THE PROCESS OF CHANGE IN A HIGH SCHOOL

The research reported in this article involved a structural change in a Canadian High School. The change resulted in the transfer of control over the budget from the school division to the school staff. It was judged to have been successful and this was attributed to a number of factors: (i) the change occurred when the school's environment was receptive to new ideas and new organizational patterns; (ii) there had been changes in education at the Provincial level; (iii) there was some dissatisfaction with the existing system at the school and the new system reduced this dissatisfaction; (iv) personnel in the school had the support of officials superordinate to them in the school division; (v) the Principal had a sound knowledge of the change agent's role; (vi) the school's staff was involved in planning and implementing the change and each member had a clearly defined role to play; (vii) the Principal was able to maintain the school's newly established control at the school level. In this article these reasons are analyzed and comparisons are made between the findings from this research and those of related studies.