School-focused in-service training: The key to restructuring schools

School-focused in-service training (SFIT) is a new phenomenon in the Israeli educational system. In 1994, as a result of wage negotiations between the Ministry of Education and the Teachers' Union, schools were empowered to devise their own in-service training courses to meet their specific needs. The aim of this study is to understand the reciprocal effect of organisational structure and the principal's management style on the in-service training programme, by investigating SFIT in 10 Israeli elementary schools through observations, interviews and document analysis. The study shows that the SFIT can serve as a conceptual framework, and an organisational umbrella for achieving school advancement and instituting change in schools led by democratic, facilitating principals. Even in schools where management is centralistic, SFIT was found to facilitate change. As such, it is the key to creating a dynamic school - an organisation whose goals are the promotion of its institutional objectives and the professional development of its staff.