This study aimed to find out what teachers in one school understood of outcomes-based education concepts, the role of these teachers in implementing these initiatives and how they used these concepts in their teaching. The study was conducted in a government secondary college in Victoria. and traces how the Victorian Curriculum and Standards Framework was introduced in this school. Five teachers volunteered to have their classrooms observed as part of this study. The data for the study consist of interviews with these teachers and the school's senior administrators, as well as field observations made over the two months of the study. A constructivist-based, interpretive case study was developed using narratives constructed from teachers' and administrators' accounts and observations of them at work. Analysis of the narratives revealed that teachers and administrators faced three broad types of dilemmas as they implemented this curriculum initiative. These are conceptualised as: the autonomy dilemma, where teachers wrestle with maintaining their independence on curriculum matters whilst dealing with change imposed from elsewhere; the focus dilemma, where schools and teachers attempt to focus simultaneously on school- wide and classroom change; and the acceptance dilemma, where the school and its teachers simultaneously accept and resist changes. These dilemmas are described in three different aspects of the change process: structural or organisational change; pedagogical change; and change in the school's culture. The resolution of these dilemmas has shown the school administrators willing to concede some of their independence or control to effect change. Classroom teachers seem more reluctant to reach a workable compromise within the dilemmas and either wrestle with both possibilities, or focus on a resolution that allows them to retain their existing classroom practices. These issues raise a number of implications for curriculum reformers, school administrators and teachers.