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Previous research on pedagogical reforms has seldom looked at how reform may contribute to aggression in school organizations. The purpose of this paper is to hypothesize that teachers’ disengagement from school mediates the tendency for teachers to manifest aggression when they are implementing pedagogical reform in school. Behind this hypothesis is the assumption that people are bound to encounter obstacles when implementing changes, and the resultant frustration can easily grow into feelings of disengagement and aggression which block the changes.

In total, 845 teachers in 30 secondary schools in Hong Kong were surveyed and path analysis employed to look at how constraint in an organization and feeling of disengagement within the school hampers the successful implementation of reform towards constructivist pedagogy.

Results of the study suggest that feelings of disengagement amplify the negative impact of instructional change and cause aggressive impulses within the school to intensify, but support from school can significantly reduce the feelings of disengagement and constraint experienced by teachers. Findings of the study contribute to a deeper understanding of the dynamics of change and its impacts on school organizations.

Although some studies have looked at workplace aggression in a school setting, there is no work being done to look at how mandated school reform contributes to workplace aggression.

The purpose of this research is to look at the development of schools in their communities and the tension within it. Existing theories in social development and school administration suggest that community is a place where individuals construct identity, and that a school needs to form partnerships with its community, so that together, they work to improve educational effectiveness. However, current education policies have forced schools to compete among each other for survival in the community.

The case study method is employed, and the sample is two subsidized schools in Hong Kong, one primary and one secondary.

Findings in the present study suggest that there exists a tension between schools and their community. Pressure to survive has forced schools to try various means to promote their image in order to attract students. This pressure has also forced schools to change from their detached attitude towards the community, to a concern about how to develop productive relations with it.

This paper provides a conceptual framework for the sustainable development of schools.

School administration needs to give balanced attention to two needs – an internal need for program differentiation and an external need for integration into the larger community. These two needs can be mutually enhancing.

This paper provides empirical evidence to a framework of school development which involves the external community as a critical factor.