ABSTRACT
Educational restructuring is widespread in many countries of the world and is associated with moves to deregulate and decentralize the running of schools. The importance of ‘interpretive knowledge’ was argued strongly in the educational literature in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and the arguments hold just as strongly today. Researchers and policymakers alike have, over the course of many decades, exhorted and advised principals and teachers to adopt prescribed practices in the cause of effectiveness and efficiency. There are sufficient indications that participation in life history studies can lay the foundations for an ongoing critical appraisal of customary practices and beliefs in one's educational role.
