ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses a case study of teacher initiated curriculum innovation at an eleven to eighteen mixed comprehensive school of 2000 pupils on the outskirts of a large English industrial city. Conflict became manifest as the teachers considered the risk value involved in changing their teaching style, which was forced upon them by the structural change. In both studies the structural change as part of the innovating process was crucial in making the innovation 'come alive'. The fragmenting of 'thinking as usual' is a major contribution of the stranger to the innovation process, in that it challenges people to question the taken for granted. Having disrupted the everyday world and created a 'crisis' for the individual the innovative stranger has to then provide a framework within which the individual can feel safe and secure to adopt new ideas, and to clarify areas of confusion. Documentation is also an important feature of innovation.
