Schools and poverty: questioning the Effectiveness and Improvement paradigms

Abstract

This article uses the concept of paradigm, with examples from various fields, to examine some defining features of School Effectiveness and School Improvement. The situation of schools serving areas of poverty and associated deprivation is seen as a challenge to these paradigms. The struggle to understand and intervene in these schools is stretching the resources of a paradigm which privileges leadership and change management whilst marginalizing pedagogical and sociological perspectives. Some alternative approaches are introduced outwith the mainstream of the School Improvement tradition.