Recent decades have seen a rise in educational policies encouraging professional learning communities with the hope that sharing resources, professional learning, and collective leadership can enhance teaching quality and student outcomes (Huffman et al., 2016; Burns et al., 2018). However, the actual implementation of such initiatives varies widely, often yielding a patchwork of successes and tensions. In this presentation a formal policy in Aotearoa New Zealand, called Kāhui Ako | Communities of Learning (Ministry of Education, New Zealand, 2024), is examined for its attempts to foster collaborative arrangements among schools. The study highlights the complexities of negotiating between “lifeworld” interactions—grounded in relationships, shared values, and locally meaningful practices—and the ‘system’ logics of administrative, economic, and bureaucratic frameworks (Habermas, 1987).

Drawing upon interviews with ten principals across primary and secondary schools, the research reveals the nuanced ways in which principals grapple with both the promise and pitfalls of this cluster-based reform. Some leaders emphasise how Kāhui Ako structures provide valuable professional development and open lines of communication, thereby pooling resources to address common challenges. Others resist what they perceive as a top-down strategy that imposes centralised directives at the expense of locally grounded practice. These tensions illustrate how ‘lifeworld’ values—communal trust, autonomy, cultural responsiveness—sometimes clash with ‘system mandates—performance targets, standardized leadership roles, and metrics-based accountability (Charteris et al., 2024).

The article frames these tensions through the lens of the theory of practice architectures (Kemmis et al., 2014; Kemmis, 2022). According to this theoretical perspective, any educational practice is shaped by cultural-discursive, material-economic, and social-political arrangements that enable or constrain how teachers and principals speak (sayings), act (doings), and relate (relatings). The presentation will illustrate how these arrangements are reconfigured when schools collaborate. For instance, principals may find that shared data protocols (a system-level requirement) spur new conversations around pedagogy (cultural-discursive shift) and power relations (social-political negotiation). Yet, at the same time, if these changes feel imposed or incongruent with local beliefs, collaboration can remain superficial.

A recurring theme in the study is the concept of colonisation of the lifeworld by the system (Habermas, 1987). When policy instruments—such as mandated leadership roles, remuneration differences, or rigid achievement targets—overshadow the community-driven aspect of collaboration, participants perceive a loss of autonomy or authentic connection. While some schools embrace shared goals that strengthen a sense of unity and cohesion, others reject the policy altogether, choosing instead to sustain informal networks outside the official Kāhui Ako framework. Such divergence underscores that effective cross-school collaboration is not a purely technical matter of resource allocation but involves culturally and socially grounded negotiation of values, power, and vision (Charteris et al., 2024).

The overarching contribution of this research is twofold. Firstly, it offers a detailed empirical exploration of how educators in different settings navigate policy structures intended to spur collaboration. Secondly, it advances a conceptual argument about the interplay of system imperatives and lifeworld dynamics in shaping collective educational practices. While the analysis is anchored in the Aotearoa New Zealand context, the insights have broader resonance for international debates on networked governance, professional learning communities, and policy enactment (Braun & Maguire, 2020). As educational policymakers worldwide continue to experiment with cluster-based reforms, the article illustrates both the benefits—such as resource sharing and consistent approaches to student transitions—and the risks, particularly if top-down demands disregard the relational dimensions that sustain meaningful collaboration. Ultimately, it suggests that finding a balanced pathway requires deliberative, context-aware leadership that respects both local educational ecologies (lifeworld) and legitimate system-based aspirations (Kemmis, 2021).

A qualitative case study approach (Yin, 2009) is adopted to investigate the experiences of school leaders operating under, or opting out of, the Kāhui Ako policy in Aotearoa New Zealand. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eleven principals from diverse school contexts: primary and secondary levels, urban and rural locations, and varying degrees of engagement with the policy. The authors specifically chose semi-structured interviews to allow participants to articulate experiences and perceptions of cross-school collaboration in rich detail. Questions probed how principals conceptualised their school’s involvement (or non-involvement) in Kāhui Ako, the types of leadership structures that emerged, the role of professional development and shared data, and any perceived tensions around autonomy, funding, or accountability. The researchers recorded and transcribed each interview, anonymising participants to ensure confidentiality. The interview data were curate using NVivo software, enabling initial line-by-line coding focused on identifying references to policy enactment, lifeworld experiences, and systemic frameworks. Principal comments were selected for this presentation on two grounds. Initially, the interviewees reported that they were actively engaged with their cluster or vehemently rejected the initiative. Second, the comments provide the most succinct representations of the various aspects of Habermas’ theory of lifeworld and system. There are references to systemic structures in the interviews pertaining to roles (principals, executive principals, boards), institutions (schools, Ministry of Education, and unions), and systems of action associated with Kāhui Ako (initiatives, funding, and professional development). These societal elements highlight how lifeworlds are colonised with systemic structures, –power dynamics, hierarchies, and social expectations that influence relationships, communication and decision-making. The data offer a rich ground for analysing the nexus between lifeworld and system in the context of school collaboration. These principal comments illustrate how system-level initiatives and lifeworld experiences intersect, often creating tensions but also opportunities for collaboration and growth. The architectures (composed of cultural-discursive, material-economic, and social-political arrangements) that hold the practices of Kāhui Ako in place are also briefly elaborated. When undertaking the collective analysis of the interview data, discussing the themes over Zoom, researchers were cognisant of the theory of practice architectures, specifically what the principals allude to about how people’s sayings, doings, and relatings are shaped by the relevant arrangements. Practice theory – the relationships between the practices and arrangements – are used as background concepts. Ethical approval was granted through the University of New England’s Human Research Ethics Committee, ensuring alignment with ethical standards of informed consent and confidentiality

