School-University Collaboration - A Way To Build Internal Capacities For School Improvement?

Author(s):

Susanne Sahlin(presenting / submitting)

Conference:

ECER 2016

Network:

01. Continuing Professional Development: Learning for Individuals, Leaders, and Organisations

Format:

Paper

Session Information

01 SES 02 C, Professional Learning Through Masters' Programmes and University Involvement

Paper Session

Time:

2016-08-23

15:15-16:45

Room:

OB-H2.12

Chair:

Amanda Ince

Contribution

This study focuses on understanding the importance of internal capacities for school improvement in the case of a school-university collaboration between one university and three schools within a research and school improvement project. The recently ended research and school improvement project "The world's best regional education system" (2012-2015) aimed to develop the whole schools’ leadership and to develop the schools’ capacity to manage and lead improvement processes. The project was run within the framework of a partnership between one university, major companies in the region and three selected schools in the Mid Sweden region. One focus in the project was to look more deeply into how the participating schools collaborated with the university and researchers engaged in the project, and how the schools perceived the collaboration with the university from a school improvement perspective. The aim of the study is to understand if and how collaboration between university and schoolscontribute tointernal capacity building for school improvement in three schools. The research questions that frame the study are: Can external collaboration, in terms of collaboration between schools and university, contribute to internal capacity building for school improvement? If so, how? How does a collaboration between schools and university impact on school improvement? What differences and similarities can be seen at school level in terms of collaboration between the university and how does theses affect the schools abilities to build internal capacities for school improvement?

Capacity building for school improvement
In international school improvement research, capacity building and internal capacities are emphasized as important key vehicles for sustainable school improvement (Björkman, 2008; Fullan, 2001; Harris, 2011, 2004, 2001; Mitchell & Sackney, 2000; Stoll & Bolham, 2005 & Stringer, 2013). Within the setting of school improvement capacity can be seen as the ability to make it possible for all students to achieve higher standards (Harris, 2002). Building school capacity implies that schools promote collaboration, empowerment and inclusion. Effective school improvement involves building the capacity for change and development and it necessitates pressure and support from both external and internal sources (Harris, 2001). According to Harris (2002) all successful school improvement involves some form of change and schools needs to manage and implement the change process. A school with internal capacity can take charge of change as it is adaptive (Stoll, 2009). The key influences on internal capacity are threefold according to Stoll (1999): the individual teachers within the school; the school’s social and structural learning context; and the external context. One way of developing capacity from within is to work more between and beyond schools and increase connections with the local community, businesses and organisations (Stoll, 1999, Hargreaves & Fullan, 1998). Stoll (1999) argue, that schools require external support to become and remain successful and underlines ‘critical friends’ as one aspect that are invaluable to capacity development. External collaboration and support are also stressed in Björkmans (2008) pre-study and analysis of earlier research on effective school improvement and capacity building in school. To sum up, external collaborations, external collaboration forms and schools collaboration with other schools, school partnerships, joint professional development and external leadership is emphasized by several researchers as vital for capacity building and school improvement (Björkman 2008; Fullan, 2006; Hargreaves, 2011; Harris & Hageman Chrispeels, 2006, Stoll, 1999 & Stoll, 2009). Basically, it is about creating capacity for learning (Stoll, 2009). A conceptual theoretical framework from research of capacity building and school improvement is built and used in this study.

Method

The methodology used is a multiple case study design in which aspects of school improvement and capacity building are interwoven. The case is the school-university collaboration within a school improvement and research project and the examples are the three participating schools. One argument to choose a case study design is based on that context also is taken into account to create a better understanding of why it is as it gets (Stake, 2006), and that case studies are appropriate to examine what happens here and now (Yin, 2007). As Stake puts it: “The real business of case study is particularization, not generalization” (1995, p. 8). Another argument that speaks for a case study design is that a case study can be defined as a holistic description and analysis of a single entity or phenomenon and case studies as a research strategy based on wanting to explore an area in depth, focusing on how and why (Yin, 2007). An inherent characteristic of case studies is to go towards the particular, which means difficulties to draw general conclusions from one single case, however, case studies can have general importance (de Vaus, 2001; Stake, 1995; 2006). The empirical data is collected over a period of three years (2012-2015) and consists of: - Individual interviews with principals - Individual interviews with teachers - Group interviews with teachers - A part of a teacher survey with open-ended responses The interviews were conducted with principals and teachers at the beginning, middle and end of the project (in total 51 interviews, 40 individual interviews and 11 group interviews). The interviews were semi-structured and concerned among others areas: how the schools and the university collaborated, other external collaboration between the schools and the surrounding community, how and why the school works with school improvement, relations to other areas of work within the school, school organizations, distribution of labour and job sharing, priorities concerning the project. A description of the schools and the school contexts is additionally provided in order to create a wider understanding of the study. An analytic framework is to be developed for the analysis and the empirical data will be analysed using within-case and cross-case analysis (Miles and Huberman, 1994 & Watt Boolsen, 2009).

