Curriculum content is necessarily influenced by the structure of a school's organization. If changes are to be brought about in curriculums, those who are now in power must be willing to assess and, if necessary, to modify their schools' organization. (CK)

High school improvement initiatives often focus on specific intervention strategies, programs, or priority topics (e.g., dropout intervention). However, research shows that systemic and sustainable improvement can only be achieved when initiatives are implemented with consideration for the broader education contexts in which they operate. The…

During the last three decades Swedish education has undergone radical decentralisation involving increased school autonomy. One aspect of this change is the gradual weakening of the state regulation of teaching time. Thus, Sweden is somewhat of an extreme in the EU. This is accentuated by a five-year experiment, where 900 compulsory schools were…

This paper explores personalised learning, which is a "new" teaching and learning style in the Five Year Strategy for Children and Learners launched by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) for England in 2004. The research was based on semi-structured interviews with 13 teachers mainly in charge of Key Stage 3 at two 11-18…

The current wave of school reform focuses on restructuring schools to align all aspects of the school community around a consistent and guiding vision. While-school reform, or comprehensive school reform, has reached the forefront of educational reform, now that the research on effective schools shows that school communities with clear goals and…

The author feels that educational radical reformers" should start by reforming the school system, rather than ignoring it in favor of outside alternatives. (SP)

Develops a framework for analyzing the politics of school organizations, affirming a Weberian perspective as most appropriate. Develops "logic of action" (the implicit relationship between means and goals) as the focal point of organizational politics. Underlines the importance of analyzing interest groups and their strategies. Political…

In 1999, on the eve of rationalisation of South African higher education, J. M. Coetzee published a book entitled "Disgrace". In this publication he narrates the tale of a Classics and Modern Languages professor transformed into an adjunct professor of Communications, a marketable identity, as a consequence of rationalisation. Coetzee,…

Headmasters respectively of a primary and secondary school in Stevenage, authors examined the gradual transition to comprehensive provision in a new town. (Editor/RK)

Lutterworth Grammar School for 500 selective children, to which the author was appointed Headmaster in 1962, became a 14-plus Upper School under the Leicestershire Plan in 1967. Here he recounts the school's responses as it developed to a fully comprehensive Upper School for 1200. (Editor/RK)