Prelims

Half Title

SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT NETWORKS AND COLLABORATIVE INQUIRY

Series Page

EMERALD PROFESSIONAL LEARNING NETWORK SERIES

In the current international policy environment, teachers are viewed as learning-oriented adaptive experts. Required to be able to teach increasingly diverse sets of learners, teachers must be competent in complex academic content, skilful in the craft of teaching and able to respond to fast changing economic and policy imperatives. The knowledge, skills and attitudes needed for this complex profession requires teachers to engage in collaborative and networked career-long learning. The types of learning networks emerging to meet this need comprise a variety of collaborative arrangements including inter-school engagement, as well as collaborations with learning partners, such as universities or policy-makers. More understanding is required, however, on how learning networks can deliver maximum benefit for both teachers and students.

Emerald Professional Learning Network Series aims to expand current understanding of professional learning networks and the impact of harnessing effective networked collaboration.

Published Titles:

Formalise, Prioritise and Mobilise: How School Leaders Secure the Benefits of Professional Learning Networks

Chris Brown and Jane Flood

School Improvement Networks and Collaborative Inquiry: Fostering Systematic Change in Challenging Contexts

Mauricio Pino Yancovic, Alvaro González Torres, Luis Ahumada Figueroa and Christopher Chapman

Forthcoming in the Series:

Professional Learning Networks: Facilitating Educational Transformation

Edited by Leyton Schnellert

Professional Learning Networks in Design-based Research Interventions

Stuart McNaughton and Mei Kuin Lai

Title Page

SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT NETWORKS AND COLLABORATIVE INQUIRY

FOSTERING SYSTEMATIC CHANGE IN CHALLENGING CONTEXTS

BY

Mauricio Pino Yancovic

Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Chile

Alvaro González Torres

Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Chile

Luis Ahumada Figueroa

Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Chile

and

Christopher Chapman

University of Glasgow, UK

United Kingdom – North America – Japan – India – Malaysia – China

Copyright Page

Emerald Publishing Limited

Howard House, Wagon Lane, Bingley BD16 1WA, UK

First edition 2020

Copyright © 2020 Mauricio Pino Yancovic, Alvaro González Torres, Luis Ahumada Figueroa and Christopher Chapman

Published under exclusive licence

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Contact: permissions@emeraldinsight.com

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without either the prior written permission of the publisher or a licence permitting restricted copying issued in the UK by The Copyright Licensing Agency and in the USA by The Copyright Clearance Center. No responsibility is accepted for the accuracy of information contained in the text, illustrations or advertisements. The opinions expressed in these chapters are not necessarily those of the Author or the publisher.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-1-78769-738-6 (Print)

ISBN: 978-1-78769-735-5 (Online)

ISBN: 978-1-78769-737-9 (Epub)

Dedication Page

We want to dedicate this book to all the school leaders that work hard for the education of their students. We also want to dedicate this book to the families of these leaders, and to our families, that support and allow us to concentrate our energy to promote the systemic improvement of education.

Contents

List of Figures, Acronyms and Tables

Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge the support from the Leadership Center for Educational Improvement, LIDERES EDUCATIVOS at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, and from the Ministry of Education of the Chilean Government (MINEDUC). In addition, funding from the PIA-CONICYT Basal Funds for Centers of Excellence Project FB0003 is gratefully acknowledged.

We are also grateful to United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) for supporting the “Study about the implementation of the School Improvement Networks” and to all the researchers who have participated in this study.

We would also like to thank all the researchers who have participated in the National Evaluation of the School Improvement Networks; Christopher Brown and Cindy Portman for their valuable feedback to improve the ideas, reflections and the general quality of this book; and Kimberley Chadwick for her detailed feedback and editorial suggestions.

About the Authors

Mauricio Pino Yancovic is a Researcher of the Leadership Center for Educational Improvement, LIDERES EDUCATIVOS. His academic and research experience is focused in educational policy, school networks and evaluation. He currently coordinates the national evaluation of the school improvement networks strategy in Chile, and leads programs to support collaborative inquiry networks. He completed his Ph.D. in Educational Policy Studies from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. He has worked in teacher professional development programs and researched teachers transforming identity in the context of the Chilean teacher evaluation and incentives system. Recent publications include Study Abroad for Preservice Teachers: Critical Learning and Teaching in a Diverse Context (book chapter published by IGI Global, with Allison Witt, and Brandi Neal). A critique to the standardization for accountability: narrative of resistance of the assessment system in Chile (Cadernos CEDES journal, with Gonzálo Oyarzún and Ivan Salinas).

Alvaro González Torres is a Researcher of the Leadership Center for Educational Improvement, LIDERES EDUCATIVOS. His academic work centers on the interplay between practice and policy in the field of educational improvement and effectiveness, which was the subject of his doctoral thesis. He has been part of research and development projects on education policy and system reform, instructional systems, educational leadership and professional learning, from a comparative and critical perspective. He is currently coordinating programs associated with systemic leadership, collaborative school networks and the change in the governance model of public education in Chile. Recent publications include: The relationship between leadership preparation and the level of teachers’ interest in assuming a principalship in Chile (School Leadership & Management journal, with Sergio Galdames); Comparing international curriculum systems: the international instructional systems study (The Curriculum journal, with Brian Creese and Tina Isaacs); Can Educational Technical Assistance (ATE) be a Strategy for Teacher Professional Development? Reflections from a Chilean Case Study (in Perspectiva Educacional journal); and Quality Assurance in Chile’s Municipal Schools: Facing the Challenge of Assuring and Improving Quality in Low Performing Schools (book chapter published by InTech, with Luis Ahumada and Carmen Montecinos).

Luis Ahumada Figueroa is a Professor at the School of Psychology, and a Researcher at LIDERES EDUCATIVOS, Leadership Center for Educational Improvement. He is currently investigating Distributed Leadership in Schools serving high poverty and socially vulnerable communities. His most recent co-authored publications in refereed journals include: A goal orientation analysis of teachers’ motivations to participate in the school self-assessment processes of a quality assurance system in Chile (Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability, 2014); Understanding leadership in schools facing challenging circumstances: A Chilean case study (International Journal of Leadership in Education, 2015); Targets, threats and (dis)trust: The managerial troika for public school principals in Chile (Education Policy Analysis Archives, 2015); Novice principals in Chile mobilizing change for the first time: Challenges and opportunities associated with a school’s readiness for change (Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 2017).

Christopher Chapman is Chair of Educational Policy and Practice at the University of Glasgow in January 2013 and became the Founding Director of the Robert Owen Centre for Educational Change (ROC). Prior to this he was Professor of Education at the University of Manchester and previously held academic and research posts at the universities of Nottingham and Warwick. Before moving into academia Chris taught in challenging secondary schools in Birmingham where he undertook a part-time MA before completing his Ph.D. thesis on intervention and improvement in schools in challenging circumstances. He is the Director of Policy Scotland the University’s Centre for public policy research and knowledge exchange and PI of Children’s Neighbourhoods Scotland a major three-year Scottish Government investment in researching and developing a place-based approach to tackle poverty and improve outcomes for children and young people. He is also Co-Director of ESRC/Scottish Government funded What Works Scotland Centre and seconded part-time as Senior Academic Advisor to Scottish Government.