Session Information
26 SES 12 C, System Leadership
Paper Session
Contribution
Like many countries, Switzerland is facing new educational demands due to a rapidly evolving society along with continuous immigration. Ensuring equal educational opportunities for all is one challenge in coping with these demands. Schools, often thought of as the main education institutions, cannot accomplish this all by themselves. Networked systems like the social and the school sector and networked education institutions are of vital importance when it comes to providing education and ensuring equal educational opportunities for all. To improve education networks in order to improve education offers is the aim of the project 'Education Landscapes Switzerland', a multi-year national initiative supported by the Jacobs Foundation in cooperation with three cantons and nine communities. This is done through encouraging the cooperation of formal and non-formal agents in the regional systems with the aim to ensure access to high-quality education for all that goes beyond the school setting. This initiative, which began in 2013, is comprised of nine projects, networked systems, also referred to as "educational landscapes" that all try to systematically link formal and non-formal education, each in their unique way and context.
The findings presented in this proposal are derived from a five-year study (2013-2018) designed to ascertain how these projects function and evolve as well as to assess their possible impact on the educational contexts they are located in. The theoretical framework is based on Helmut Fend’s and Andreas Helmke's opportunity-use model, which characterizes aspects between teaching and learning in a classroom (for a presentation of the model in English, see Zierer & Seel, 2012, S. 16f). This model was expanded to account for learning and teaching beyond the classroom and to allow for a more detailed analysis of the context of formal and non-formal educational settings. The opportunity-use model maps several of these factors such as teachers and instructors, learning potential of children and young adults, but also family- and culture-related context factors.
This contribution presents the findings from the first two years of research. At ECER 2014, the design and the first results were presented. For this proposal, the focus lies on aspects of leadership in the context of these projects, viewed as networked systems. Leading questions were:
- What influences the effectiveness of the networked systems?
- How is leadership taking place in the networked systems?
- What are leadership-related barriers to network functionality?
Leadership was framed in accordance to Chemer’s definition as “a process of social influence through which one person is able to enlist the aid of others in reaching a goal” (Chemers, 1997, p. 1).
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Bowen, G. A. (2009). Document Analysis as a Qualitative Research Method. Qualitative Research Journal, 9(2), 27–40. doi:10.3316/QRJ0902027 Chapman, C., Collins, A., Sammons, P., Armstrong, P., & Muijs, D. (2009). The impact of federations on student outcomes. Nottingham: National College for Leadership of Schools and Children’s Services. Charmaz, K. (2006). Constructing Grounded Theory: A Practical Guide Through Qualitative Analysis. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE. Chemers, M. M. (1997). An integrative theory of leadership. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. Diaz-Bone, R. (2007). Review Essay: Does Qualitative Network Analysis Exist? Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung / Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 8(1). Fend, H. (1981). Theorie der Schule (2nd ed.). Munich: Urban & Schwarzenberg. Helmke, A. (2006). Unterrichtsqualität: erfassen, bewerten, verbessern (1st ed.). Seelze: Klett-Kallmeyer. Huber, S.G. & Ahlgrimm, F. (2012). Kooperation. Aktuelle Forschung zur Kooperation in und zwischen Schulen sowie mit anderen Partnern. Münster/New York/München/Berlin: Waxmann. Huber, S.G. (2013). Kooperative Bildungslandschaften. Netzwerke im und mit System. Neuwied/Kronach/München: LinkLuchterhand/WoltersKluwer. Stoll, L., Bolam, R., McMahon, A., Wallace, M., & Thomas, S. (2006). Professional Learning Communities: A Review of the Literature. Journal of Educational Change, 7(4), 221–258. doi:10.1007/s10833-006-0001-8 Tubre, T. C., & Collins, J. M. (2000). Jackson and Schuler (1985) revisited: A meta-analysis of the relationships between role ambiguity, role conflict, and job performance. Journal of Management, 26(1), 155–169. Zierer, K., & Seel, N. M. (2012). General Didactics and Instructional Design: eyes like twins A transatlantic dialogue about similarities and differences, about the past and the future of two sciences of learning and teaching. SpringerPlus, 1(1), 1–22.
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