To explore the managing change in educational settings, recently, The University of Manchester China Centre hosted an Online and offline Education Industry Spotlight Session. Mr. Paul Cunningham, English Principal of Concord Academy, was invited to deliver a keynote speech to the audience, while attracting over 300 professionals online.

Paul Cunningham, Veteran British educator who has contributed over 40 years in international education, suggested education leaders that it is possible to learn from business models to address the challenging to lead people through the change processes. One such model is provided by Jeff Hiatt and is known as ADKAR Model. He explained the model from five dimensions: Awareness of change, Desire to change and adapt to the new process, Knowledge of how they will go through that change, Ability and skills for the new process and Reinforcement and support to sustain the change.

People is another important factor in the change process. As people, they need to be integrated into the change process, they are important factors in the success evaluate change. there is need to empower employees and give them a sense of ownership, ensure you recognized their key role that they undertake. And if you can do all of the points, you will go a long way to remove the obstacle that might prevent them for working positively for a change.

Paul Cunningham believes, in any educational setting, there is a need to develop leadership capacity amongst all its members, a capacity to instigate, identify and successfully implement change. If we recognize that setting as a wider leaning community, then it is possible for all stakeholders to consider and contribute to change.

The post event feedback has also been very positive, and attendees enjoyed the interaction and practical focus of the event. Event organizer, Ms. Sherry Fu, Funding Director of UoM China Centre, was delighted with the high level of contribution and support for the spotlight session. She pointed out that: “Our goal is to make the new China Centre synonymous with world-class education, knowledge sharing and continuous learning. The enlargement and upgrade of the China Centre show again the University’s great contribution to Sino-British education links. We’ll bring more transnational courses to China, transforming the Centre to be a leader of digital learning revolution, to extend the university’s academic and research strength to a much wider audience in China.”

As educators, we should not be afraid of changes. The properly of reason to make a change should always be in response to a need or an opportunity. There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it's going to be a butterfly. The vary fact there is no real purposes in the change means that change has less likelihood of succeeding and certainly succeeding in terms of incessant.

To help more educators build sustainable careers, Manchester Institute of Education at The University of Manchester is now providing a blended-learning, part-time Master in Educational Leadership in Practice course, for a global rollout. China Centre is proud to bring this part-time, flexible course for working professionals and future leaders in Asia in education industry.