Lewin's Theory Of Change In Education

Introduction The Jamaica education system caters to more than 800,000 students in public and private institutions. Hence, the urgent need to improve the existing conditions within the schools as recommended by the Task Force has triggered the Ministry of Education and other stakeholders within the education system to use different strategies in an effort to help schools improve students’ performances (Knight & Rapley, 2007). Ever since the merger of two urban high schools, there has been numerous cases of anti-social, mal-adaptive behaviours, gross disrespect for authority and the overall poor attitude towards the merger being displayed by both teachers and students. The merger of educational institutions can be associated with but not

It is essential, therefore, that the people that are a part of the merger are taken into consideration, since, they are directly affected and go through a process of change as posited by Kurt Lewin and his change theory. Therefore, according to Lewin’s change model, knowing what the change is about and why the change is necessary for the organization’s growth and development, will lead to motivation and acceptance of the change, thus, reducing the resistances to the change. The first stage of Lewin’s change theory is referred to as the unfreezing stage and is characterized by people gaining perspective on their daily activities, unlearning their bad practices, and opening up to different ways of accomplishing their objectives. The second stage of Lewin’s change theory which he calls the “change” or “moving” stage has individuals accepting the new changes. Persons will now display a new way of thinking and demonstrate new behaviour, since, they will be continuously supported through the process of education and communication until they become familiar with the change. This final stage of Lewin’s change theory which he refers to as the freezing or refreezing, deals with reinforcing, stabilizing and solidifying the new state which is important to ensure that people do not revert to their old way of thinking or doing (Lunenburg & Orstein,

A strength of Lewin 's three step theory in this merger study provides a manager or change agent an indication of what implementing a change means when dealing with people. None-the-less his change theory, has its own limitations which include the difficulty in freezing a planned change in the system, which in essence speaks to the difficulty in implementing and solidifying any change in any