Network
NW 15 Research on Partnerships in Education
Title
Parternships for tackling educational inequality
Abstract
Education has a far-reaching role to play in addressing social inequalities. Promoting social mobility and equality of opportunity often requires institutions to look beyond their gates and form partnerships to ensure barriers to education are addressed and children and young people can thrive and succeed. We are seeking contributions that critically discuss how meaningful partnerships can be created and sustained to meet the challenge of educational inequality, to consider if or how it might be possible to address inequalities through partnership working, and the affordances and challenges of such partnership approaches.
The Call
Educational institutions including early years settings, schools, colleges and universities have a responsibility to address not only the educational outcomes of students, but to tackle the prevalence of educational inequalities. Access, opportunities and outcomes for children and young people are heavily influenced by their background, with those living in poverty, from migrant or refugee populations, or global majority backgrounds, or those with special educational or health needs, likely to face particular barriers to learning. Across Europe, much of the gap in outcomes cannot be explained by prior educational achievement, and can lead to early school leaving and underattainment with subsequent impacts on life chances.
This increasingly means educational settings are working to meet the combined challenges of increasing poverty and poor outcomes in other domains in which it is important for children to thrive, such as health and well‑being, material and housing security, and positive community engagement. However, no single organisation can tackle this by working alone (Kerr, Dyson, and Raffo, 2014) and it is increasingly acknowledged that schools cannot ‘do it all’ or ‘compensate for the failings of society’ (Gorard 2010).
Many schools are finding innovative ways to work beyond their school gates, which often necessitates developing new forms of partnerships – with local organisations and services, between schools, with universities and researchers, and with families and community members. Sometimes these involve multiple stakeholders around the school, supporting the school to support children, young people and families. These forms of collaborative working invite the study of partnerships in the process. However, this leads to many challenges, not least in terms of the structures, processes and leadership needed to collaborate effectively, and in terms of how power relationships are managed and diverse interests are managed. These partnerships need a change in the way organisations normally work, particularly in times of crisis such as the Covid 19 pandemic.
Many effective educational institutions are increasingly adopting a focus around wellbeing as well as achievement, and practices that encourage a place-based relational approach - between schools and their communities, between teachers and pupils, and between pupils. This requires an understanding that people can contribute in different ways, and at different times, fostering a more inclusive approach to diverse bodies of local and professional knowledge (Varda 2017).
In this special call by Network 15, partnerships in education we encourage contributors to address the nature of partnerships in which educationalists work with others to promote wellbeing and educational achievement and reduce educational inequalities.
Contact Person(s)
Kathrin Otrel-Cass, kathrin.otrel-cass(at)uni-graz.at
Karen Laing, k.j.c.laing(at)newcastle.ac.uk
References
Gorard, S. (2010). Education can compensate for society – A bit. British Journal of Educational Studies, 58(1), 47–65.
Kerr, K., Dyson, A., & Raffo, C. (2014). Education, Disadvantage and Place: Making the Local Matter. Bristol: Policy Press.
Varda, D. (2017). Are backbone organizations eroding the norms that make networks succeed? The Nonprofit Quarterly, Winter 2017, 52–57.