Participation and Influence in the Planning of Educational Change

Abstract

In this study, personal interviews of key people, observation of documents and events, and a mail-out survey were used to piece together the opportunities for participation and influence which teachers actually had (or thought they had) in a rural district school system that was planning an educational innovation and competing for federal funds to finance it. The barriers to staff influence are detailed, as well as social control mechanisms used by management (in this case the superintendent and the federal government), in order to gain their particular-sometimes divergent-objectives. The consequences of staff participation without influence for later implementation are documented, and some strategies to reduce resistance to change by lower staff are suggested.