Development Sites: a gradualist approach to strategic redefinition

This article considers how two teachers respond to the experience of value conflict in their professional lives and relates its findings to previous research on teacher strategies (see Scarth, 1987). It argues that although the teachers’ responses can be superficially understood by reference to the existing category of ‘strategic compromise’ (incorporating elements of both ‘compliance’ and ‘redefinition'), the consistency of their redefinition attempts suggests the need for a more refined categorisation. This article provides such refinement by identifying and illustrating what I have termed the ‘development site’. It also explains the significance of the development site as an enduring location for change.