Leaders and change for educational improvement: better strategies, greater achievements?

Abstract

This paper studies the relationship between the existence of more developed strategies for educational change, by a group of directors of vulnerable Chilean establishments, and higher degrees of implementation of said strategies. The theories of action of these directors were evaluated, analyzing their level of elaboration, considering the definitions of Hall and Hord on "Stages of Concern" and their level of implementation, using the concept of "Levels of Use", from the same authors.

The results showed that the greater number of cases in which there were higher "Stages of Concern", there were higher "Levels of Use". It was observed that these cases showed a clear focus on the pedagogical core and that throughout the years of study there was a constant refinement of the theories of change by the leaders. In the cases that had lower levels of implementation, there was a less focused focus on student learning, less presence of principals, and lower levels of institutionalization of the expected changes.