David H. Hargreaves

The Knowledge‐Creating School

Moving into the knowledge society at a time when expectations of schools and teachers continue to rise creates an urgent need for better professional knowledge about the management of schools and effective teaching and learning. This demand arises in part because university-based researchers have not hitherto been very successful in either the creation or dissemination of such knowledge. It is argued that success in meeting this demand will continue to elude us as long as the conventional approaches to educational R&D persist. Patterns of knowledge creation and dissemination in high technology firms are suggestive of the conditions under which the creation of professional knowledge in education and its more rapid dissemination throughout the whole education service might flourish. The implications of this radical reconceptualization of knowledge creation and its dissemination in education are explored.

The new professionalism: The synthesis of professional and institutional development

Abstract This article explores some of the neglected and unintended consequences of recent legislation in England and Wales designed to reform both education in schools and teacher education. The two sets of reforms are rarely considered together, though they are linked. It is argued that there is emerging an associated shift in the values and practices of teachers, called the new professionalism. Nine forms of change are explored as its sources. It is suggested that at the heart of the philosophy of the new professionalism is a synthetic relation between professional and institutional development. The new professionalism is seen as a driving force towards what has been called the post-technocratic model of teacher education, one for which many teacher educators are currently not well prepared.

School Culture, School Effectiveness and School Improvement

ABSTRACT The relevance of the concept of culture to school effectiveness and school improvement is explored. Two typologies are developed. The first proposes four ‘ideal type’ school cultures, based on two underlying domains; the second, a more elaborate and dynamic model, proposes two ‘ideal type’ school cultures, based on five underlying structures. Each is discussed for its heuristic, conceptual, methodological and explanatory potential in research in the fields of school effectiveness and school improvement. In distinguishing collegial cultures from collaborative styles, the article advances recent writing on collaboration. From the theory hypotheses about the relationship between school culture and school effectiveness and improvement can be derived as well as techniques to test such hypotheses.

Revitalising Educational Research: lessons from the past and proposals for the future

ABSTRACT The new governments policy on educational research is emerging in the light of recent reviews. This provides an opportunity to reflect on some of the lessons to be derived from the last half‐centurys experience of the relations between social science research and public policy and professional practice. Implications for the future of educational research are considered in the light of this experience and the new governments approach

Inspection and School Improvement

Abstract This paper questions a central assumption of OFSTED, that inspection is an effective and, moreover, a cost‐effective method for improving schools. In particular, doubts are expressed about the capacity of OFSTED inspections to identify the ‘worst’ schools and provide them with a sure mechanism for improvement. It is argued that applying OFSTED inspections to all schools discourages diversity and encourages conformity to the OFSTED school model. This would appear to be in contradiction to the Governments avowed policy of diversity and choice. A case is made for ‘reforming’ OFSTED so as to carry out a modified form of the original HMI functions of monitoring, identifying good practice and offering advice and assistance. Some further specific suggestions are given as to how the new OFSTED would operate

System Redesign for System Capacity Building.

Purpose – A recent development in England is the emergence, under various names, of groups of schools working together in a variety of collaborative ways. Such diversification enjoys broad political support. In this paper, the author aims to argue that the trend is potentially a radical transformation of the school system as a whole. The concepts of coupling and capital are drawn on to show how these changes enhance capacity building at the level of the individual institution and, more importantly, at the system levels, both local and national.Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses different conceptual schemes to throw light on the emerging phenomenon of partnerships between clusters of schools.Findings – As this is not an empirical research paper there are no findings as such.Practical implications – The paper is concerned with new policy directions, some of which are consonant with developments already taking place in Englands education system. The analysis is intended broadly to support these ch...

Diversity and Choice in School Education: a modified libertarian approach

Abstract In recent times and in various countries there has been considerable pressure to raise educational standards and levels of student achievement. As a means to that end there has been a drive from the political right to greater diversity of school provision and an increase in parental choice of school. In theory, this market approach should be self‐correcting and so allowed to run its course without state intervention. The political left, whilst sharing the aspiration to excellence in the school system, has been thrown into a defence of some of the status quo ante and so at times into an anti‐libertarian position. It is argued that diversity and choice in the UK are defensible, drawing from both left and right libertarian positions. Though the two are not by any means always compatible, some combination is intellectually tenable and a possible basis for policy. In this modified libertarian approach, potentially acceptable to both left and right, diversity and choice are taken to be desirable unless...

Mapping the process of change in schools: The development of six new research techniques

Abstract The existing literature provides only limited methodological guidance on how to research the dynamics of school change. In addition, traditional research methods such as interviews, questionnaires and observations are too cumbersome and time‐consuming in disclosing the intricacies of the change process. A grant from the ESRC was sought to remedy this important lacuna. As a result six new techniques for mapping the process of change in schools have been developed. The techniques cluster around two key elements in the change process: the individual teacher and the school as an institution. The techniques are divided into two series: Series 1: Individual (teacher) level (Technique 1, The Time Line of Change; Technique 2, The Experience of Change; Technique 3, The Initiation of Change) and Series 2: Institutional (school) level (Technique 4, The Culture of School; Technique 5, The Structures of School; Technique 6, The Conditions of School). There is a description in the paper of the conceptual ratio...

Coherence and manageability: reflections on the National Curriculum and cross‐curricular provision

This is a revised version of a paper first presented at the Curriculum Associations annual conference at the University of York in April 1990.

Self‐managing Schools and Development Planning — chaos or control?

ABSTRACT In the light of external reform pressures, many schools have found it difficult to implement medium‐to‐long‐term plans. Development planning was supposed to be a means of refining both the planning and the implementation of strategic priorities. Some recent writers are now casting doubts on planning and development planning and they are using chaos theory to justify this sceptical stance. This article is, in turn, sceptical about the application of chaos theory to school planning and instead suggests that control theory clarifies important differences between short‐term and long‐term planning and provides positive and practical insights into how development planning can be used by self‐managing schools as part of school improvement.