I orea te tuatara ka puta ki waho

A problem is solved by continuing to find solutions

​

Meet our Co-Hosts:

• Corrinne Devitt- Practice Leader from Cluster 18

• Ve Grant-Lawlor- RTLB from Cluster 29

​

What does it mean to be a Change Agent?

• Being an agent of change starts with whakawhanaungatanga or building relationships. A lot of change can be brought about by living into your values, being who you are and the informal conversations that you have because people reflect on what you say. 

• Be curious and accept people where they are at. We have to listen and often support where a school sees fit. It all comes down to relationships.

• Go back to basics; no person can bring about change on their own. We are part of a team of changemakers and can use our knowledge and experience to inspire others.

• Being a change maker means that I inspire others by walking the walk and by being flexible.

• Be the change that you want to see.

 

How to be a Change Agent.

• Change can be particularly hard for teachers and schools.

• Ask yourself ‘What is working, what needs to change and how can I manage that?’

• How I can make a change, is something that constantly changes and I have to adapt. Look for ways to be better.

• Relationships have to be nurtured in order to have an impact. An agent of change helps facilitate change. We have a responsibility to be present and have an open mind. We need to understand who we are working with so we need to take the time to get to know what their values are and what is their currency. When we understand their currency, we know what language to use and how to get through and help them.

• One study suggests that successful change depends on someone’s attitude towards change plus the attitude towards the change agent so the relationship is vital.

• When you are liked and trusted, you are much more likely to affect change.

 

Barriers to change:

• Announcing change often causes a stress response in people and can create barriers.

• Be mindful of the stress that teachers are under and consider how you can support them; take a coffee, read a story to the class and don’t portray an image of knowing everything.

• Navigating through different and complicated systems in Learning Support can be a barrier.

• Staffing changes, teacher workload, morale, expectations for RTLB to ‘fix’ a situation or pressure to work with a learner one-on-one, lack of buy-in for universal work, working with people who have varying degrees of belief in UDL, ignorance, bias and assumptions.

 

Potential solutions to barriers:

• Forming open, healthy work relationships is absolutely critical.

• Finding out how to manage systems becomes easier once positive relationships are established.

• Don’t give up when you come across teachers who are just not in the right space yet; even when you feel like you are not getting anywhere. The change might just come later once they start to trust you.

• Education is similar to sales; we are trying to sell an idea to teachers who don’t always want to buy it. One of their strategies to manage success is to keep going back and a refusal now doesn’t mean that it will stay a ‘no’ forever.

• Rather than trying to overcome a barrier, RTLB might sometimes need to change their expectations. Consider what ‘the next best thing’ is that you can achieve.

• Focus on the one learner that you can create change for, rather than to be disheartened by the times you cannot make change happen.

• Meet people where they are and even if the change is tiny, foster that relationship and build trust. In the end, you will end up getting somewhere.

• The whakatauki Ka mua, ka muri means walking backwards into the future and is the idea that we should look to the past to inform the future.

• Don’t be afraid to admit mistakes. It is easy to accidentally step on someone’s toes but it is important to apologise, understand what went wrong and to restart the relationship.

• We might not be able to affect the awesome change that we think is necessary, but we can throw a small pebble that might have a hugeripple effect.

• We should not sink to the levels of our systems, but rather rise to the levels of our goals. Find systems that work for you and be who you are.

• Relationships are key to change. Reach out when you need help; there are people alongside you on the journey.

​

Acknowledgements

Tracey Richardson & Michelle Wishart - Panel Participants

Corrinne Devitt- Co-Host, Research, Scripting

Ve Grant-Lawlor - Co-Host, Music Creation, Recording, Production, Editing, and Publishing

Elize Maritz - Summary notes

Sue McIntosh & Fiona Harkness - Kaitiaki

​

Resource and Going Deeper​​

• www.nzrtlb.net.nz - NZ RTLB website.

• NZRTLB PLN Facebook page - this is for our active RTLB (Resource Teachers: Learning & Behaviour) colleagues. If you are not an RTLB but would like to stay in the loop, the next Facebook page is where you will find the gold!

• RTLB NZ Resource Teachers Learning & Behaviour Open Facebook page

 

Like and subscribe to stay up to date with the release of new episodes.

​