ABSTRACT
We have seen in Chapter 3 that a considerable body of knowledge has accumulated on the characteristics of schools that are effective in ‘adding value’ to their students. We now proceed to examine the core beliefs, the bodies of knowledge and the practical enterprises produced by researchers and practitioners in the field of school improvement. An attempt is made to organise the field by looking in turn at:
the history of the study of change and school improvement;
the centralisation-decentralisation paradox;
definitions of school improvement and school development;
the process of school improvement;
a framework for school improvement efforts;
some of the most common school improvement strategies;
six propositions for successful school improvement efforts;
the theoretical implications for school improvement.
