Session Information
15 SES 13, Networks in Education: How Are They Developed and Studied?
Symposium
Contribution
During the early 1980s, the notion of “Networks” became very popular within society as a whole and the scientific community in particular. Naisbitt (1984) talked about a “Megatrend” of transformation within and of hierarchies, arguing that informal networks of small groups are necessary to optimize organisational processes of problem solving that can no longer be performed by hierarchical structures. In „The Rise of the Network Society“ (2000), Castells proclaims a “new paradigm of social order” in the context of post-modern society. In his view, networks constitute a “new social morphology” in society, where dominant functions and processes are “increasingly organized around networks” (p. 500). Castells conceptualizes his notion of Network as a “highly dynamic, open system” consisting of “nodes” and “flows”.
Networks in educational contexts have become more and more attractive in educational systems, according to general social trends and structural transformations. In the 1990s, politicians launched processes to modernise school systems, driven by necessities of reformatory change due to results of international assessment surveys like TIMSS (first conducted in 1995), PISA (starting in 2000), and so on. In the context of proclaiming “autonomy of schools”, central administration is increasingly focused on contextual steering activities whilst delegating responsibilities to decentralized units (Fullan 2007). This weakening of bureaucratic steering processes generates a need for alternative kinds of coordination. Intermediate structures like networks are expected and conceived to fill a structural gap and take over functions traditionally associated with hierarchy. Networks ideally are conceived as being able to interface and to pool competencies and resources effectively and, as intermediate structures, are managing autonomy and interdependencies of structures and processes, trying to forge new paths in the formation of learning and cooperation between people and institutions. How capable networks in educational contexts really are to accomplish these hopes and wishes for alternative organisational service provision is still an open question.
Current attempts to foster network development in education are made on different levels of: the individual (e.g. teachers’ personal networks), the organization (e.g. network of educators in school), or between organizations (e.g. between schools and universities) (Daly, 2010; Moolenaar, 2012). This symposium provides examples of network studies in the educational contexts of three different countries (Austria, United Kingdom, and United States). Illustrating different network levels, the papers provide insight into the nature, processes and outcomes of network development in educational contexts. This symposium aims to shed light on the value of adopting the network view in education and educational research. It explores the similarities and differences between the presented cases to gain deeper insight in the way networks are developed in education, as well as identifying fruitful ways of studying these networks.
References
Castells, M. (2000). The Rise of the Network Society (The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture, Vol.1.) (2nd Ed.). Oxford: Blackwell Publishers Ltd.
Daly, Alan J. (ed.) (2010). Social Network Theory and Educational Change. Harvard Educational Press.
Fullan, M. (2007). The New Meaning of Educational Change. London: Routledge.
Moolenaar, N.M. (2012). A Social Network Perspective on Teacher Collaboration in Schools: Theory, Methodology, and Applications. American Journal of Education, 119(1), 7-39.
Naisbitt, J. (1984). Megatrends. 10 Perspektiven, die unser Leben verändern werden. Bayreuth: Heyne Verlag.
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