Change in schools to 'Move the Girls': Multiple perspectives of the process of negotiated change for teachers, Department of Education and Training and critical friends

Abstract

This paper builds on the previous quantitative paper presented in this symposium and reports on the processes of negotiating change in curriculum and sport structure in the intervention schools. Teachers in the twelve intervention schools responded to the overall aim of the project - to arrest the decline in MVPA for adolescent girls as they progress from Year 8 to Year 10 - the processes and strategies for each school were individual. Arriving at potential strategies to achieve the Project Aim required school-based teams to respond to their own specific contexts. Intervention strategies were based initially on the interview data collected in the formative stage of the project. These data were collected via interviews from diverse groups in each of the schools. Groups consisted of cross-disciplinary teachers, girls in Year 8, boys in Year 8, Physical Education teachers, sport organisers, head teachers and executive staff such as deputy and principals. As such, these interviews elicited multifaceted views on the role of sport, issues surrounding the engagement of year 8 girls, and teachers views on the factors surrounding potential changes. These data provided a starting point for the schools to develop action plans. The project champion in each school was guided by the project manager from the Department of Education (DET) and in most cases by the Critical Friends assigned to each of the schools. Negotiation and refinement of an action-research plans began with regular accountability and resource funding from the DET complemented by feedback, support and research informed guidance from the Critical Friends. The processes of school-based change are presented under the categories of facilitating and resisting change in the intervention schools, from the perspective of the three groups: the school-based teachers; the Department of Education and Training; and, 'critical friends' from the Universities. The diversity of intervention strategies implemented in the schools are presented under two categories, namely curriculum and structure. The narrative surrounding the negotiation of change with multiple stakeholders within the schools is presented in the complexity of negotiated change. New sport options, duration of sport allocations for students and staff; allocation of staff and equipment; engaging with student and teacher views remain the spaces reported as per the three major groups involved. In some schools such spaces thwarted the 'student voice'. This paper concludes with a reflection on the processes involved in supporting intervention schools to enact change and recommendations for future projects.