Conclusion: Future directions for the field

School improvement as a field has evolved through several distinct phases. These phases are not mutually exclusive; they overlap and flow into one another. School improvement research has shown that many schools are capable of improving themselves if the conditions are right and relationships within the external environment are optimum. Three broad themes about school improvement emerge from the data and accounts in the chapters and will be presented as a series of key questions for the field. These three themes are: goals and outcomes, capacity building and structures for school improvement. School improvement practices over the last two decades have challenged traditional visions of schooling, particularly the idea that teachers are in private practice working in isolation from other teachers and primarily joined by a common corridor or parking lot. The school improvement field is full of programmes and projects that are locally or nationally ring-fenced because of the type of design or the issues being addressed.