ABSTRACT
Change in educational systems is a highly complex yet little understood phenomenon. Contemporary attempts to conceptualise educational change have generally failed to take account of the culture within which educational institutions are embedded, and within which their members act. This chapter focuses on data gathered during a research project which explored the management of change in Canadian teacher education. There was a plethora of apparent change in Canadian teacher education during the 1970s. The conceptual scheme fits well into the typology suggested by the literature on change in higher education, with barriers existing at the systemic, organisational and individual levels. It could be argued that Canadian teacher education is in its present state because the move to the university was a major innovation; that it takes time to institutionalise; and that, given experience, the situation will right itself.
