Learning, friendship and social contexts

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to introduce a social network analysis (SNA) toolkit aiming to enable leaders, educators and researchers work together to deepen their understanding of classroom social network dynamics. In doing so, the authors provide both theoretical and practical steps in building a bridge between theory and practice and a step-by-step introduction to designing and implementing SNA to understand socially responsive classrooms. To make the case, the authors present data that were collected through an SNA survey completed by eighth graders in two highly diverse classrooms in Southern California. Design/methodology/approach Driven by an SNA perspective, the authors highlight the potential value of examining social interdependencies and interconnectedness among students in a classroom network. The SNA toolkit was employed to calculate social network measures and develop network maps for each classroom. Findings The toolkit has shown to provide a comprehensive platform in gaining important insights into students’ social relationships, particularly those who are underserved and at higher risk of exclusion. The findings have shown that some of the students in the two classrooms were more likely to remain on the periphery of their social networks, particularly those who are traditionally more likely to be marginalized including students with disabilities as well as racially and linguistically diverse students. Originality/value The toolkit in the hands of leaders and teachers may provide a powerful tool for personalized professional development and act as a catalyst in bridging the gap between research and practice

The measurement of collaborative culture in secondary schools: An informal subgroup approach

Research on teacher collaboration underlines the importance of a collaborative culture for teachers’ functioning. However, while scholars usually regard collaborative culture as a school team characteristic, this study argues that subgroups may be more meaningful units of analysis to conceptualize and assess teachers’ perceptions of collaborative culture. Based on the assumption that collaborative culture is developed, expressed, and maintained in frequent work-related interactions, this study hypothesizes that collaborative culture is not homogenously spread over the school but rather varies between informal subgroups. Data from 760 Flemish teachers were examined using social network analysis and consensus analyses. The results provided evidence that perceptions on collaborative culture are more homogeneous within informal subgroups that are characterized by frequent interactions than the entire school team. This finding stresses the importance of assessing the meaningful unit of analysis for collective-level and socially-constructed concepts, such as collaborative culture. Moreover, the benefits and potential of a social network approach to identify (socially stable) subunits within the school team are illustrated

Teacher leadership in (inter)action: Empirical studies in primary and secondary schools.

The organisational structure of schools has been changing in the last decades, introducing the phenomenon of “teacher leadership” (TL). Today, leadership in schools can no longer be reduced to the sole activity of the school leader since some teachers are formally appointed to take on responsibilities beyond their classroom duties in order to guide other teachers towards improved practices and, in the end, to contribute to the overall school quality. Examples are teachers who take on the role of the mentor, the (general or pedagogical) coordinator, and the special educational needs coordinator. Although TL is regarded as a catalyst for school improvement and professional development, some concerns have been raised about how TL may challenge established authority patterns in schools. To date, only few empirical studies on TL investigated how TL really unfolds in practice. In particular, only a small number of studies have moved past the formal role-bound conception of TL by examining how TL is perceived by other actors (teacher colleagues and school leader) within school and thus by paying attention to the presence of inherent micropolitics within the interactions. Starting from this idea, this dissertation aims at broadening and deepening the research on TL by approaching TL as a practice rather than merely a role. In the first chapter, we explore the presence of TL in Flemish schools and examine teacher leaders’ perceptions and evaluation regarding TL practices by means of a qualitative multiple case study approach. The results suggest that taking on leadership responsibilities as a teacher has a strong impact on their social-professional relationships and on their professional self-understanding. In the second chapter, focus is on unravelling how teacher leader roles are “negotiated” within the social-professional relationships in the school. By means of an in-depth study of two extreme cases regarding special needs care practices, findings illustrate that the special educational needs coordinator only receives the legitimacy to act as a teacher leader when his or her expertise is recognized, when teachers perceive their task as first-line helpers, and when the school leader is willing to release power. In the third chapter, we examine the effect of being socially connected to the mentor and teacher colleagues on teachers’ job attitudes and intention to leave the profession. By combining social network and multilevel analysis techniques, we find that being socially connected to teacher colleagues is of high importance, especially for beginning teachers, confirming our hypotheses that induction is not merely the responsibility of the mentor but of the entire school team. In the fourth chapter, we investigate the effect of teachers’ involvement in special needs care on student outcomes. The results indicate that students with highly involved class teachers report higher levels of wellbeing than students with less involved class teachers. We did not find a significant effect for math teachers’ involvement in special needs care on student math achievement, nor a differential effect for students with and without special educational needs. We conclude this dissertation with a critical reflection on our empirical studies. Furthermore, we elaborate on the implications of our research results regarding teacher leadership for policy and practice.status: publishe

