An evaluation of the extended hours timetable adopted by Edmund Rice College

This study analyses in detail the extended hours timetable developed and implemented by Edmund Rice College, a New South Wales Catholic Secondary School. The innovation was meant to provide a framework from which the College could, over a long period of time, reassess and redevelop its organisational and teaching practices. The study investigated the effects of the innovation and the circumstances in which they occurred. It analysed the process of innovation adopted by Edmund Rice College in order to better understand the problems of organisational innovation in general. The study also investigated the extended hours concept in order to ascertain its relevance in a broader educational context. Primarily the study is an "ex-post" evaluation that has much in common with the action research model. The researcher was a full-time teacher employed in a middle-management position at the school. This study includes a detailed cost analysis of the innovation as well as an in-depth survey analysis of the effects of the organisational change on the members of the school community. The study finds that the extended hours innovation does have the potential, if adopted on a wider scale, to lead to a more economic utilisation of educational resources, both in the public and private sector.