Innovations in caribbean school systems: Why some have become institutionalised and others have not

Abstract

This paper examines the passage of three innovations through Caribbean school systems. It explores and analyses the nature of their impact and discusses factors that support and factors that threaten implementation. Making the users aware of the relevance of the innovation totheir needs, enabling the implementers to participate in decision‐making, and enlisting the support of the Ministry of Education emerge as key factors in the implementation process. Institutionalisation depends, inter alia, on support and assistance to the users, strategies to increase user effort, provision of a stable project or school staff and buffering the innovation against loss of funding. The paper also argues that if policy‐makers are to make decisions informed by past experience, there is a need for innovations to be evaluated and change processes to be monitored. © 1994 Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.