Finding Time: temporal considerations in the operation of school committees

Abstract

This paper details data obtained from research into the setting up of representative committees in state schools in Victoria, Australia. The aim of the research was focused on how successfully these new administrative structures were operating. However, during the conduct of the research project and when analysing the data later, it became obvious that temporal factors were a major consideration in the minds of the great majority of teachers. The research suggests that there may be inherent contradictions in trying to impose the time/space administrative structure of a representative committee system on top of the traditional, time‐tabled, clock‐regulated structuring of teachers work.