ABSTRACT
E. Hoyles stresses the importance of the headteacher as an innovator since the education system allows him so much freedom. This chapter is concerned with the initiation, planning and implementation of a complex educational innovation, which included the integration of some humanities subjects, unstreamed classes and team-teaching. It discusses the role of the headmaster in relation to the innovation. The inadequacy of communication among the innovating teachers and between them and the headmaster was identified as an important problem. Ineffective communication was a factor in the lack of clarity about major dimensions of the innovation, which in turn affected implementation. Some resistance to a proposed innovation might exist or it might develop during the process of planning or implementation. The major issues related to the role of the headteacher and innovation-support for innovation, with or without the use of external consultants, and participative decision-making-may present the innovating headteacher with a fundamental problem.
