This paper explores the use and integration of diverse knowledge sources, such as research, in school development in light of the growing demand for evidence-based practices (Mausethagen & Hermansen, 2023). The analysis is guided by two questions. One focuses on the use of different knowledge sources and the other on the differences in different contexts: 1. How do school actors use and integrate various knowledge sources in school development work? 2. What differences regarding knowledge sources and knowledge work can be identified in two different project settings? As a theoretical perspective, we apply Nicolini's (2011) practice-based approach, which presents knowledge as an active and dynamic process embedded in social and material practices. According to this view, knowledge manifests itself in practice, which implies that it can be observed in practice.The study is conducted in Switzerland and follows a qualitative design and an explorative approach. We analyze data from one school in which we observed meetings and core arenas for two development projects over the course of one school year. After the observations, we conducted semi-structured contextualized interviews. Therefore, data for this paper are field notes of the ethnographically inspired observations, transcripts from interviews, and key documents such as school development plans and material developed by the teacher teams. The combination of these data sources will help understanding the situational contexts and the larger school context, and it allows an approach that is not based only on self-reported data. The study shows that teachers integrate various knowledge sources in school development work and that the integration may look different depending on the context of the project. In the policy-initiated project, knowledge sources are mostly used for sharing and adapting (pragmatic approach). In the school-internally-initiated project, teachers use the knowledge sources additionally for creating their own sources, validating and legitimating (creative approach). These insights highlight the complexity of knowledge integration in educational settings and provide valuable implications for practitioners and policymakers, f.e. in planning and organizing future school development projects.

Mausethagen, S., & Hermansen, H. (2023). ‘Research Use’ in Education: Conceptualising the Teaching Profession Within the Policy–Research–Practice Nexus. In T. S. Prøitz, P. Aasen, & W. Wermke (Eds.), From Education Policy to Education Practice: Unpacking the Nexus (pp. 75–89). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-36970-4_5 Nicolini, D. (2011). Practice as the Site of Knowing: Insights from the Field of Telemedicine. Organization Science, 22(3), 602–620. https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.1100.0556