This paper reports on findings from a study of a five-year program called the Educational Landscapes Switzerland which is financed by the Jacobs Foundation. A central aim is to support collaboration between formal and non-formal agents in systematic ways to increase the number of education opportunities offered to children/adolescents and make them more accessible. The program comprises 22 projects that try to systematically link formal and non-formal education offers, following a grassroot approach to develop as collaborative education network. The overall aim of the study is to explore how these networks develop and function as well as to assess their possible impact on the educational contexts they are located in. In line with this, the paper investigates in what ways educational networks contribute to improve social equity.

In the paper, we apply theoretical perspectives on equity and social justice in education as they are presented in Chancenspiegel  - an instrument for school monitoring. The Chancenspiegel defines social justice as a “fair chance to participate in society; this is provided by a fair institution, namely school, in which students are not subjected to any additional disadvantages due to their social or physical circumstances, and by an advancement of the abilities of everyone, and as a mutual recognition of those involved in the school” (Berkemeyer et al. 2012). The Chancenspiegel examines the equity of school systems based on four dimensions: integration, permeability, promoting skills and allocation of school certificate. Although these considerations refer to equity of school systems, Manitius et al. (2015) already proved that the conception of the Chancenspiegel can also be applied to examine equity-related assistance of regionalisation. However, their considerations are restricted to the collaborative activites of different educational institutions. In line with Manitius et al. (2015), we therefore extend their relevance to include educational offers that emerged in the networks. Such an approach allows us to examine the ways of which the educational offers (such as language courses) and other activities offered contribute to equity and social justice for children and youth.

The analysis in this paper draws on qualitative data (documents) from 22 networks in in German- and French-speaking Switzerland. Data were collected during the whole period of the project (4 years each phase).
In total, more than 100 documents (e.g. reportings, documentation, broschures, websites) were scanned for information on what the educational networks were doing during the project phase. In a second step, these activities were categorized using the indicators of the four dimensions of the Chancenspiegel. The data were analysed in several passes; first a deductive approach based on the indicators from the Chancenspiegel, then an inductive approach followed by axial coding.

Preliminary findings show that both the network activities as well as the educational activities in educational networks contribute to enhancing equity and of justice of educational opportunities. Regarding the first dimension on integration, educational offers aiming at the installation of meeting places dominate as a strategy to promote an intercultural exchange and to provide parents and youth with information that are needed for participating in society. Relating to permeabilty, we can oberserve network acitivities (such as collective advanced training and hospitations of people from different educational institutions) as well as educational offers, e. g. counseling programms for parents and children. Refering to promoting skills, educational networks created offers for both parents and children / youth. Only a few educational network activities can be assigned to the last dimension - allocation of school certificate. Here the dominating strategy are also educational offers aiming at communicating possibilites for youth without a school degree. We also want to discuss the potential of how cooperation can be enhanced in ways that better support equity education.

The analysis in this paper draws on qualitative data (documents) from 22 networks in in German- and French-speaking Switzerland. Data were collected during the whole period of the project (4 years each phase). In total, more than 100 documents (e.g. reportings, documentation, broschures, websites) were scanned for information on what the educational networks were doing during the project phase. In a second step, these activities were categorized using the indicators of the four dimensions of the Chancenspiegel. The data were analysed in several passes; first a deductive approach based on the indicators from the Chancenspiegel, then an inductive approach followed by axial coding.

Preliminary findings show that both the network activities as well as the educational activities in educational networks contribute to enhancing equity and of justice of educational opportunities. Regarding the first dimension on integration, educational offers aiming at the installation of meeting places dominate as a strategy to promote an intercultural exchange and to provide parents and youth with information that are needed for participating in society. Relating to permeabilty, we can oberserve network acitivities (such as collective advanced training and hospitations of people from different educational institutions) as well as educational offers, e. g. counseling programms for parents and children. Refering to promoting skills, educational networks created offers for both parents and children / youth. Only a few educational network activities can be assigned to the last dimension - allocation of school certificate. Here the dominating strategy are also educational offers aiming at communicating possibilites for youth without a school degree. We also want to discuss the potential of how cooperation can be enhanced in ways that better support equity education.

Berkemeyer, N., Bos, W., Manitius, V., & Strietholt, R. (2012). Chancenspiegel: zur Chancengerechtigkeit und Leistungsfähigkeit der deutschen Schulsysteme (2. Aufl). Gütersloh: Bertelsmann Stiftung. Gläser, J. & Laudel, G. (2009). Experteninterviews und qualitative Inhaltsanalyse (3rd ed.). Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. Manitius, V., Jungermann, A., & Bos, W. (2015). Regionalisierung als gerechtigkeitsbezogene Unterstützungsstrategie für Schulentwicklung. In T. Coelen, A. J. Heinrich, & A. Million (Hrsg.), Stadtbaustein Bildung (S. 351–361). Wiesbaden: Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden.