Educational reform begins with a pioneer

At the moment I started at De Pionier (The Pioneer) (Valkenswaard, The Netherlands), the school was diagnosed as weak by the Dutch government. Things needed to change really fast. The main objective was improve the learning outcomes in a way that children develop essential skills to be successful in the future. It’s just like Albert Eindstein said: ‘education is nog learning of facts, but the training of the mind’.

My colleagues knew that they had to integrate technology in the educational process. The only problem was that my colleagues did not know how to start (there is so much was one of the most mentioned comments) and their confidence was very low. Actually, I was the only person in the school who integrated technology in an effective manner.

In the process of educational reform with technology, pioneers often run so far ahead of the rest that colleagues quit. New applications killed already on the drawing board. It is the classical ICT gap. However, pioneers who succeed in bridging this gap reap some success. Who studies the development of successful innovation, found at the base a pioneer.

However, educational reform can not be forced; it is a process that every teacher goes through at his own pace. In a recent publication of Kennisnet, there are, around educational innovation, three groups of teachers:

• The precursors ; the pioneers who take the initiative
• The ‘early adopters’ ; small group of teachers that are easy to convince
• The rear ; the largest group of educators for whom the whole educational reform is not obvious.

For me as a pioneer, the most important thing I had to do was to find connection with my colleagues and inspire them. My project ‘De Pionier Koerier’ (language project whereby student move into a journalist and publishing weekly news articles on an interactive website, www.pionierkoerier.nl) was the eye-opener for my colleagues. Especially at the time when the learning outcomes were well above the expectations. On that moment, several colleagues asked me if I can help them to integrate technology in their educational process. They saw the value of technology in education.

From that moment, the development was put in motion. The use of technology is embraced For example: some colleagues had a training around social media in education and have succeeded in this. We renewed our school vision on a 21st century way where technology plays an important role. We also get more and more request from other schools if they can bring a visit to our school. Our crisis of three years ago was a perfect chance to renew our education. On this moment, the school has a level above the Dutch average and we are able to teach children in a 21st century way.

In the publication of Kennisnet about educational reform, there was written that there are some conditions for success. Conditions that I can endorse:

• Involvement of the ‘early adopters’. Acceptance and implementation is faster if the pioneer lets users hook. Early adopters act as a link between the pioneer and the rest of the team.
• Focus on the didactic use of ICT. A teacher needs to know how he can use ICT to facilitate learning. Show the team good practices.
• Joining the existing educational vision.
• Clear added value. Teachers in the rear only accept ICT applications if they see the added value. The value must be clear. The application needs to support activitiet or processes, provide a solution to a problem that the teacher experiences in practice and / or time savings.
• Ease of the application. It is important that the teacher feels it can handle ICT applications with ease and confidence. The extent to which a person feel able to work with ICT applications determines whether he embraces the application.

It is clear that a pioneer makes the difference between a future orientated school were technology is successful integrated or a school where technology is not used effectively.

My advice: search the pioneer in your own organization and set the change in motion!