The research underscores the intricate interplay of lifeworld and system in cross-school collaborative reforms. One critical insight is that while system-level policies, can galvanise school communities to share expertise, they also risk overshadowing local agency. Principals’ accounts reveal that genuine collaboration flourishes when policy structures flexibly align with the relational and cultural underpinnings of everyday school life. Notably, leaders who found synergy in Kāhui Ako described it as a space of possibility, where pooling resources or sharing data led to creative problem-solving and strengthened collegial ties. Conversely, others encountered friction in mandatory structures or hierarchical leadership roles that clashed with locally rooted norms of equity and autonomy. This tension points to the potential colonisation (Habermas, 1987) of the lifeworld by external imperatives. Thus, a recurring theme is that the success of a cluster-based policy hinges on recognising diverse local conditions and adapting, not imposing, system mandates. Ultimately, the study posits that while lifeworld and system may be in tension, they can also be harnessed in tandem to foster informed improvements in schooling. This study illuminates the complexity of implementing cross-school collaborations in an era where education straddles localised cultural imperatives and centralized system directives. By applying the theory of practice architectures and Habermasian concepts, it becomes clear that effective collaboration hinges on intentionally blending the relational norms of the lifeworld with the system’s structural coherence and resources. Key insights emerge for policymakers, practitioners, and researchers. First, successful educational networks often rely on the deliberate cultivation of communicative spaces—forums in which participants can voice contextual concerns, share localised solutions, and co-construct a vision. Second, the initiative’s effectiveness depends on leaders’ capacity to mediate potential conflicts: for example, harnessing pooled resources without reducing collegial interactions to transactional exchanges, or using data metrics while respecting teachers’ professional judgments and unique school contexts.

Braun, A., & Maguire, M. (2020). Doing without believing–enacting policy in the English primary school. Critical Studies in Education, 61(4), 433–447. https://doi.org/10.1080/17508487.2018.1500384 Burns, M. K., Naughton, M. R., Preast, J. L., Wang, Z., Gordon, R. L., Robb, V., & Smith, M. L. (2018). Factors of professional learning community implementation and effect on student achievement. Journal of Educational & Psychological Consultation, 28(4), 394–412. https://doi.org/10.1080/10474412.2017.1385396 Charteris, J., Smardon, D., & Kemmis, S. (2024). Synthesizing lifeworld and system to sustain and grow cross school connections: A consideration of practice architectures. International Journal of Leadership in Education. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/13603124.2024.2392584 Habermas, J. (1987). The theory of communicative action, Volume II: Lifeworld and system: A critique of functionalist reason (T. McCarthy, Trans.). Beacon Press. Huffman, J. B., Olivier, D. F., Wang, T., Chen, P., Hairon, S., & Pang, N. (2016). Global conceptualization of the professional learning community process: Transitioning from country perspectives to international commonalities. International Journal of Leadership in Education, 19(3), 327–351. https://doi.org/10.1080/13603124.2015.1020343 Kemmis, S. (2021). A practice theory perspective on learning: Beyond a ‘standard’ view. Studies in Continuing Education, 43(3), 280–295. https://doi.org/10.1080/0158037X.2021.1920384 Kemmis, S. (2022). Transforming practices: Changing the world with the theory of practice architectures. Springer. Kemmis, S., Wilkinson, J., Edwards-Groves, C., Hardy, I., Grootenboer, P., & Bristol, L. (2014). Changing practices, changing education. Springer. Ministry of Education (2024). About Communities of Learning | Kāhui Ako. Retrieved from https://www.education.govt.nz/communities-of-learning/ Yin, R. K. (2009). Case study research: Design and methods (4th ed.). Sage Publications.