DEL DESEMPEÑO DE LA TUTELA

As previously discussed in Chapter 2, DSs in the context of Vietnam represent middle level educational management, with responsibilities of English language education supervision, training and curriculum implementation. Wedell and Al Sumaimeri (2014, p.128) point out that

[a]s the link between policy makers and schools/classrooms, supervisors will continue to play a central role in providing appropriate support to key change implementation partners [such as teachers]…

Similarly, Wang (2010), in a study of the perceptions of middle level administrators in a Chinese university during English language teaching reform, found that these middle managers act as a bridge between policy makers and implementers and have an

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active role in interpreting and shaping curriculum innovations. Zheng and Davidson (2008, p.60) report that, in the case of English language curriculum change in China, “the difficulties in relationships between groups [e.g. teachers, supervisors, school principals, policy makers] are central to the problem and process of change”. They comment that limited interaction between these different groups is likely to create feelings of being misunderstood. This has implications for how teachers are supported in their sense-making, since, as Zheng and Davidson (2008, p. 61) put it:

[i]f the principal [or district specialist] does not gain some understanding of the dimensions of change, that is, beliefs, teaching behaviour and curriculum materials, he or she will not be able to understand teacher’s concerns – that is, will not be able to provide support for implementation.

The role of middle managers such as district specialists or school principals is very often intertwined with teachers’ emotional experience of change. As previously discussed, perceptions of risk associated with different ways of thinking about and enacting pedagogy can lead to feelings of vulnerability. Teachers need to be able to feel there are safe learning spaces in which they have a sense of trust (Bryk and Schneider, 2002). The importance of this can be seen in Ouyang’s (2000) account of how one teacher found herself with little support from authorities after returning from an intensive INSET programme in China. The school and local education leaders regarded the new communicative pedagogy introduced as part of an English language curriculum reform as alien. Ouyang (2000, p. 412) comments that

She was no longer a model teacher, obedient and trustworthy, both in school and in public settings. Now she made important decisions by herself, worked independently … and [taught] students in ways different from those used by senior professors and other teachers.

This lack of support and understanding added to the stress that the teacher had already undergone in making sense of the new curriculum and helped in her decision to leave the school and district.

Middle managers do not always view themselves as change agents. Instead there is a tendency for them to be perceived by both themselves and others, as managers, planners and evaluators following government policy (Qian and Walker, 2013; Fullan, 2001; Zheng and Davidson, 2008). Looking at reform in China, Yin et al (2014) point out that this is particularly the case in contexts, like Vietnam, where there is a ‘culture of compliance’; where stakeholders view change as something they have to do. While educational managers may see problems with implementation, they feel under

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pressure to follow policy and so tend to be prescriptive and technical in the kind of support they provide teachers (Yin et al, 2014). Relationships of trust and emotional empathy are likely to be difficult to foster in such a culture of compliance.

A recurring theme in the literature is that of the need to develop the skills and capacity of middle managers (Qian and Walker, 2014; Coburn and Russell, 2008; Zheng and Davidson, 2008; PyhältÖ et al, 2011), if they are to be able to support teachers and be

the kind of ‘experts’ that can help create the required level of dissonance in collaborative learning spaces. Coburn and Russell (2008) point out that simply providing mentors or coaches in schools, as characterised by district specialists in Vietnam, is not enough to enact change in classrooms. Actors such as DSs draw on their own professional frameworks (their previous learning experiences and beliefs and values) to structure their interactions with teachers and so are likely to promote existing classroom practices and behaviours (Spillane et al, 2002). Support for middle managers therefore is as vital as support for teachers during times of change. Fullan (2001; p.83) highlights this need in relation to school principals and suggests that the psychological and sociological challenges of change (i.e. perceptions of risks and feelings of vulnerability) are experienced by all those involved in the change process.

The subjective world of principals is such that many of them suffer from the same problem in ‘implementing a new role as facilitator of change’ as do teachers in implementing new teaching roles: What the principal should do specifically to manage change at the school level is a complex affair for which the principal has little preparation. The psychological and sociological problems of change that confront a principal are at least as great as those that confront teachers. Without this sociological sympathy, many principals feel exactly the same as teachers do: Other people simply do not seem to understand the problems they face.

Yet apart from the studies mentioned above (Zheng and Davidson, 2008; Ouyang, 2000; Wang, 2010; Wedell and Al Sumaimeri, 2014) there seems to be relatively little research in the TESOL change literature which looks at the role of middle managers in the change process and the relationships and interactions teachers have with them. This appears to reflect the predominant technicist view discussed in earlier sections of this chapter; that teachers play the key role in change implementation, with little overt recognition that they are not autonomous agents but part of a dynamic web of relationships and interactions with others. Some research, while focusing on the role of the teacher in curriculum change, does mention the importance of other stakeholders, but this is often a cursory observation at the end of a report with little in-depth analysis of how these other stakeholders might experience change (e.g. see Hardman and A-

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Rahman, 2014). The majority of studies that have focused specifically on people operating at the district level tend to be situated in general educational contexts (e.g. Yin et al, 2014; Coburn and Russell, 2005, Coburn, 2005; Spillane, 2000; PyhältÖ et al,

2011; Qian and Walker, 2013; Spillane, et al, 2002). The focus of my research on the dynamic relationships that teachers have with DSs and INSET trainers helps to address this gap in the TESOL change literature. Also, since as the literature suggests, sense-making is an important part of affecting change and sense-making is both an emotional and social experience, it would be useful for those responsible for planning change to investigate how the human relationships and interactions involved in curriculum implementation mediate what ultimately happens in the classroom.