ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the balance between institutionally-driven development and personal development of heads and staff, using interviews and case studies over a three year period to 1998. Personal development differs from this in two respects. First, it may involve development of more fundamental abilities that are not specific techniques identified for the purpose of working practice within the organisation, but which would be useful to the individual in a variety of situations. A second approach is one that follows the interests of the individual, where the learning involved has no apparent direct bearing on the work to be performed. The idea that there is a tendency towards reduced creativity will be hotly contested by some, who see teachers working very had, developing and planning programmes of study. Schools are open systems, and therefore a constant relationship does not exist between variables. In open systems, outcomes are generally co-determined by effects of other mechanisms.
