How do you deal with ‘old fashioned’ thinking, especially when it occurs among colleagues in key positions? – one of the interesting questions asked by the learning network programmatic testing and addressed by Marleen Kaijen (HAN), Fedde Kloppenburg (HU) and Harry Rorije (HU) during the second Buitenkring meeting 2022/2023. This led to new insights for us, with which we can help you even better and which we would like to share with you.
Enter the conversation!
Programmatic testing is truly a paradigm shift and the question of how to actually get your colleagues on board is very common. Practice shows that persuasion does not work… The answer: engage in conversation! Engage your colleagues.
How do you do that?
The question identified “old” thinking. First of all, perhaps we should stop talking about ‘old’ because by doing so you create – unintentionally – an us-versus-them culture. That way you have already built a wall, you have a value judgment about colleagues, while they may be guarding something that could be very valuable for a new way of working. By starting the conversation with colleagues who are not (yet) convinced about programmatic testing, they feel they are taken seriously.
The ‘common ground’
Looking for the ‘common ground’, the corresponding values, is an important step. You can do this, for example, with value cards. You often find that your values are not so far apart at all. Teachers have been getting out of bed for decades, driven to do their jobs, for a reason. You all want the best for the student. That they have security and that the manner of testing is fair. What follows is a deep conversation that takes a lot out of the air.
Sometimes you have to let go and add
In doing so, it is good to realize that every program, every field of study, every student who chooses a particular program is unique. And the concept of programmatic testing is one of the ingredients you pour into the funnel, the process. The other ingredient is the uniqueness of such a work field and teaching team. Out of that funnel then comes something that is powerful and unique. You have to look carefully for that. It may be that you might let go of certain elements from a concept such as programmatic testing, but add other elements from the team, thus arriving at very nice, working models.