Abstract
This short paper points to some paradigm issues in the field of school development (leadership, effectiveness, improvement) and their relationship to social justice. It contextualises the dominant School Effectiveness and School Improvement models within neo-liberal marketisation, paying attention to their transformation through a ‘marriage of convenience’ in the early 1990s. It contrasts these with other models of school change based upon the desire for curricular or political reform. It proposes a shift of emphasis from the competitive school as the key entity to a close examination of the symbolic exchanges between school and the neighbourhood, particularly in areas of poverty, and the sense which teachers and students are able to make of each others’ lives and cultural reference points. In addition to Bourdieu’s concept of capitals, it will draw on Goffman as a theorist who combines symbolic interactionism with an understanding of institutional norms.
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