Organisational position and social-professional relationships in schools: An exploratory study of teacher leaders’ work life in Flanders

The phenomenon of teachers taking on leadership tasks beyond their classroom duties has become widespread internationally. Although presented as a catalyst for school improvement and professional development, the practices and experiences of teacher leaders are more complex than that. The change in roles blurs the traditional division between teaching and leading and therefore challenges the conventional professional relationships in schools. We conducted semi-structured interviews of 28 ‘teacher leaders’ in Flemish primary and secondary schools. We explored their perceptions and evaluation of their position in schools as well as the way their position and role as teacher leaders affected their professional relations with teacher colleagues and school leaders. The results demonstrate how the introduction of new positions and roles in the school as an organization affects the professional relationships and collegiality. From a micro-political perspective, we show that the new positions also create emotional labor for the teacher leaders, since they find themselves juggling two different agendas of professional interests: on the one hand receiving recognition by others of their position as teacher leaders, while on the other hand maintaining their former social-professional relationships as teachers with their former colleagues.status: publishe

Page 40

Handwritten call register on lined ledger paper from the Pittsburg Fire Department, dated January 1, 1907-March 30, 1954https://digitalcommons.pittstate.edu/pitt_register/1038/thumbnail.jp

Juffrouw, ik ben (nog niet) klaar! Over het advies na de derde kleuterklas

Jaarlijks zetten duizenden leerlingen in Vlaanderen de stap naar het eerste leerjaar. Tegelijkertijd blijken sommige kinderen niet te voldoen aan de vereisten om te kunnen starten in de lagere school. Vaak wordt dan gekozen voor de optie ‘doorkleuteren’, waarbij het kind nog een extra jaar in de kleuterklas doorbrengt om schoolrijp te worden. In Vlaanderen gaat het om zo’n 4% van de kinderen. In dit artikel bespreken we de pro’s en contra’s van doorkleuteren, nemen we het concept ‘schoolrijpheid’ onder de loep en geven we een aantal richtlijnen mee voor de adviesvorming in de praktijk.status: publishe

De toepassing van sociale netwerkmethodologie in onderwijskundig onderzoek

nrpages: 50status: publishe

Parents are not born, they are made. A critical discourse analysis of an educational magazine in Flanders (Belgium)

Central to this article is a case study of one particular governmental instrument in Flanders, the educational magazine ‘Klasse voor Ouders’ (‘Klasse for Parents’). This popular magazine aims to provide information for and communication with parents as one of the target groups in the educational field. Despite the claimed formal and neutral character, in this study, we assume that ‘Klasse voor Ouders’ plays a larger role by contributing to the (re-)organisation of the public debate. We suggest that through the ‘order of discourse’ and thus, through what is said and written, an educational reality is created in which parents and the government are ‘positioned’ and are asked to reflect on themselves and to act in a well-defined way. By means of a critical discourse analysis in line with Fairclough, we illustrate how parents are understood as having a continuous ‘drive’ for improving the quality of their own parenting practice while the government is positioned as in charge of and in control for creating a kind of ‘parental learning community’.peerreview_statement: The publishing and review policy for this title is described in its Aims & Scope. aims_and_scope_url: http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?show=aimsScope&journalCode=tedp20status: publishe