ABSTRACT
‘Social capital’ is a new field for many researchers, policymakers and practitioners in education, but this should not be the case. The first use of the term appears to have been in the context of education nearly 100 years ago, when a rural superintendent in Virginia used it to refer to the advantages that a rural school had over its urban counterparts. The networks of community support for the school seemed to be stronger in the former (Putnam, 2000). Now, it is central to efforts to create a self-transforming school.
