Intergenerational professional relationships in elementary school teams: a social network approach

This paper examines the extent to which school team members’ professional relationships are affected by being part of a certain generational cohort. These professional relationships provide opportunities for intergenerational knowledge flows and can therefore be relevant for intergenerational learning. Nowadays these topics have gained more attention due to worldwide demographic changes such as increased retirement rates and high levels of teacher dropout. Data were gathered through a survey with socio-metric questions among 299 school team members in 15 elementary schools in the Netherlands. Using social network analysis, in particular p2 modelling, we analysed the effect of being part of a generational cohort on teachers’ likelihood of having professional relationships in networks such as discussing work, asking and providing advice, and collaboration. Findings indicate that generational cohorts based on chronological age do matter in the formation of work related ties. These findings also support the importance of focusing on different professional networks since different age dynamics can be at play. Our findings also show that school team members of the youngest cohort tend to form intra-generational relationships, whereas older generational cohort members prefer inter-generational relationships. This study is innovative due to its application of social network analysis to investigate intergenerational knowledge flows.

Intergenerational professional relationships in elementary school teams: a social network approach

This paper examines the extent to which school team members’ professional relationships are affected by being part of a certain generational cohort. These professional relationships provide opportunities for intergenerational knowledge flows and can therefore be relevant for intergenerational learning. Nowadays these topics have gained more attention due to worldwide demographic changes such as increased retirement rates and high levels of teacher dropout. Data were gathered through a survey with socio-metric questions among 299 school team members in 15 elementary schools in the Netherlands. Using social network analysis, in particular p2 modelling, we analysed the effect of being part of a generational cohort on teachers’ likelihood of having professional relationships in networks such as discussing work, asking and providing advice, and collaboration. Findings indicate that generational cohorts based on chronological age do matter in the formation of work related ties. These findings also support the importance of focusing on different professional networks since different age dynamics can be at play. Our findings also show that school team members of the youngest cohort tend to form intra-generational relationships, whereas older generational cohort members prefer inter-generational relationships. This study is innovative due to its application of social network analysis to investigate intergenerational knowledge flows.

Teachers' perceptions of intergenerational knowledge flows

In this qualitative study we look at knowledge brokering from an intergenerational teacher perspective. This study aims at describing how teachers perceive colleagues from other generations in terms of knowledge demands and knowledge supplies, and how processes of knowledge-sharing across teachers of different generations take place. Our findings suggest that teachers' perceptions about skills and knowledge of colleagues from other generations can be understood as knowledge demands and supplies and that knowledge flow between knowledge demands and supplies can be affected by perceptions about teachers' attitudes. Furthermore, our findings exemplify the occurrence of intergenerational knowledge brokerage processes within school teams

Teachers’ intergenerational advice and information seeking: content matters!

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of generation in teachers' advice and information-seeking interactions in Flemish secondary school teams, and moreover how the content of advice shapes these interactions. Four content-related advice and information-seeking networks are investigated in this study: subject-matter knowledge, classroom management, innovative teaching methods and ICT. Design/methodology/approach - Data were collected from 660 teachers in ten secondary education schools in Flanders (Belgium) by using an online socio-metric survey. Social network analysis was conducted, more specifically quadratic assignment procedure and multilevel P2 modeling. Findings - The findings underline the importance of investigating content-related advice networks. Generation affects the formation of interactions. First, the results revealed that older teachers are less likely to ask advice on subject-matter knowledge, classroom management and innovative teaching methods. Second, the data showed that older teachers are more likely to be asked for advice on subject-matter knowledge. Third, young teachers are more likely to be asked for advice on innovative teaching methods and ICT. Fourth, homophily effects occurred for the youngest teachers when advice is about subject-matter knowledge, and for the oldest teachers for advice about classroom management. Originality/value - This study is innovative due to its application of social network analysis to investigate intergenerational knowledge flows, and due to its clear focus on content-related advice-seeking interactions that go beyond the approach of general advice and information-seeking interactions