The study's primary purpose was, through the recorded observations of a Regional Education Officer (REO) working in Catholic primary schools over eighteen months, to draw out implications for local and central administrators for the maintenance and improvement of the schools' quality. Of particular interest was the question that since the schools were Catholic schools, would or should this make any significant difference to these implications. A secondary purpose of the study was the clarification and articulation for myself of what the main elements of the REO role might best be in practice. Analysis of diary entries and relevant Catholic Education Office documents was based on the writer's fundamental assumption that the merits of educational administrative decisions and actions should be judged in relation to the benefit these are to teachers and their students. The main conclusions of the study were: i) that the recognition by administrators of the special qualities of the personal and interpersonal relationships existing in schools would assist administrators in maintaining and developing the schools' quality; ii) that the religious faith aspect of the ideals of a Catholic school adds a deeper dimension to the special qualities of the personal and interpersonal relationships which are common to schools; iii) that such are the demands by staffs of schools for support and assistance, that the only ones who can realistically meet the bulk of such demands are staffs themselves, supporting and assisting each other through some form of regular collegial system; iv) that schools are more non-rational than rational organizations, and hence an emphasis on bureaucratic administrative processes will be detrimental to schools' effectiveness.