Going tactical rather than strategic: an intervention that helped schools pass the grade

Abstract

This article analyses a tactical intervention aimed at improving the academic performance of students that brought about more than the intended positive changes in the target schools through contiguous effect. The intervention was primarily focused on student performance in examinations and was externally driven but led to many improvements in the internal systems as well. The manifestation of this process is explained through the Stakeholder Transition Model and the Outcome-focused Tactical Intervention Model. Within the broad framework of the Tactical, Network and Tacit triad, the article argues that contextualising for the local milieu or situation, coordinated stakeholder engagement and interpersonal relationships play important roles in the success of any intervention. The fact that these are not effectively implemented in the government schools covered in this study is not a comment on the system, since this issue is far too complex to be exhaustively discussed here. This intervention suggests a way for external change agents to bring about changes in the internal processes through contiguous pressure in contrast to directly acting on the system.