The first phase of this project (then named Sustainability of School Improvement) occurred in 2001. Material was collected about the school culture and journeys of school improvement undertaken at 10 primary schools that had made marked changes over the previous few years, with reports and papers published in 2002-2003.

This second phase involved a return to the same schools to focus on their journeys since 2001, to see whether they had sustained their positive approaches, and how they had done so. There is a focus on the balance between external requirements and supports, and internal goals, in particular, on the role of the planning and reporting framework and the use of data to inform teaching, planning, and resource allocation. A second major focus is on how the schools work as learning organisations, and how they pace change.