Innovation Within a Bureaucratic Education System — Part II

Bureaucratic theory, systems theory and a review of research on innovation, provide a conceptual framework on which seven predictions are posited. The predictions relate to the innovative behaviour of a bureaucratic education system throughout a period of twenty years. An innovation is defined as a new structure or process that appeared for the first time in the education system. One hundred and sixty‐four innovations are identified and classified as task‐oriented, personnel‐oriented and organization‐oriented. When tested the predictions reveal inter alia, (1) an upward trend in the annual frequencies of innovation through the period 1946 to 1965, (2) educational policies of state governments appear to be distinguished by different rates of innovation, (3) the frequency of innovation tends to increase following the succession to office of a new Director‐General and (4) innovation tends to occur least in the central office system.