Unit 4 – Inclusive education, diversity, change management and social cohesion. Safety, security and discipline in the school community environment

KT0104/5.1: Social Cohesion and Diversity

Social cohesion in schools needs to be monitored and adequately resourced. Managing diversity is key to the development of human and social capital. Social cohesion is about creating an environment in which everyone has true sense of belonging, a positive outlook for the future, and the removal of barriers that hinder the fulfillment of human potential.

Diversity must be managed as a systemic, whole school challenge. Social cohesion thus requires the leadership and management of the School Manager, the SMT and SGB including:

• cultivating a personal sense of belonging for learners in schools
• fostering an ethos and culture of belonging & affirmation
• diversity consciousness and intercultural learning should be incorporated into life skills curriculum: they need to be as essential life skills and not as nice to have imperatives.
• work needs to continue on organisational and culture change, establishing trust and building safe spaces.
• educator capability in diversity management needs to be enhanced
• inclusive sport & culture
• language accommodation
• learner centred teaching styles
• self-reflection and continuous learning

These criteria are part of the School Self Evaluation and school Improvement Planning processes. The school should manage the self-evaluation to ensure that the school needs with respect to social cohesion, diversity, change management and others in this space are identified and acted upon in line with the implementation of the School Improvement Plan.

KT0104/5.2: Exploring change management and growth needs to be able to incorporate the principles of social cohesion in schools

Behaviour change focuses on building habits in a workforce that align to a specific business need or goal. Behaviour change is achieved through reinforced development efforts – such as coaching, mentoring and post-training follow-up – to keep new knowledge, skills and habit building fresh in learners’ minds Change Management: change management processes take time.

a) Change management interventions, including challenging topics like Diversity Management, should be planned in alignment with the School Development strategic plan for a 3-year time period.

b) The following are considerations which the school should engage on to be able to manage change as required:

1. 1. Engagement time in schools: SMT and teacher time is under pressure with many competing tasks, activities and deliverables – especially the need to maximize teaching and learning time in the classroom.
      • During the school’s strategic planning sessions, the school should negotiate with the circuit manager to identify and set aside dedicated time to manage processes related to change management.

   2. Online Safe Spaces: While online workshops are effective to some extent for sharing information and starting conversations, they are difficult for creating safe spaces to discuss sensitive topics.

      • diversity management and social cohesion interventions are best conducted face to face and require formats where individuals or small groups can be supported to work through initial fears and create safe spaces.

   3. Establish an education diversity transition centre / observatory at the school. This observatory be responsible for:
      • Capacity Building material for teachers and learners and nonteaching staff
      • Curriculum Adaptation
      • Documenting of stories, narratives, best practices of schools
      • Monitoring and Evaluation
      • Research & tool development, building on the initial website developed in this project
      • Short Courses, for example: Incident Resolution
      • Social cohesion support to schools.
   4. The school should have a policy that speaks to social cohesion strategies with clear goals and objectives and delineation of responsibilities.
   5. Educators require special support in diversity management. Incentive teachers for formal Continuing Professional Development in diversity management

KT0104/5.3: Managing Change for Improved Performance

In this article ‘The principal as an instructional leader: Guiding schools to improve instruction’ Professor Pierre Du Plessis mentions that “School leaders are increasingly being challenged to a take a more instructionally focused role in their schools.” To complement this, behavior change becomes a core consideration for both planning and implementation of activities at a school level. Behavior change can be, but is not limited to, focus conditions:

1. Identifying a goal – the goal should be clear and simple
2. Designing a clear plan – ensure that you have sufficient knowledge
3. Personal motivation and passion/drive to see the plan to the end
4. setting a supportive environment

Behaviour change manifests in 5 stages