Search

Focusing on the development of autonomous secondary schools in the Netherlands, this paper analyzes a Dutch plan for such schools, poses questions, and makes suggestions concerning the plan's implementation. Although requested to identify the characteristics of needed internal support structures (such as counseling or supplementary training for teachers), the authors instead describe how to establish an environment and set of procedures out of which needed support structures can emerge. The first section of the report analyzes the five-year plan Dutch officials have formulated for the development of autonomous schools. Several measures are recommended, including plans for responding to schools that do not become autonomous. The second section of the paper explains autonomous schools and internal support structures and recommends the separation of the two, with an initial focus on developing autonomous schools in which staff are free to request the support structures they feel are necessary. The third section offers theoretical perspectives on change, with an emphasis on the Concerns-Based Adoption Model. It then deals with the steps necessary to implement the autonomous school in real sites. A short concluding section looks at Dutch education as a whole and poses questions about the role of the school. (JM)

These papers represent the efforts of individual researchers from five countries: Australia, Belgium, Canada, The Netherlands and the United States. Each paper reports on educational change in a different country, based on the Concerns-Based Adoption Model developed at the Research and Development Center for Teacher Education at the University of Texas at Austin. Papers included are as follows: "Implementing a High School Geography Curriculum in the State of Western Australia," by Colin J. Marsh (Australia); "Studying Change in Primary and Secondary Schools in Belgium and the Netherlands," by Roland Vandenberghe (Belgium); "The Effectiveness of Concerns-Based Staff Development in Facilitating Curriculum Implementation," by Jim Leary (Manitoba, Canada); "A Study of Curricular and Instructional Change Processes in Rural High Schools," by Robert Larson (Vermont, United States) and "The Functioning of School Principals in Relation to Large-Scale Change Efforts in the Netherlands," by Rudolf van den Berg (Netherlands). References are included with each paper. (TE)