Policy Implementation: Getting People to Carry Out a Policy

Policy Implementation: Getting People to Carry Out a Policy Fowler Ch. 10 Dr. Wayne E. Wright Royal University of Phnom Penh

Focus Questions • Why is implementing new policies difficult? • What does research tell us about successful and unsuccessful implementation? • How can a school leader plan a policy implementation that increases the likelihood of success? • What courses of action are open to school leaders who are expected to implement a policy that they oppose?

Policy Implementation • Many official policies are never implemented at all • Some implemented only partially • Some implemented incorrectly • Education leaders are required to implement educational policies • Some policies involving minor changes are easy to implement • Many policies are very difficult to implement

Policy Implementation • Part 1 – Research on policy implementation • Part 2 – Practical guidelines for implementing a policy • Part 3 – Having to implement an unpopular policy

Research on Implementation • Implementation • The stage of the policy process in which a policy formally adopted by a governmental body is put into practice • Implementers • Formal Implementers • Government officials who have legal authority to see the policy is put into effect • Local school leaders • Intermediaries • Are delegated the responsibility for implementing the policy • Principals, teachers • Successful implementation requires that intermediaries have the • Will • Capacity

Implementation Research • 1950s and 1960s • U.S. Federal Government provided funding for numerous educational reforms • Wanted to know if the reforms were working • Commissioned Quantitative evaluation studies • Results were confusing, not clear • Commissioned qualitative research studies to see what was actually happening in classrooms and schools • Found that many policies were not being implemented properly, or at all! • Led to research on policy implementation

First Generation ResearchDifficulty of Implementation • Research focused on why implementation of policies and changes was difficult or impossible • Researchers found a general pattern • The teachers never really understood the change • The teachers did not know how to use the new pedagogy • The materials needed to implement the change were not available • The culture and institutional organization of the school were not consistent with the requirements of the new policy • The teachers became discouraged and lost their motivation to implement.

First Generation ResearchDifficulty of Implementation • Lessons from first generation research • Implementation is difficult • Change is hard • Status quo is comfortable • Just because the government mandates a policy doesn’t mean it will be implemented • Implementers may not want to follow it, or don’t know what to do • Lack necessary knowledge and skills • Two resources are critically important to ensure success • Materials • Time • Policies are only implemented successfully when formal implementers and intermediaries are willing and able to work hard

Second Generation ResearchAnalysis of Success and Failure • Studied both successful and failed policy implementations • Seek to understand why some policies are fully implemented and why others are not • Success can and does happen • Implementation is possible • Requires hard work and pressure • Mutual adaptation • Changes in the design of the policy • To better fit the local context • Changes to the behaviors of the implementers • Research has helped identify common characteristics of strong and weak implementation. • Recommendations for school leaders to carry out policy implementation now posible

Third Generation ResearchImplementing Complex Policies • Focus on two questions • How can teachers and administrators learn to implement programs that require a major change to their professional practice? • How can successful reform be expanded from a few sites to many? • Scaling up

Third Generation ResearchImplementing Complex Policies • Understanding that implementers are learners • Suggests ways to increase the likelihood that teachers and principals will fully grasp the nature of the changes required of them • Show them how the proposed reform resembles their current practice and how it differs from it • Model what the new pedagogy through workshops and seminars • Extensive and on-going professional development over a long period of time • Provide a strong social infrastructure for implementation • Assistance from mentors, coaches, support networks • Opportunities for teachers and principals to discuss new ideas among themselves • Opportunities to observe others implementing the new policy • Funding for conferences and workshops, planning periods, and other professional devel0pment

How to Implement a New PolicyMobilizing for Implementation • Implementing policies is one of a school leader’s most important tasks • Without their support, implementations are likely to fail • Mobilizing is probably the most crucial step in policy implementation • Serious errors here will doom implementation • Mobilization typically last 14 to 17 months • School leaders considering adopting a new policy should be able to the answer three positively • Do we have good reasons for adopting the new policy? (Motives) • Is the policy appropriate for our school or district? (Appropriateness) • Does the policy have sufficient support among key stakeholders? (Support)

Motives for Adopting a New Policy • Do we have good reasons for adopting the new policy? • There can be good and bad reasons • Bad • School leaders want to show off as innovators in order to enhance their own career or to make the school look “cutting edge” • Good • Helps solve a real problem • Builds capacity of teachers to implement additional changes

Appropriateness of the New Policy • Is the policy appropriate for our school or district? • Consider context of the school • Policies that worked in one school may not work exactly the same way in your school • Consider values of the community • If funding provided, will policy keep going after funding runs out? • Get information about the policy through research • Figure 10.1 (p. 286) Determining whether a policy is appropriate for a specific context.

