Transforming my school

Schools managements, advisors, and coaches like to have a vision of the transformation beyond the techniques in the classroom.

Principles for helping a school to transform itself

Change resistance

will be the number one enemy of your school’s transformation.

We find out how we can better accompany schools through practice and by helping others to do so. These experiences lead us to value:

  1. Supportive management.
  2. Actors who take back ownership of their school.
  3. A flexible and systemic approach.

This document explains these change principles and give examples.

Values of a transformed schools

Transforming a class has consequences on the way learners see the world.

We have identified 5 values ​​on which to insist with teachers and students to favour their change of posture, during the transition. These 5 values are easily remembered by students and be used on a daily basis as a guide, as common vocabulary with them.

  1. Excellence
  2. Instructive Mistake
  3. Empowerment
  4. Mutual Aid
  5. Kindness
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Understanding the inertia of a school system

“We can also build something beautiful with the stones that hinder the path.”

Goethe

The inertia of a school system is a recurring problem encountered by innovative teachers, associations at the school’s bedside and even by ministers wishing to bring about a sustainable change.

With this document, you will acquire a better understanding of the deep change resistance that needs to be managed when proposing such a radical transformation in semi-bureaucratic school systems.

School Transformation Guide

How to transform a school?

Do not even try to answer that question: people and organizations cannot be transformed, they only can transform themselves from the inside. Some may not be ready to be transformed.

If you want a school to go through a transformation, your role is to:

  • Present a goal to be reached, it has to be a motivating goal that can encourage people to make efforts to step out of their comfort zone.
  • Facilitate their journey, by informing them about the traps and providing them with the tools.

This document outlines a path developed through our personal experience. It directs the reader towards all other documents that describe each step in more detail.

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Application process for a school to be coached

“If your dreams do not scare you, they are not big enough.”

This document describes the process to be followed by a school that would like a “School Transformation Lab” coaching from a support organization (a training center for teachers, a coach, etc.)

Such coaching is carried out in two phases, A and B, described in another document. To summarize, Phase A concerns a group of 4 to 10 teachers over 3 months. Phase B aims to disseminate in the school over a year. Here, we are talking about an application before starting phase A.

Frequently Asked Questions

Have you already started to implement the School Transformation Lab method in your class and/or your school? Have you started just now to discover and study the method? Are you already in an advanced phase of the transformation process?

The truth is that doubts may arise anytime. That is why we have prepared these frequently asked questions as to try to help to handle the potential uncertainties and questions that you may face during the transformation process.

“Doubts grow with knowledge”

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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“Doubts grow with knowledge”

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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