Relevance and research question

La Verneda-Sant Martí school is an adult school located in a deprived area in Barcelona, and the first experience of adult education in Spain published in the Harvard Educational Review (Sánchez Aroca, 1999). Renowned scholars such as Catherine Compton-Lilly (University of Wisconsin), John Comings (Center for International Education, University of Massachusetts at Amherst), or Courtney Cazen (Harvard University) have expressed the impact of visiting the school, highlighting how it contributes to transforming people´s lives through education (Escola d’Adults de la Verneda, 2023). Since its foundation in 1978, the school has increased the participation of the educational community, multiplying the learning processes of vulnerable groups in challenging situations.

Although the analysis of the actions contributing to school improvement in La Verneda-Sant Martí has been widely developed, the investigations about what facilitates the creation of community leaders in the school are limited. In this vein, the following research question underlines this contribution:

-  To what extent the forms of leadership development in the school are aligned with the dialogic leadership?

Thus, this paper aims to study how this school members create and develop leadership practices resonating with the conceptualization of dialogic leadership. To this aim, one of the pillars at the core of the study is to analyse how the participation of the whole community is generating leadership beyond the school walls. Concerning the ECER2023 theme “The Value of Diversity in Education and Educational Research”, this paper includes the diversity of agents exercising leadership in La Verneda-Sant Martí school, to provide evidence regarding the full potential of diverse students and members of the community to transform education through educational leadership.

Conceptual/Theoretical framework

The role of dialogue is at the core of theoretical and empirical works on educational leadership (Shields, 2019) and different leadership conceptualizations highlight the dialogical dimension of learning to build and consolidate effective leadership practices (Bennet, Wise, Woods & Harvey, 2003; Pont et al, 2008; Hallinger, 2009). These contributions resonate with dialogic dynamics of change in societies (Flecha, Gómez & Puigvert, 2003) that serve to understand the school systems as a vivid agent, with openness towards families and educational agents, including what occurs within the school community in a broad sense (students, families, teachers, volunteers…). In line with this approach, dialogic leadership is conceptualized as the process by which leadership practices of all the members of the educational community are created, developed, and consolidated (Padrós & Flecha, 2014). Under this conceptualization of dialogic leadership, the community can exercise their leadership capacity by sharing knowledge and building capacity together. This facilitates the creation of an environment in which the skills and expertise of grassroots actors can also capitalize in advancing towards ‘accepting responsibility for enabling others to achieve shared purpose under conditions of uncertainty’ (Ganz, 2009). Research on dialogic leadership has demonstrated that leaders in different positions can contribute to improving democracy in organizations and at diverse educational levels (Campos, Aubert, Guo & Joanpere, 2020; Redondo-Sama, 2020). Furthermore, there is evidence of the relevance of empowering the diversity of communities existing in schools to create, develop and sustain leadership practices within and beyond the school. The literature shows that it is necessary to advance knowledge about the synergies between all educational agents to identify dialogic leadership practices that improve education.

Methodology This work is based on a case study conducted under the Communicative Methodology (Gómez, 2011; Flecha & Soler, 2014) and inspired by the “Art of Case Study Research” defined by Robert E. Stake (1995). The Communicative Methodology has been highlighted by the European Commission as the most useful to identify actions that contribute to overcoming situations of inequality (Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, 2010). It implies an egalitarian dialogue between researchers and end-users along the different phases of the research. In particular, this work uses the communicative approach to study how the educational agents in La Verneda-Sant Martí are leading change and enhance the participation of the community through dialogic leadership, enabling the improvement of learning processes. The relevance of the communicative methodology in educational leadership research, as in other research areas as cultural studies or sociology, has two main methodological advantages. On the one hand, it focuses on two main analytical dimensions, the exclusionary and the transformative ones. The former seeks to identify and describe the obstacles and barriers in the particular situation that is being studied, in this case the barriers to develop and exercise dialogic leadership practices. The later focuses on the possibilities that are enabling improvements in the situation studied, in this case the actions and initiatives that are facilitating and encouraging dialogic leadership practices. The transformative dimension is crucial to allow us to go beyond the description of the situation and identify instead actions that contribute to address the problem that is being analysed. On the other hand, the communicative methodology implies a permanent dialogue between the researchers and the educational agents involved in the process. This dialogue strengthens the link between research and citizens’ needs, thus contributing to generate societal impact. Research instruments Data collection consists of communicative interviews and observations, including recording of interviews with teachers and other members of La Verneda-Sant Martí school developing dialogic leadership practices. The analysis includes communicative analysis and data coding according to transformative and exclusionary dimensions as explained before.

Dialogic leadership practices identified in the adult school La Verneda-Sant Martí have achieved impact within and beyond school walls. Since it raised motivation for change, it enables a better understanding of the school system and how education can contribute to generating forms of leadership for social justice. The results also indicate that the participation of the community members linked to dialogic leadership is opening spaces for interaction and transformation, seeking responses to achieve school improvement in adult education, and expanding dialogic leadership practices in the neighbourhood. The educational community approaches their leading roles from a dialogic standpoint, gathering with other educational members (teachers, students…) to become informed leaders. Therefore, their decisions are based on the needs of the community, but also on the informed scientific knowledge gathered from shared meetings with other agents. By including educational decisions on the basis of successful actions proved from the international research to improve education, educational agents improve the students’ academic results and gain support and motivation of other community members. This powerful dynamic influences participants in the school and the community as everyone becomes much more aware of the school needs and possibilities. Besides, relationships are transformed between the community members. This work provides insights on how to improve adult education in deprived areas by developing dialogic leadership that promotes community participation. This process of change allows the overcoming of stereotypes, facilitates the social inclusion of diverse populations in schools, and brings the opportunity to facilitate the creation of leaders for social justice. This paper provides details on the processes that enable educational agents to lead, share, and enhance spaces of reflection, solidarity, and dialogue to strengthen the positive influence of the school for the improvement and social transformation.

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