A Change of Management Report

This report recommends modifying the curriculum to raise children’s information literacy. Numerous educators who are involved in education have noticed a decline in students’ literacy levels in recent years. Contrary to popular belief, literacy encompasses more than just the ability to read and write. It comprises the ability to read, comprehend, and critically value a variety of communication mediums, such as printed text, broadcast media, spoken language, and digital media. Unfortunately, the majority of students in the lower grades do not meet the criteria for becoming literate as stated above. The blame can be attributed to the curriculum and the education system in the country since the potential of the pupils does not get fully utilized. This, therefore, calls for a change in curriculum for the lower classes to ensure the pupil’s potential is fully utilized.

The change mostly affected the curriculum that was being used in the past. The ministry of education together with other stakeholders sat down and revised the curriculum to the standard that would be most beneficial to the pupils. The textbooks were also revised to make it easier for the students to master literacy and numeracy skills to the best of their ability. The previous curriculum could not do this. Research conducted by an international body released information that most students have not been developing literacy skill in the country. The reading culture has also been very low mainly because the students are not able to read by themselves. The government has therefore been determined to change this situation and make sure that every student can be able to read, communicate orally, in writing and digital media and also be able to understand and use mathematics in their day to day life. The government has funded more digital media in the recent past which has helped improve learning and teaching aid among the teachers. With the government support together with other non-governmental organizations, the curriculum has been changed for the better which has undoubtedly helped the children improves their literacy skills (Kenton & Penn, 2009).

The change has affected many people starting from the children to the teachers and other stake holders. The children are the ones who have been mostly affected by the change. There have been both positive and negative impacts among all the groups. In the children, there have been noted a tremendous improvement in the literacy levels amongst the children. They can read, write and understand spoken and written media which is a great improvement. Most students have also started showing interest in mathematics and other written materials, unlike the previous years. A study conducted at a random school has supported these observations. The revised textbooks have made it simpler for children to study and understand. The children are also able to understand the environment and comprehend things they see on television. The change was sudden so it affected some of them, and it was hard for them to change the status quo. This is the reason why some students are still ragging behind, but with time they will still catch up.

The change has also affected the teachers and the ministry of education as a whole for changing the curriculum. The teachers especially the old ones had to change their teaching methods and notes they have been using to the new ones. They also had to refresh their education so as to cope with the new curriculum and new textbooks. The government was also affected since the change required some huge monetary investment. Although it all went to a better course the amount was huge, and the government had to stress some of its investment. All in all most of the impacts brought about by the change were positive hence the change should be encouraged (Kenton & Penn, 2009).

Many people were involved in bringing into effect this change and they all contributed to strategizing and implementing it in one way or another. Although there have been conflicts here and there in the process of implementation, the stakeholders have conducted themselves well to ensure the children benefit fully from these changes. The stakeholders involved include the members of the strategizing committee, the government, parent, and teachers association as well as non-governmental organization. The government through the ministry had a very big role in implementing this change of course with help from other stakeholders. It has helped in funding research firms that were investigating on how to improve the literacy levels in children. The government has also conducted many researches in the recent past which were all part of bringing into effect the desired change in the curriculum. The parents on the other hand also had a very big role in implementing this change. They best understand their children since they have spent most of their childhood with them. This, therefore, put them in the perfect position to negotiate and suggest what best for them. All the stakeholders were very important in one way or another since they were involved in planning and implementing the change.

A conflict has been noted severally as the change was being planned and also during its implementation. Some of the stakeholders wanted the status quo to remain hence were very vocal to disrupt the change being implemented. The curriculum change also affected the children, and this brought about the conflict between the children and their teachers. Before the children could catch up and get used to the new curriculum, it was difficult for the teachers to teach as they were used to. Some children understood and liked the new curriculum easily while others took more time. There was also conflict between the government and the opposition as they didn’t want the curriculum to be changed just yet. The new change also gave children more free time hence they would spend more time with their parents. This brought about the conflict between the parents and the ministry since the parents are mostly never home to look after their children. Even with all those conflicts the change still became successful, and the curriculum change was implemented successfully (Ignatowski, 2014).

The change objective was to improve the literacy levels among the children and this according to researchers and educationists has been achieved so far. The parents, as well as the teachers, have noted tremendous improvement in the literacy levels among children. All the stakeholders are very happy with the change although there are still some people complaining. With time the government has promised to iron out the challenges facing this new curriculum to make sure children receives maximum benefits from this curriculum. It has set up a team of specialist to monitor the new curriculum and find out ways of improving it more and more. The children have to benefit most so that we can build a strong foundation for the future labor market. Improving the literacy skills in children is the same as increasing productivity of workers in the labor market. This will be beneficial to the country as a whole. The government is, therefore, happy with the current trend and is doing anything it can to ensure literacy levels continues to rise.

The relevant stakeholders like government, teachers, and parents have helped in achieving the set objectives. The government sets the standard through the ministry that all the schools ought to reach to standardize the education system countrywide. It is also the duty of the government to ensure that those standards are met so that the objectives are met. The teachers also have a duty to teach the children according to the curriculum and also according to the best of their knowledge to achieve those objectives. In short, all the objectives have to be achieved with the full collaboration of the stakeholders. The parents should also talk to their children during the time they spend together and teach them life skills that will help them in life to become better people. Lastly, there has to be an effort by the children. They all have to show interest and passion in their studies so as to be able to understand the new curriculum. Discipline must also be key such that when the teacher is teaching, the children are attentive and when he or she gives out homework it is done accordingly. With all these stakeholders working together there is no doubt that the new curriculum will continue to be successful and the children will reap maximum benefits (Bull & Brown, 2012).

The new change in curriculum was successful obviously due to good collaboration among the stakeholders and also good preparation for the ministry of education. Research done on why it was successful shows that the two reasons are the major reasons why the change was successful. There are also other reasons that may have contributed to the success of this change. Among them, there is a good response from the children and also children being cooperative. Enough funding on the change implementation is also another reason that made this change to be a success. Although the change is successful, there are still other ways to make it better and more successful. With more funding and support from the government, the change can be improved and changes can be made where there are challenges. It is up to the government to continue doing more research and on the new curriculum and also the education system as a whole so as to improve areas that have problems. The teachers should also be taken to seminars to educate them on how to improve the learning environment since it is also an important thing in children education. With those improvements, the education system will be far much better than what it is right now.

In order implement the changes effectively one has to understand the children, how they behave to certain changes and what they like. The study also had a special interest in understand children and their behavior. From home to school most children behave in a certain similar way, and if one takes a keen interest in understanding them, changes like these can be easily implemented. The parents gave a report on the behavior of their children at home while the teachers also gave their own report. It was noted that to implement change successfully on the children you have to understand them first. This, therefore, requires studying them closely (Ignatowski, 2014).

Children live in two different environments. The first one is the school environment where else the other one is the home environment. These two conditions are different in that different people are present in these environments. At school, the majority of individuals they interact with are their peers. Their behaviors are different. When they get home, things change. Their behaviors and choice of words when addressing those they interact with change. When passing messages to these children, proper channels are used. How advertisements are made when addressing the children is different. The society is changing, and methods employed to address the children are changing too. Songs were popular tools for advertisements some time back. With the write choice of words and tone, children would get the message meant for them very easy. They would get entertained at the same time getting the message. Poor choices of words and tone would negatively affect the advertisement. The reason for this is that poor choice of words and tone would lead to a negative attitude towards the advertisement. When the target audience has a negative attitude towards it, they ignore everything about the song including the message. Therefore, the time and resources used to come up with the song are wasted (Kenton & Penn, 2009).

Pictures have played an active role in an advertisement. They say that a picture is worth a million words. When correctly used, pictures can deliver vast information to the target audience. When dealing with children, one must be very careful. They do not have great knowledge on particular things. Therefore, pictures meant to deliver a message to the children should be simple. It should communicate to them, and the message should be clear. If the message is complex, there is a misunderstanding. They are unable to get the message intended. They end up getting mixed up and confusing message that cannot help them. Textbooks used by children for their learning activities have graphic presentations of different things. The aim of the author is to communicate maximum using few words. Those involved in the making of the curriculum understands this. They understand how to develop children so that they will be able to handle things well when they mature. They teach them how to handle things from less complex and adverse as the children grow up. When children are taught well, they become responsible human beings when they grow up (Bull & Brown, 2012).

