Initiating Secondary School Reform: The Dynamic Relationship between Restructuring, Reculturing, and Retiming

In this article, we examine the elements influencing the change processes experienced over the last 3 years in eight Ontario (Canada) secondary schools. The school staffs were empowered to develop new organizational structures that differed from a subject departmental organization and that met their contextual needs. The process was supported through collaboration between the school district and the teachers' union. The data illuminated the dynamic elements involved in secondary school change: restructuring (form of organizational model, use of new structure, and role of school administrator), reculturing (common school direction, culture of inquiry, and images of secondary school education), and retiming. These elements provide a glimpse into whether the schools successfully or unsuccessfully dealt with the process of change. We conclude that some degree of restructuring might be necessary before reculturing can occur, but this is only possible if the school staffs themselves develop the new structures and it is not mandated by an external agent.