Conceptualising School Change

Abstract>

Schools and school systems in many countries face considerable pressures for change, partly from government directives but at least as significantly from a changing social context. This paper is an attempt to strengthen understanding of strategies for and constraints on school change based on a review of some of the theoretical literature in education and more generally. Our hope is that such a review will provide a realistic sense, neither wildly optimistic nor darkly pessimistic, of the possibilities for schooling in a period of important social change.