Since at least 1990’s, mainstream on collaborative work has tended to accept that it almost necessarily leads to innovative teaching practices. Even if we agree with the idea of an important impact of sustained collaborative work dynamics on educational change, we consider it is neither linear nor direct. In contrast, we sustain that innovation and collaboration are polyphonic concepts involved in different narratives that we want to capture in our study. By doing so, our purpose is double. From an empirical point of view, we try to analyze collaboration and innovation as socially constructed processes (Finn, Currie y Martin, 2010). Secondly, our theoretical interest is to put into question the very concepts of collaboration and innovation as part of a discourse which is no neutral.

The constitution of collaborative groups in educational organizations has been defended using different arguments that can be thought as part of two main categories: those that remark the benefits that collaboration has on emotional or psychological wellbeing of teachers (Ashton y Webb, 1986; McLaughlin, 1997); and those that are interested on organizational benefits of collaborative work, related to promoting coordination on teaching (Johnson, 1998), as well as involvement with organization and group (Park y otros, 2005), improving learning abilities (Louis y Marks, 1998), promoting change (Little, 1990; Talbert y McLaughlin, 1994), and professional development based on collective reflection on practice (Lieberman, 1996; McLaughlin, 1997). Even if they are different, both lines of argumentation share the confidence on innovative potentiality of collaboration and in its positive effects on educational improvement.

Without denying those references, there are critical views on collaborative work that are also worthy of attention. These positions underline that there is not empirical evidence of the benefits of collective work on organizational improvement (Allen y Hecht, 2004) but only on subjective wellbeing.

In sum, our theoretical framework points out two important assumptions:

Collaboration is not a neutral practice but an activity which is based in different values. Then, there are multiple versions on collaboration and its relation with teaching innovation (Westheimer, 1998; Achinstein, 2002; Vibert y otros, 2002).

Collaboration is not a consensual practice but one in which micropolitical processes are always involved even if it tends to be dissociated form cultural analysis. In this sense, Achinstein (2002) remarks that the intent to avoid conflict can conduce to limit innovative processes.

On the basis of these ideas, we propose to discuss the notions of collaboration and innovation pointing out they can be seen as part of very diverse and even contradictory narratives. To identify some of them, we present some research results of a multiple case study developed in three Spanish schools.

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