English Teachers’ Organizational Transformation: Six Effective Practices

Abstract

Educational institutions face significant challenges that prevent cooperative work teams and favorable working conditions. However, the most significant limitation is the lack of interpersonal skills that allow people to interact appropriately. In some cases, schools’ organization has hierarchical structures in which educational authorities give orders and are not prepared to empower others to make decisions or, what is more, to work collectively. This situation limits the creativity and innovation of people inside and outside the organization. For this reason, leaders seek strategies and tactics to develop positive work cultures in which people feel safe to grow personally and professionally. This paper describes six practices based on scientific literature that could promote effective teamwork in the School of Education (Escuela de Educación [EDE]). These practices are buffering, reflecting, connecting, mobilizing, weaving, and transforming. The main findings indicate that these strategies are effective as long as the leaders and teachers of English are aware of their potential to transform the institution.