The purpose of this paper is to develop a change management model for implementing IT platforms among teachers in the Danish ground school system. “Fora-modellen” is developed by examining what kind of cultural factors that influence the change process, that teachers have, when big changes in the public sector are made. E.g. in connection with “Brugerportalsinitiativet” - a national initiative for implementing two LMS systems in Danish schools.

PART 1
Fifteen hypotheses are developed through an investigation of existing theories about 1: change processes in organisations, 2: IT implementation in organisations, 3: change processes among teachers and 4: IT implementation among teachers. The 15 hypotheses are cultural factors that are expected to influence, how successful the IT implementation will be. The hypotheses are divided into four categories: Communication, Cooperation, Framing and External Dialogue.
PART 2
The importance and satisfaction of the fifteen hypotheses are explored through interviews and questionnaires among teachers in Hjørring Kommune, a municipality in the northern part of Denmark, where big economic and structural changes have affected the school system within the last 10 years. All fifteen hypotheses are confirmed to be important, but the satisfaction varies deeply. The teachers experience lack of communication, lack of involvement, a need for clarification of the vision and framing of the teachers’ experiments with the IT platform. If these factors are improved it is likely to have a positive impact on the implementation process.
PART 3
The findings of PART 1 and 2 are combined with change management theories for the development of “Fora-modellen” - a change management model, which emphasizes the need for a change team to prioritize initiatives for clear visions, communication, involvement and framing of the change through an incremental process with milestones during three phases of a change process: Prework, Change and Anchorage. If school leaders and public administrations use “Fora-modellen” as a planning tool, the change process of teachers is expected to be more successful, as cultural factors are taken into account.

Although the model is developed for IT implementation among teachers in the Danish ground school, the model is expected to be useful for other types of change processes within the public sector as well. However future research on this matter is necessary, as the model hasn’t been tested yet. Finally three themes are discussed: 1. The need for a new model, 2. The leaders’ relational competence in connection with the new model, and 3. The reasons for teachers often being accused of being more negative towards change compared to other groups of coworkers.