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
In Switzerland, a multi-year initiative called the Educational Landscapes Switzerland program, supported by the Jacobs Foundation, aims to encourage the cooperation of formal and non-formal agents in systematic ways to ensure that all children/adolescents have access to high-quality education. It's comprised of 22 projects that try to systematically link formal and non-formal education, following a grassroots approach to become collaborative education networks. The aim of the five-year study (2013-2018) presented in this proposal is to ascertain how these networks function and evolve as well as to assess their possible impact on the educational contexts they are located in. In line with these goals, the following questions are guiding the research: 1. Which conditions lead to a higher functional quality of cooperation between educational groups? 2. How do the educational offers (the learning opportunities) change? 3. How are the educational offers used by children and adolescents? 4. Which effects on children and adolescents can be attributed to the use of the educational offers? The theoretical framework is based on Helmut Fend’s and Andreas Helmke's opportunity-use model (Zierer & Seel, 2012, S. 16f). It was expanded to account for learning and teaching beyond the classroom and 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. Methods The study followed a mixed-methods design containing a literature review, document analyses, semi-structured interviews with network coordinators, a questionnaire for people engaged in the networks (N=495, RR 53,9%), a questionnaire for parents as well as a questionnaire for schools in a comparison group. The interviews were analyzed using an inductive approach, followed by a pass using a deductive approach based on categories derived from the theoretical model. On a quantitative level, descriptive and regression analyses for conditions of effective cooperation as predictors for different forms/levels of cooperation and the effectiveness of educational networks were modelled. Findings Exchanges and awareness between agents and institutions have intensified over time. Participants rate the cooperativeness of (possible) partners in the education networks higher. People engaged in education networks increasingly allocate time for meetings/exchanges with other agents and institutions. School leaders as gatekeepers of schools, teachers as point persons for the execution of collaborative efforts and parents need to be won over for an education network to develop in an uninhibited manner.
References
Gräsel, C., Pröbstel, C., Freienberg, J., & Parchmann, I. (2007). Fostering collaboration among secondary school science teachers. In M. Prenzel (Hrsg.), Studies on the educational quality of schools (S. 157–174). Münster: Waxmann. Huber, S. G., & Ahlgrimm, F. (Hrsg.). (2012). Kooperation: Aktuelle Forschung zur Kooperation in und zwischen Schulen sowie mit anderen Partnern. Münster: Waxmann. 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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