Making sense of education change at Thistle College: the existence of witchcraft, witches and shamans

This paper seeks to problematise a highly complex and organisationally charged change programme and its management at a real life higher education institution in Scotland, which has been given a fictitious name. The paper discusses the difficulties of the educational change process in higher education, the complexities surrounding the notions of organisational cultures and communities of practice and issues of power and management including new managerialism. A number of theoretical frameworks are brought to bear during this situational analysis, the most significant being the notion of looking at educational management from a witchcraft, witches and shamans perspective. The paper argues for educational managers to move away from the classic views of change management and the management of change towards the meso level of analysis to manage educational change.