Thoughts on Managing Change and Why I Am Job Hunting!

Not many people really like change let's face it: it's stressful. We are supposed to see change as an opportunity but sometimes it is hard even as an adult. We get into a nice comfortable groove and then we want to stay in it because it's reassuring, we know what to expect and we can switch on the mental autopilot.

Schools are lovely places for that. Timetables are published and stuck to, bells ring at the appointed hours and consequences for actions tend to be pretty predictable. You know where you are meant to be and what you are meant to be doing. The kids I work with don't do well with change, and I don't blame them!

So when it came to saying goodbye to the young people that I have been working with since last Easter, I was expecting some wobbles. These are youngsters who find change very challenging - some are ASD, all are anxious - so me leaving to be replaced by someone they don't know is daunting.

I know that my replacement is a really experienced professional who is warm and caring, but conveying this to them is very hard - they will have to find that out for themselves and it will take time. It took time for them to see me as an ally rather than the devil incarnate sent to torture them after all.

I was prepared for them to be resentful of me and distance themselves. I was prepared for them to be a bit sad. I was not prepared for the hugs, gifts, cards, HUGE cake and the genuine tears. I was definitely not prepared to be spontaneously hugged by J, an autistic young man who dislikes physical contact but who has figured out that hugging is the thing to do if you want to show someone that you will miss them. He put his arms around me and he hugged. I hugged back for a split second that I hoped was not too awful for him and then I nearly lost it completely when I saw that he was holding back tears. I am crying now as I type this because I had to hold it together for him at the time.

I got one pair of students to laugh through their tears by saying, "Just keep my encouraging words in mind." They laughed - it's our code for swearing. Once on a residential trip I got a bit carried away with a team building activity and when I mucked it up for my team I am afraid I said "Oh bollocks!" I tried very hard to convince them that I had said something else, but to no avail. It may have been unprofessional but it sealed my relationship with those kids in a way you just couldn't manufacture.

We cannot protect children from change, but we can help them to manage it. We can prepare them in advance and we can help them through it.

My guiding principles are:

Forewarn - the further in advance they know about the change, the longer they have to process it
Explain - concerns are often nebulous so explaining reasons give a logical framework which helps
Agency - if learners feel that their views have been taken into account then they can deal with change better
Support - this can take many forms: listening and reassuring are often most effective
Time - don't expect learners to accept change to your timescale - they need time to reach acceptance

My salutary experience came when I got home after my emotional day. I opened my emails to discover a letter explaining that the offer of employment made to me for January had been withdrawn. My old job has been filled. Suddenly I was faced with change of a fairly radical nature.

I had pictured my future at a new PRU and was all prepared to meet a new colleague to discuss plans on Monday. But with a "phwumph" the rug had been pulled from under my feet. I uttered some extremely encouraging words, I can tell you.

I had not been forewarned, which was hard. The explanations helped -  the letter explained why, and it helped to know that it was nothing I had done, it is just one of those things. I had no agency in the decision, but I could take agency by calling colleagues and securing the possibility of employment in two other institutions. I took my time to process and think rather than going into panic mode and the more time I took, the more options occur to me and the more OK I become with it.

I am still not happy, but my guiding principles have worked for me.

So: manage change for your learners, embrace change for yourself and think positively. Oh, and if anyone wants to offer me a job...