Throughout his career, Peter has been asking, “how do we create the conditions for people to work together at their best, cultivating the innate systems intelligence that is our birthright but is all but lost in modern culture?” Schools That Learn describes how schools can adapt, grow, and change in the face of the increasing demands and challenges of our society, and provides tools, techniques and solutions for teachers and school principals.

Senge argues that teachers, principals and other members of the school communities must learn how to build their own capacity; that is, their own capacity to learn. But what is capacity building? How do schools actually develop capacity to learn? From Senge’s perspective, real improvement in schools will only occur if the people responsible for implementation actually design the change as well. And that can happen only when a school community comes together and engages in team learning, creates shared mental models, establishes a shared vision, and thinks systematically. Is it the role of the school principal to manage this process? Is it shared responsibility?