ABSTRACT
Society's expectations for schools and for teachers are obviously undergoing significant change. Schools are becoming very different places on the inside as well, and their roles and practices grow more complex as students, teachers and parents become more articulate in expressing their preferences. The conventional structure of the school day and of the school week ignores the contextual reality of individual schools and communities by assuming that the schooling needs of all are exactly the same. A more flexible deployment of teaching staff becomes a necessary part of the notion of a flexible school day; teachers would need to negotiate with the principal the ways in which they would fulfil their teaching contract within the school's new operational arrangements. There is in all school communities a large body of under-utilised expertise which could reasonably be harnessed for the benefit of schools and students.
