Old Dogs and New Puppies: The Disruptive Effects of Equity-Oriented Policy Change on Learning Community Participation
Open Access
- Author:
- Mcginnis, G. Eric
- Graduate Program:
- Educational Theory and Policy
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- October 19, 2020
- Committee Members:
- Dana Mitra, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor
Dana Mitra, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
David Alexander Gamson, Committee Member
Gerald K Letendre, Committee Member
Mark A Brennan, Jr., Outside Member
Kevin Kinser, Program Head/Chair - Keywords:
- adult education
nonformal education
education policy
policy implementation
Boy Scouts
Scouting
education leadership
nonprofit leadership
organizational theory
communities of practice
landscapes of practice
critical sensemaking
volunteer management - Abstract:
- This dissertation analyzes practitioner implementation of values-laden policy in the organizational setting. Its primary focus is on understanding the processes of learning and change that take place when practitioners’ deeply held beliefs come into conflict with values-laden policies. This study is oriented around World Scouting in the U.S. context, focusing on volunteer scout leaders of the Boy Scouts of America Inc. Employing an embedded case study approach to exploring five scout units in the northeast United States, this study explores volunteer scout leader experiences implementing new Boy Scouts of America membership policies. The new policies allow girls and individuals identifying as LGBTQ+ to participate fully in the program as youth members and scout leaders for the first time in the organization’s history. Relying on narrative interviewing, observations, and various types of document analysis, this study takes a multifaceted comparative approach to analyze the process of practitioner implementation of equity-oriented policies and how it relates to practitioner beliefs, identity and belongingness in the community setting. A layered conceptual framework which incorporates Landscapes of Practice, Communities of Practice and Critical Sensemaking addresses the forces of peer exchange and power which guides the untangling of these complex processes of social learning. Findings indicate that operationalizing organizational values in the peer exchange process enables practitioners’ faithful and consistent implementation of values-laden policy. These findings draw a link between espoused organizational values, peer exchange, and practice, together enabling practitioners to change or adapt their personal beliefs when they are in conflict with new policies. In the applied setting these findings enable organizational leaders in the policy planning process, guiding a systemic approach to policy implementation and selecting organizational interventions. Findings contribute to theory across several disciplines, with implications for the study of nonformal education implementation and evaluation, organizational leadership, and communities of practice.