Jean-Paul Munsch‘s educational model of school evolution that can be applied in different school types, in order to move into the next stage. The first step is to define the evolutionary purpose. The first question “What do I really wish for myself and for others?” links the individual to broader perspectives, and at the same time heads and teachers take responsibility for what they want to give to the word, which leads to the second step.
If we take responsibility, energy formerly lost in resisting to others, complaining about and fighting against , is set free for constructive work. Suddenly “there is nobody else to blame for what I am doing”. This is the key to breathing life into an evolutionary. The third step is to let teachers work in professional learning communities , where they experience an environment in which learning from each other and peer feedback can grow.
The head or headmaster is the key player in this structural systemic transformation process. He is the one who can hand over responsibility to build structures and processes that enable team work and self-managing teams. This breaks up the paradigm of individual isolation. If every activity is in alignment with the purpose, teachers learn to work in a process-oriented way, and discover their self-empowerment, their possibility to shape their school. That means to integrate the individual into a group of professionals and to integrate all perspectives into an integral shape for the system.
I’m happy to recommend this concept to all professionals working in and consulting educational institutions. Jean-Paul Munsch has compiled a very solid base of scientific insight as well as practical experience, which I’m proud to be represented in. After nearly forty years of working with schools, teachers and administrators in the Scandinavian countries I’m sure that Jean-Paul’s approach to school development will prove both poignant and valuable.
Jesper Juul