Innovation has taken place in education as a necessity to respond to a rapidly
changing world. In their commitment to contribute to the creative and healing mission of the
Society of Jesus, the Jesuit School Network of Catalonia created HORIZON 2020 to
envision a new school to effectively educate in the 21st Century and adapt the Ignatian
tradition to the present day.
Understanding the case and extracting the main lessons from it were best
accomplished by using a qualitative research approach. Particularly, this study used
descriptive single-case design with embedded units. The project Horizon 2020 of the
Jesuit Education Foundation was the bounded case chosen by its exemplarity in Jesuit
education. Data was extracted from four different sources -interviews (individual and
focus groups), arcHIVal records, direct observations and documents- and was analyzed in
a narrative, interpretive and meaning making level.
Four themes emerged from the analysis as important pieces of the transformation:
communication, culture of care (cura personalis), decision-making, and participation. Each
theme is described from different perspectives and forces that drove the change and
mobilized people to promote or oppose it. The power dynamics that coexisted within the
organization were an important finding that explained the tensions within the emerging
themes.
This empirical research analyzes how adaptive leadership takes place in school
settings through multifaceted lenses enriched by theories of innovation, design thinking in
education and the characteristics of Jesuit Education. Its results can be used by those
interested in leadership and educational transformation. This study offers insights for
practitioners in school administration and advances the systematic knowledge in
leadership