The majority of children at tender age have enough time to read and view various things that are around them. They do not have much to think about apart from what is going on in their lives. Most of this include learning activities and playing with their friends. Reading is a hobby to most children. This is because they have not experienced most of the world’s activities that can make them fall in love with them. As a result of this, newspapers are an essential platform to use when addressing children. Most parents buy newspapers and at school teachers buy newspapers too, and children can gain access to them in the library. Children will not understand the complex political and business issues printed on the papers. It is, therefore, the Duty of auditor to communicate to children through kids articles with the aim of addressing them (Ignatowski, 2014). These articles are written in simple languages that the children are familiar with and can relate. Advertisements targeting children are made on such articles. The reason for this is that whatever is written that particular page is aimed at reaching the children. Children, on the other hand, know where to find the content meant for them. As they enjoy the stories written on these papers, they can see various advertisements meant for them. Some are product while others are locations that are meant to attract children. If the right choice of words or images is used, the child gets interested in it. He or she gets the details of the product or service advertised and tells the parent about the place or the product. The parents respond accordingly. The person who made the advertisement benefits if the advert was pleasing or suffers a loss making adverts that have no value to him or her.

Videos made by different people have different effects on children. The videos made either communicate something positive or negative. It is the responsibility of those making videos, especially those are meant for children to be careful so as to pass relevant information and educative one. They must understand the preference of the young children so that the videos are entertaining. Children remember what entertains them and as a result of this, adverts made through videos are effective. A long time ago before this technological advancement, people used live plays to offer the same. People would assemble a group of individuals who would act and entertain their audience. Some plays were made specifically for children. Through these plays, many adverts were made as well as educative lessons were made. The best way to teach young ones moral lessons those days were through such plays. However, things have changed, and people are using videos to achieve the same objectives (Ignatowski, 2014).

Nowadays advertising products are very easy. The reason for this is the availability of social media that is within reach at every corner of the world. One can keep track of things he or she want from social media. All that one requires is an active internet connection. Social media marketing is a marketing platform that has a numerous number of the youths. As a result of this, delivering messages meant for the teens reach them faster when social media is used as opposed to other methods. The majority of youths are mobile. They spend very little watching the television or reading the newspapers. As a result of this, adverts made through the above channels meant for them may fail to reach them. Therefore, use of social media would greatly help reach the youthful generation. It is, therefore, the responsibility of the advertiser to choose the best platform to suit his or her audience (Bull & Brown, 2012).

Various factors have contributed success in an advertisement. One of the factors is the right choice of words. The people responsible for making these adverts must be creative. They must choose what to say or what to display will a lot of care. Failure to do so affects the advert negatively. The message passed by the does not reach the target audience leading to wastage of resources as well as time. Another factor is the time to deliver your advertisement. One cannot advertise a product meant for children at midnight and expect the message to have reached the target audience. During weekdays on schooldays, the majority of the children are at school. Adverts made on televisions will mostly miss the audience if they were for kids. Knowing when to make certain adverts is vital in achieving the desired objectives. Another factor is the target audience. The person making adverts must select his or her target well. When the target audience includes the older adults, the advertiser must know what channels to use (Kenton & Penn, 2009).

References

Bull, M., & Brown, T. (2012). Implementing Change. Facilities Change Management, 108-122. doi:10.1002/9781119967316.ch8

Ignatowski, G. (2014). A Necessity of Educating Children in the light of Commercial Advertisement. Pedagogika Rodziny, 4(1). doi:10.2478/fampe-2014-0001

Kenton, B., & Penn, S. (2009). Change and Conflict – A Chicken and Egg Debate? Change, Conflict and Community, 53-74. doi:10.1016/b978-0-7506-8194-0.00004-9

Pereira Roders, A., & Hudson, J. (2012). Change Management and Cultural Heritage. Facilities Change Management, 175-189. doi:10.1002/9781119967316.ch12