Longitudinal study of school restructuring

Since 1996 a team from Victoria University, in collaboration with the NSN, has worked with teachers from schools in Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia to research school restructuring. Developing approaches to practitioner research which have engaged teachers in data collection, analysis and the generation of findings has been the methodological advance made by research. The main research finding is an extended and complex elaboration of the nature of authentic teaching and learning practices. These authentic teaching and learning practices are associated with particular conditions of organisational time and space formed when teachers engage in collaborative and reflective inquiry into students and their learning. The paper will conclude with a discussion of the pedagogical and organisational consequences which have emerged from this study of school restructuring.