The Ecology of Organizational Change: School Principals' Perspectives on Green Schools in Israel

• In Event: 75.049 - Globalized Contexts for Collaboration, Change, and Reform

Abstract

This paper explores the implementation of the Green School Certificate Program (GSCP) in Israel. Using qualitative data from semi-structured interviews with 25 school principals, we construct the principals’ mindscape on the GSCP. School Principals identify four key-actors in the implementation process: Ministry of Education, Ministry of Environmental Protection, local authority and environment education organizations. Moreover, they critically evaluate the role of four factors on successful implementation of GSCP: (a) personal commitment; (b) alignment between the program and decentralization efforts (e.g., school autonomy); (c) conflict between the program and standardization efforts (e.g. national and international assessments); (d) school’s characteristics and affiliations (e.g., grade level and educational sector). We discuss the implications of these findings to scholarship and to policy/practice.

Authors

• Oren Pizmony Levy, Teachers College, Columbia University

• Dafna Gan, Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel