ABSTRACT
‘Whole school curriculum planning’ is one of the most exciting and potentially powerful ideas to emerge in the 1980s. The ‘whole-school concept does not only relate to policy-making; it also relates to shared understanding and the building of common knowledge about practice. School Profile Studies are primarily developmental, serving the needs of the school or schools involved, but they also have some research potential. The most problematic aspect of school profile studies — and for the school the most important — is the feedback process. School Profile Studies are a symptom of the timeless. In a context of ‘whole-school thinking, the approach rests on the assumption that schools need to ‘know themselves’ in order to plan effectively. School profile studies have a modest aim. They enable the bringing together of a variety of perspectives on an issue or a dimension of practice.
