Author:

Keywords:

education innovation, school team, effective school organisation, secondary schools, school organisation

Abstract:

We ask the question what is the ability of a school to both organizationally and pedagogically evolve in a certain predetermined direction? The experience and the research literature give reasons to believe that depending on a complex interplay of factors within and outside the school, the change pattern of the different topics in the same school might be different. We want to understand the school as a learning organization. How do schools learn from its successes or failures? More specifically, we focus mainly on change within the school. The aim of the study is to gain insight into the processes of change taking place in the local school organization. Following questions are important here: how does change take place in individual schools? Which factors make it that a school succeeds in its intent and others not? Are differences in change in schools due to differences in the overall constellation of the school? We look for the characteristics of an innovative organization and its stakeholders. The research was conducted using qualitative research methods. Four case studies were developed through in-depth interviews, observations and document analysis. We selected four secondary schools and in each school three change projects.