This text represents the experiences from six English speaking countries in the field of school development planning. There are chapters discussing staff development, quality reviews and school organization and effectiveness.

School development planning - an international practice, Neil Dempster et al; creating effective schools through site-level development planning and improvement of organizational culture, David U. Levine; the contribution of quality assurance reviews to development in school systems, Peter Cuttance; the centrality of the autonomy-accountability dilemma in school and professional development, Viviane Robinson; school development planning - participation and staff membership, Colin Biott et al; three arenas of tension - teachers' experience of participation in school development planning, Hilary Constable; observing primary school change - through conflict to whole school collaboration?, Elizabeth Newman and Andrew Pollard; School development planning - a place for partnership, Janet Hodgson et al; school effectiveness and school improvement - a meeting of two minds, Louise Stoll; creating their own futures - the use and effectiveness of school development plans in Australian schools, John Braithwaite; towards a contingency approach to development planning in schools, Mike Wallace; school development planning in primary school - does it make a difference?, Peter Mortimer et al.