Expected Outcomes

There are some preliminary tendencies as the collected empirical data are still under processing and analysis, but I will give a complete picture of the results of the study at the conference. So far, results indicate that the collaboration between the school and the university is perceived as rewarding in the school improvement process. However, expectations of what and how the school-university collaboration should have been carried out have differed. Implications for further research will be considered. For European educational research, this is one essential matter as it can be seen as a contribution to valuable knowledge about key factors for schools work with school improvement and capacity building in a Nordic context, for both practitioners and policy makers.

References

Björkman, C. (2008). Internal capacities for school improvement: headmasters' views in Swedish secondary schools. Diss. Umeå: Umeå universitet, 2008. Umeå. de Vaus, D. (2001). Research Design in Social Research. London: Sage Fullan, M. (2006). Turnaround leadership. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.  Hargreaves, D. H. (2011),"System redesign for system capacity building", Journal of Educational Administration, Vol. 49 Iss 6 pp. 685 - 700  Hargreaves, A., & Fullan, M. (1998). What’s worth fighting for out there? Mississauga, Ontario: Ontario Public School Teachers’ Federation. Harris, A. (2011) System improvement through collective capacity building. Journal of Educational Administration, 49.6, 624–636.  Harris, A. (2004). Distributed Leadership and School Improvement. Leading or Misleading? Educational Management Administration & Leadership. Harris, A. (2001) Building the Capacity for School Improvement, School Leadership & Management: Formerly School Organisation, 21:3, 261-270, DOI: 10.1080/13632430120074419 Harris, A. (red.) (2002). Effective leadership for school improvement. London: RoutledgeFalmer. Harris, A. (2002). School Improvement - What’s in it for schools? London: Routledge Falmer. Harris, A. & Hageman Chrispeels, J. (Ed.) (2006). Improving Schools and Educational Systems. International perspectives. London: Routledge. Miles, MB. & Huberman, AM. (1994) Qualitative Data Analysis. 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Mitchell, C. and Sackney, L. (2000). Profound Improvement: Building Capacity for a Learning Community. Lisse: Swets & Zeitlinger. Stake, R. E. (1995). The art of Case Study research. Thousand Oaks London New Delhi: SAGE Publications. Stake, R. E. (2006). Multiple Case Study Analysis. New York, London: The Guilford Press. Stoll, L. (1999) Realising Our Potential: Understanding and Developing Capacity for Lasting Improvement, School Effectiveness and School Improvement: An International Journal of Research, Policy and Practice, 10:4, 503-532 Stoll (2009). Capacity building for school improvement or creating capacity for learning? A changing landscape. Journal of Educational Change, 10: 115-127. DOI 10.1007/s10833-009-9104-3 Stoll, L., & Bolam, R. (2005). Developing leadership for learning communities. In M. Coles & G. Southworth (Eds), Developing leadership: Creating the schools of tomorrow. Maidenhead: Open University Press. Stringer, P. (2013). Capacity Building for School Improvement Revisited [Elektronisk resurs]. Rotterdam: SensePublishers Watt Boolsen, M. (2009). Kvalitativa analyser. Forskningsprocess, människa, samhälle. Malmö: Gleerups Utbildning AB. Yin, R. K. (2007). Fallstudier: design och genomförande. (P. Söderholm övers.). Malmö: Liber.

Author Information

Susanne Sahlin (presenting / submitting)

Mid Sweden University

Department of Education

Härnösand

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