This text, the second in a two-volume set examining the process of educational reform, describes case studies on the change process of education, as it impacts on the individual at work. The authors provide interesting comparisons of similar changes occuring within education in different national settings, including Australia, New Zealand, Israel, the USA and the UK. The case studies are based on three themes: systematic change; the transition from policy to practice; and curriculum contexts. The effects of governmental control over the curriculum and attempts to reform education by legislation are explained and the similarities are seen as marginalisation of professional educators, corporatisation of education systems, instrumentalisation of curriculum and the inability of those in power to draw from past knowledge on educational change. Written to stand alone, this book can also be read in conjunction with volume 1, "International Perspectives on Educational Reform and Policy Implementation", which examines the historical, social and economic influences on education policy reform.
The authors argue that change takes a predictable format and, once understood, can be directed and managed. The books are intended to be of interest to all involved in the planning and implementation of change, together pointing the way to effective management of such change processes.