ABSTRACT
Some school policies frequently come under criticism from the ‘ordinary’ teachers who have to implement them because they are seen as the products of deliberations by a small group of senior managers, their contents being viewed as directives. Such policies, whatever they may relate to, are treated with justifiable resentment by the workers who have not been invited to participate in their formulation. They exist on paper, and seem to be removed from the reality of classroom life (Palmer et al. 1994). They are also indicative of an hierarchical approach to school organisation and management. ‘Ownership’, to coin a popular and politically correct term, is missing.
