Can schools realize the potential of knowledge management?

In this position paper, reservations are presented regarding the potential of knowledge management (KM) as it is currently applied to the learning and teaching activity of schools. We contend that effective KM is contingent upon the explication of a deep and shared understanding of the learning and teaching process. We argue that the most important transactions in schools, those related to learning and teaching, are frequently the least explicated. Further, where such explication does occur, it is rarely specific enough to generate the kind of meaningful data required to make timely improvements in the learning experience of individual students. Our intent is to inject a cautionary note regarding current conceptualizations of KM in education and to focus the KM discussion on potentially more valid applications in school settings. We offer strategy and examples that can be employed to address the reservations described herein as well as build the kind of professional culture of practice in schools that is more conducive to effective KM.