Adequate Support • Does the policy have sufficient support among key stakeholders? • Policies can be derailed by hostile stakeholders • Make sure policies are accepted by principals and teachers • Must strongly support it • Leaders should not just guess about the level of support from teachers and other stakeholders • Many will need to be persuaded • Listen • Be prepared to modifications based on input

Planning for Implementation • Leaders must plan for implementation • First few weeks of implementation are crucial • But plans should not be rigid • “Evolutionary planning” • As the project evolves, modify the plans based on experiences and feedback, changes in the environment, etc. • Who should participate in the planning? • Option 1 – Large steering committee with representatives of all stakeholders • Option 2 – Smaller committee comprised of volunteers members who are strongly committed to the project • Either option can work, but both must include 2 key stakeholders who are grassroots implementers • Principals • Teachers

Planning for Implementation • Planning by forward mapping • Try to anticipate all the prerequisites for beginning the implementation • Identify the broad range of resources needed • Materials • Equipment • Trainers • Consultants • Suitable spaces • Create a written scenario which describes what the policy will look like • Develop practical questions from it to help with planning • Examples: Table 10.2, Figure 10.2 (pp. 290-291)

Gathering Resources for Implementation • Many problems in implementation are caused by insufficient resources (see Table 10.3, p. 291) • Leaders must carefully analyze what resources are needed and obtain them before and during implementation. • Money • Time • Personnel • Space (see figure 10.3, p. 295) • Equipment and Materials

Implementation Stages • Two Implementation Stages • Early Implementation • Early months are rough • Implementers must learn to act in new ways • Haven’t yet gotten used to new behaviors • Teachers will likely feel overloaded, tired, anxious, confused, burned out, demoralized, depressed • Make mistakes, worry they are failing • Late Implementation • Success depends on how successful early implementation way • Not a time to relax • Still problems to resolve • Must keep working to ensure institutionalization

Three Components of Successful Implementation from Beginning to End • 1. Monitoring and Feedback • A program facilitator or project director should be responsible for keeping a close watch on the implementation process • Accurate knowledge about what is going on cannot be gained by sitting at a desk! • Frequent site visits • frequent conversations with principals, teachers • Report back to central office or ministry officials • 2. Ongoing Assistance • Pressure is important, but equally important is support • Assistance more important form of support • Based on monitoring and feedback information • Planned in advance and provided throughout the mobilization, early implementation, and late implementation stages • Figure 10.4 (p. 297) 17 Types of Assistance for Implementers

Three Components of Successful Implementation from Beginning to End • 3. Problem Coping • Problems are inherent in every policy implementation • Three categories of problems • Program related • People related • Setting related • (see Table 10.4, p. 298) • Two approaches to problems • Ignore them • Will eventually grow bigger and make the project fail • Recognize problems as a normal part of the process • Actively prepare for them, detect them, and deal with them • Coping Strategies • Technical • Analyze the problem and target resources • Political • Mobilizing power to get people to act in certain ways • Cultural • Focus on share values, beliefs, and symbols that are the key to the problem • (see Table 10.5, p. 299)

Institutionalization • Final stage of implementation is institutionalization • Policy or change is fully integrated into the routines and practices of the schools • Becomes “the way we do things around here” • Requires both thought and planning • If create on soft money, needs to be integrated into regular budget • (see Figure 10.5, p. 300)

Implementing Unpopular Policies • A large number of implementers may be opposed to a new policy. • Even school leaders may question the policies they are required to implement. • Why some policies are unpopular • Self-Interest • Threatens job security? • Adds more work without additional pay • Professional values • Policy may conflict with their own professional values

Issues Surrounding Resistance • Three possible responses when one is asked to implement a policy with which one disagrees • Exit - Quit the position or leave the school • Voice - Speak up about the problem • Disloyalty- Quietly or openly refusing to implement the policy • Approaches a principal might take • Compliance • Decide its not worth risking your job over • Exit • Retire earlier • Transfer to a different school or position • Resign • Forms of Disloyalty • Token compliance • Do the bare minimum to make it look like you are complying • Sabotage • Creating fake reports • Claiming to have “lost” required materials or reports

Coping with Resistance • Must resistance is covert • Must pay attention when things seem to go wrong • School leaders must be prepared for resistance and devise ways to head it off and minimize it • Strategies • Persuasion • Listen and modify the policy based on feedback • Move strong opponents • Transfer unhappy principals or teachers to a different school or position where they don’t have to deal with the policy change • Overuse can backfire and create even more resistance

Choosing to Resist • A school leader might choose to resist implementing a policy • School administrators, like other leaders, are not ethically obligated to obey every order they are given • Especially if they feel the change is unethical or harmful to students or teachers • School administrators must think through their situation, their motives, and the possible effects of their resistance • Resistance can lead to the loss one’s job and/or reputation • Determine if the policy is merely symbolic • Likely adopted for political reasons and won’t last long • Determine if the policy is more substantive and closely monitored • Consider quiet token compliance, and conserve one’s strength for even more important battles • Principles resistance to implementation should always be the fruit of thoughtful reflection and soul-searching. Leaders should be prepared to lose their jobs because of it.

Final Points • Implementation of policies is hard work • Failure can lead to embarrassment • There is no good reason for failure • Research provides a road map for workable approaches to policy implementation • A good knowledge base, combined with thought and planning, lead to success in this difficult endeavor.

Discussion Questions • What policy implementations have you been involved with? Did the policy implementation go smoothly? If not, what problems were some of the problems? • Consider the policy of Child Friendly Schools, which is supposed to promote active learning and child-centered pedagogy. • What stage of implementation would you say it is in? • How successful has the implementation of this policy been? • What are reasons and ways principals or teachers have resisted these policies? • What are some strategies that have been successful in getting principals and teachers to create child-friendly schools?

Policy Implementation: Getting People to Carry Out a Policy