ABSTRACT
We trained hard…but it seemed that every time we were beginning to form up in teams we would be reorganized. I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situation by reorganizing; and a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress while producing confusion, inefficiency and demoralization. (Caius Petronius, AD 65)
School development has to become habitual. It is a question of combining continuous improvement with the resolve to be ‘regularly irregular’. As Cuban (1987) has pointed out, school development is a somewhat curious amalgam of constancy and change. Going against the grain becomes part of the grain. Fullan’s advice (1988), therefore, is to get into new habits, especially the habit of constant learning. He advises schools to:
reach out and gain access to new ideas; practise active experimentation; examine other organizations; encourage and support reflective practice; establish collegial learning; build in coaching in relation to classroom practice.
