'Mere change is mistaken for progress and innovation for improvement.' Professor Graham Dukes

Rational systems analysis is inappropriate for interpreting educational organisations. They should be understood as loosely coupled systems that have both significant advantages and pitfalls.

In particular, the antagonism between management and academics is incompatible with pursuing the elusive goal of education. The difficulty of evaluating educational outcomes and confusion between aims and outcomes leads to misunderstandings about what is the bottom line in an educational institution.

The example of teleteaching illustrates how the weaknesses of the loosely coupled system compromises the successful introduction of information technology in education.

During the 1960s, Beatrice Faust graduated BA and MA (Hons - Thesis) from Melbourne University and TSTC from Melbourne Teachers' College. She has written three books, several monographs and hundreds of reviews and articles about intellectual and social matters. She has been employed in distance education since 1988.