Abstract

Synchronicity remains an underexplored perspective in the study of educational change. Traditional models often neglect the intricate interaction between management, communication, and emotional alignment, identified here as factors essential for implementing effective change. To address this gap, we investigated the role of synchronicity between school principals and school teams in shaping teachers’ readiness for change. Specifically, we examine synchronicity in three areas: managerial innovation, team communication, and team emotional synchronicity.

We used an online survey to collect data from 275 teachers in Israeli public schools and performed paired t-tests, clustering analysis, and ANOVAs on the data. Paired t-test analyses revealed that team communication synchronicity was significantly higher than team emotional and managerial innovation synchronicity, demonstrating the critical role of team communication as a key synchronizing force in educational settings. When conceptualized as coupled oscillators, the three synchronicity variables interact to produce distinct states of synchronicity. The k-means clustering analysis distinguished three groups: two corresponding to chimera states and a third reflecting self-organization. In the first (management-based) chimera state, managerial innovation synchronicity was high, while team communication and team emotional synchronicity were low. The second (team-based) chimera state demonstrated the opposite pattern, with high team-based but low managerial synchronicity. The self-organization state exhibited high levels across all synchronicity types. Readiness for change varied significantly across these states, with the highest levels observed in the self-organization state, followed closely by the team-based chimera state, with the management-based chimera state showing the lowest readiness for change.

The findings offer new insights into the mechanisms underlying educational change, noting the importance of synchronicity in promoting adaptability and readiness for transformation. We suggest that mapping concrete synchronicity patterns to readiness for change provides a conceptual and empirical foundation for improving managerial strategies, team dynamics, and systemic change in schools. The insights offer practical implications for encouraging innovation and effective leadership in schools.