
Basically, how do you make sure you're not throwing the metaphorical baby out with the bath water?
In Jim Stigler's book "The Teaching Gap" he points out that teaching is a culture based profession. He studied math classrooms in Japan, Germany, and the U.S. and found that math classrooms in the United States followed a process of going over homework, learning a new lesson (teacher directed), and then doing problems from a book. This process is based on a tradition from the early 1900's and continues today. So your question is why does it continue and how do we change it. Some will say it is leadership, some will say NCLB, others will say it doesn't need to change (back to the basics). At the end of the day it is important to remember that our client is the student. We have to stop making school decisions based on teachers and start making them based on what is good for children. I am convinced that it is the students voice that is going to help us reach our tipping point. We need to promote their learning styles (technology based) until the general public understands that a factory based learning style will not prepare our students for a global economy.
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