Learning community, commitment and school reform

This paper contrasts the most popular current business‐oriented approach to educational reform in the USA‐Total Quality Management‐with an alternative that calls for the establishment of learning communities at the classroom and school levels. These two approaches differ dramatically in the role they assign to variables like rational problem solving, control, and commitment. In fact, they represent different ideologies. The learning community approach highlights the importance of connectedness and inventiveness. It is the development of commitment that allows individuals to reconcile these two conflicting demands. The implications of these ideas for the educational reform movement in the USA are discussed.