Today the issue of ‘educational change’ is widely discussed. Such change, so we can hear, is needed because of increasing linguistic heterogeneity and cultural diversity, because of technological developments and because of the persisting correlation between social background and educational success. In this context ‘educational’ seems to refer to the institutional practice of the school. But what do we mean by school? In our contribution, we offer some elements of what we call an internal pedagogical perspective on school and on scholastic learning which clarifies its emancipatory potential as pedagogic form. This will allow us to address the issue of educational change differently and to substantiate a plea for bringing more ‘school’ into our educational institutions. We (1) distinguish between an internal perspective and various external perspectives on the school. We, than, (2) sketch the basic assumptions, operations and experiences of the school as pedagogic form emphasizing (3) that school is technically, pedagogically and practically composed and (4) indicating very briefly how school has and is been tamed. Finally (5) we suggest some challenges for making or reinventing school today, relating it briefly to the issue of teacher education.