ABSTRACT
Introduction Let me say straight away that target setting is not an overall panacea for the improvement of schools. If governors and headteachers simply say to their staff you must work harder in order to achieve x per cent improvement in SAT scores, or whatever other aspect of school life is being targeted for improvement (and one hopes there will be some, for example PSHE (Personal, Social and Health Education), or PE given the overall level of fitness of our nation’s youth) then target setting is a short route to a nervous breakdown for all concerned! In order to make improvements you have to do something different. It may or may not be dramatic, but it has to be sufficient for you to believe that it may bring about an improvement. You then set the target and it is the initiative that is then under pressure and succeeds or fails, not individual members of staff.
