Education reform has a long history of bold intentions and disappointing results. Michael Fullan has spent more than four decades trying to understand why — and what it actually takes to make change stick. First published in 1982 and now in its sixth edition, this is the definitive reference on how educational change works in practice, why so many well-designed reforms fail at the implementation stage, and what conditions at the school, district and system level make lasting improvement possible.
Fullan’s central argument is that change is not a single event but a complex, ongoing process — and that the gap between policy intention and classroom reality is where most reforms come undone. This edition draws on 60 years of educational change across the world and presents a model for transforming a system he describes as badly outdated. His framework addresses what teachers, school leaders, districts and governments each need to do differently, and why collaborative professional cultures are more powerful drivers of improvement than top-down mandates.
For anyone working on middle years reform in Victoria, this book offers essential context: a clear-eyed account of why change in education is hard, and a research-grounded framework for doing it in a way that actually endures.