Session Information
15 SES 08, Strength in Numbers or Getting Nowhere Fast in a Committee: International Perspectives on Conditions for Collaboration in Education Networks
Symposium
Contribution
The paper discusses empirical findings from a study on multiprofessional cooperation in an “educational landscapes” project. ‘Educational landscapes’ is an influential concept in German educational politics that aims at improving educational provision through overcoming the given institutional fragmentation of education (Bleckmann/Durdel 2009; Bleckmann/Schmidt 2011; Duveneck 2012; Duveneck, forthcoming). The German system is characterized by a strong separation between education which is matter of federal scale and reduced to school while non-formal education in childcare, youth welfare services, cultural education etc. belong to social politics or public services on the local level. Based on an extended notion of education, new administrative models replace the fragmented structures by a comprehensive system on the local level. The study explores the effects of the implementation of comprehensive structures to facilitate the cooperation between educational actors in the project “Campus Rütli”, an ‘educational landscape’ project in a deprived neighborhood in Berlin. Methodology or Methods/ Research Instruments or Sources Used The case-study is based on 15 expert interviews conducted in spring 2012 with local practitioners (such as the head of the school, a childcare center, the youth club and the provider of school social work), and actors from the administration level conducted from March to May 2012. Using an explorative guideline, the interviews asked for the respondents’ experiences in the project. The effects that the structural changes had in practice were analyzed following the interpretative strategy of Meuser and Nagel (1991). Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or Findings Paradoxically, the implementation of comprehensive structures to facilitate cooperation in practice undermines the conditions of cooperation: As the “Campus-administration” in the project is part of the local school authority, it means a decline of professional influence for youth welfare services and makes actors defend their independence against school so that in the end, cooperation becomes more difficult. At the same time, the study shows that multiprofessional cooperation requires that actors know each other and start professional dialogue to reflect upon different professions. Against this backdrop, the paper argues for another perspective on ‘Educational Landscapes’ as starting points for a substantial reform from practice, providing substantial conditions for the development of innovative models which in the next step, launch structural reforms in consensus due to advantages from a professional perspective.
References
Bleckmann, Peter/Durdel, Anja (eds) (2009): Lokale Bildungslandschaften. Perspektiven für Ganztagsschulen und Kommunen. 1. Aufl. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. Bleckmann, Peter/Schmidt, Volker (eds.) (2012): Bildungslandschaften. Mehr Chancen für alle. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag. Duveneck Anika (2012): Kommunale Bildungslandschaften. Schriften zu Bildung und Kultur der Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung, Band 9, Berlin (with Sybille Volkholz). Duveneck, Anika (forthcoming): Bildungslandschaften verstehen – Zum Einfluss von Wettbewerbsbedingungen auf die Praxis. Beltz-Juventa, Weinheim. Meuser, Michael; Nagel, Ulrike (2002): ExpertInneninterviews - vielfach erprobt, wenig bedacht. In: Alexander Bogner, Beate Littig und Wolfgang Menz (Hg.): Das Experteninterview. Theorie, Methoden, Anwendung. 2. Aufl. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, S. 71–93.
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