先日、校長向けの講演を聞かせていただく機会がありました。新型コロナウイルス感染症の影響を強く受けた３年間のご経験から、次代を担う世代の教育に向けてのお話でした。

新型コロナウイルス感染症は、“新型”ということだけではなく、“変異”ということにおいても、世界を翻弄したと言えます。2020年１月から、今年５月８日付けでインフルエンザと同じく感染症法上の位置づけが５類となるまで、全部で八つの波があったとされています。第一波は大阪では累計1,800人ほどの新規陽性者数だったそうですが、重症化率や死亡率が高く、さらに「どう予防したらいいのか、どう治療したらいいのかわからない」ことから対応に苦慮し、また憶測や噂などに惑わされたこともありました。第二波、第三波と感染者数が増えていきましたが、第二波以降は蔓延防止等重点措置などがとられ、次第に感染予防の指示が明確になっていきました。しかし第四波からはいわゆる変異株が現れ、同じ新型コロナウイルス感染症であるのに、症状や感染力が異なっていました。さらに第六波から現れたオミクロン株は感染力が強く、非常に多くの人が感染を経験されたようです。

このような状況の中、国や大阪府の動き、そして学校への指示などに携わられた講演者は、この３年間をVUCA（Volatility変動性, Uncertainty不確実性, Complexity複雑性), Ambiguity曖昧性)の状態の典型と例えられていました。まさに命にかかわることから、迅速に、正確に対応すべきであるのに、「未知」「未経験」で「流動的」な状況のため、これまでの経験や法則、方法などが使えないといった状況だったそうです。その中で大事にされたことは、情報を共有し、課題等を把握したうえで指示を出し、最前線の職員がチームを作り与えられたミッション達成に向けて主体的に動くことでした。これがOODA（Observe観察、Orient方向付け、Decide意思決定、Action実行）で、これら4つの動きをループのように実行することです。物事を計画的に実行する際に言われるPDCA（Plan 計画,Do 実行,Check 評価,Action改善）と似ていますが、OODAでは、大きく組織的な意思決定（Decide）を待っていては手遅れになってしまうような場合、観察をもとに方向づけを踏まえた現場の判断で最前線のチームが動けるようにすることです。実行後の報告により、今後の意思決定に反映すればいいのだそうです。指示を待たずに現場が主体的に考え、行動することから、チームとしての団結力や実行力も高くなり、迅速な対応が可能になったとのことでした。

いつの時代も「未知」「未経験」なことは起こってきましたが、社会の変化が早くなったのは間違いないと思います。急速な変化が起こる時代を生きる生徒たちには、大きな方向性を踏まえたうえで、自分で観察し、自分で判断し、そして自ら動くことができるようになることは大切なことです。「高い知性とゆたかな情操を内包し、自らの意志をもって行動出来る女性」となるためにも、生徒たちには、今後も授業や行事、自治会活動、部活動等を通して自主性・積極性・主体性を身に付けてほしいと考えます。

樟蔭中学校高等学校　校長　小嶋信男

2023 11 30 – Principal’s Blog

OODA for VUCA

Recently, I had the opportunity to attend a lecture for school principals based on the speaker’s experiences over the past three years. The experiences that he spoke of had been heavily affected by COVID-19, whilst the aim over this period was educating the next generation of students.

COVID-19 has caused turmoil around world not only because it is a new type of virus, but also because of its ability to mutate and spread rapidly. Eight waves in total were identified from January 2020 until May 8, 2022, when it was finally classified as a Category 5 illness under the Infectious Diseases Control Law. It now occupies the same status as influenza. During the first wave, there were about 1,800 cases of COVID-19 in the Osaka area. In addition to speculation and rumors about COVID-19, the rate of severe illness and death was high, and the initial response was troubled as there was little information on how to prevent or treat this new disease. The rate of infection increased rapidly during the second and third waves, but after the second wave, emergency measures were taken to slow the spread of the virus, and instructions on how to prevent infection gradually became clearer. However, from the fourth wave, mutated strains began to appear, and although it was still classified as the same virus, different symptoms presented and its resistance to treatment increased. Furthermore, the Omicron strain that emerged from the sixth wave turned out to be highly contagious and infections continued in large numbers.

Throughout this difficult period, the speaker, who has been involved with the national and Osaka prefectural governments, as well as with various educational institutes, compared the past three years to a typical VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, Ambiguity) situation. Because it was a life-threatening situation, we needed to respond quickly and accurately, but as the situation was unknown, unexperienced, and fluid, we could not apply past knowledge, rules, or methods to it. What was important in this process was sharing information, understanding the core issues, issuing clear instructions, and having frontline staff form a team to work independently to achieve the assigned goals. This process is officially known as OODA (Observe, Orient, Decide, Take Action) and is executed across these four actions in a loop-like manner. It is similar in some ways to PDCA (Plan, Do, Check, Action Improvement), a framework used when doing things in a planned manner. However, in OODA, if you wait for organizational decisions (Decide) to be made at the top, it can be too late. In such cases, a front-line team should be able to make decisions based on what they directly observe. The speaker concluded that if people on the ground can think and act independently without waiting for instructions, the team’s cohesiveness, and ability to execute will improve, making it possible for them to respond more quickly to immediate issues.

Unknown and unexperienced things have continually happened over the ages and there is no doubt that our society is constantly evolving. Living in an era of rapid change, it is important for students to be able to observe, make decisions, and take action on their own. In order to become women who possess high intelligence and rich emotions, and who can act decisively, we will continue to encourage our students to be independent, proactive, and to take initiative through classes, events, community association activities, club activities, etc. We want our students to acquire independence.

Shoin Junior and Senior High School Principal
Nobuo Kojima