Objectives

This paper reports on final findings of the national program in Switzerland with the title ‘Education Landscapes Switzerland’ which is a five-year program in Switzerland in several Swiss cantons and local communities. The program comprises 22 regional networks which include formal (schools) and non-formal agents (e.g. kindergarten, associations, clubs, libraries, theatres, etc.) aiming to improve education by developing new education opportunities for children from disadvantaged socio-economic background. This paper presents the overall period for nine networks of a period of three years.

The following questions guided our analysis:

1. How has the collaboration of the different formal and non-formal education agents changed and which conditions lead to a higher functional quality of cooperation between agents in the education sector?
2. What type of extra-curricular learning arrangements or activities are offered by the various networked systems and to what extent are they used by the children and youth?
3. What is the impact of the networked systems on the educational contexts in which they are located?

Theoreticalframework

The overall project draws on a theoretical framework based on Helmut Fend’s (1981) and Andreas Helmke's (2012) opportunity-use model, which characterizes aspects of education and learning in school (for a presentation of the model in English, see Zierer & Seel, 2012, p. 16f). This model was adapted by the authors to account for learning and teaching beyond the classroom setting and to allow for a more detailed analysis of the context of formal and non-formal educational settings (see Figure 1 at the end of the document).

The analysis in this paper draws on quantitative (survey among actors involved, statistical information of educational aspects generated by government, social-emotional questionnaire for children) as well as qualitative data (documents, interviews with all different actors) from 9 out of 22 networks. Data were collected at three points in time (2014, 2015, 2016). The quantitative analysis includes several steps. Descriptive statistics were conducted followed by confirmatory factor analysis. Cross lagged models were conducted to determine which of the factors with respect to conditions of effective cooperation and different forms/levels of cooperation which had an influence on the overall effectiveness of networked systems. Finally, a path model was conducted to present the linkages between the various factors. In total, 50 persons were interviewed three times; in 2014, 2015 and 2016. The interviews were analyzed in several passes, first an inductive approach followed by axial coding (Charmaz, 2006), then a deductive approach based on categories derived from the theoretical model.

The analysis of the qualitative data show that exchanges of knowledge between different agents and institutions have intensified over time. The various agents and institutions have become more aware of each other and are better informed about the functions and services of others. The project leadership is identified as an important factor for developing and coordinating the networks as well as for supporting the collaboration by providing aims, information and time structure which in turn influence on establishing trust within the networks. Findings show that the networks can contribute to more equitable education for disadvantaged children and youth by providing a rich variation of educational offers which through the collaborative nature are more accessible.

Author (2012) Bowen, G. A. (2009). Document Analysis as a Qualitative Research Method. Qualitative Research Journal, 9(2), 27–40. http://doi.org/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. Fend, H. (1981). Theorie der Schule (2. Ed.). Munich: Urban & Schwarzenberg. Gräsel, C., Pröbstel, C., Freienberg, J., Parchmann, I. (2007). Fostering collaboration among secondary school science teachers. In: Prenzel, M. (Ed.): Studies on the Educational Quality of Schools. Münster:Waxmann. 157-173. Helmke, A. (2012). Unterrichtsqualität: erfassen, bewerten, verbessern (4. Aufl.). Seelze: Klett-Kallmeyer. 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. http://doi.org/10.1007/s10833-006-0001-8 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), 1–2.