Orchestrating networks to support educational change, by Nienke M. Moolenaar & Alan J. Daly

Authors Note:

Ties matter. Why? Because social relationships influence educational change.  Educators increasingly recognize the potential of social ties in pursuit of increased instructional quality and student outcomes. While efforts at improving education commonly consist of a variety of technical approaches including structures, processes, and accountability policies, the ‘social side’ of the change equation has been long acknowledged yet understudied. One of the many important questions we are interesting in is, “How may educators’ social networks support or constrain efforts at educational improvement?”

The November 2012 (vol. 119 no. 1) issue of the American Journal of Education focuses on the role of social networks in educational change, and offers a collection of papers from forefront researchers on this topic that may serve as an introduction of the topic to a wide range of interested educators, policy-makers, and researchers. The articles may be found at the journal’s website hosted by the University of Chicago Press:

Social Network Theory: Exploring the Social Side of the Reform Equation

The special issue was guest edited by us–Nienke Moolenaar, UC San Diego & University of Twente, The Netherlands, and Alan J. Daly, UC San Diego.

Why is social network theory important and what potential does it posses?

 The importance and potential of social relationships for solving complex puzzles is, we believe, the most exciting challenge for 21^st century organizations. Educational change is in essence such a puzzle that may be best solved if we know how to harvest the potential of working together.  This means that we sometimes need to stretch and bridge gaps to disconnected others who may be instrumental in solving the reform puzzle. Therefore, research to understand how educators collaborate, and are connecting through social networks, is vital to advancing our field.’

In this special issue, we brought together a group of scholars who argue that social network theory can offer additional frameworks and methods, and help understand how the work of educators is actually stretched ‘across’ individuals and levels of the educational system.  Generally speaking, social network theory is concerned with the pattern of social relationships between individuals, organizations, and even systems. A social network view on the world means a move away from a focus on individuals to understanding the supports and constraints of the larger social infrastructure in which individuals reside.

With this special issue, we wanted to show that the study of social networks is not just a sophisticated methodological tool, which it is, but also a thought-provoking way of looking at the world, a valuable conceptual framework and useful lens. By adopting a social network perspective, these studies yield new insights that may truly enhance our view on relationships among educational actors as they work together on the important, yet incredibly complex puzzle of teaching, learning, and educational change.

 How do the various papers in the special issue fit within the study of social networks in education?

The collection of studies in this special issue forms a type of prism for the study of social networks in education. While the starting point for each article is the same, each study highlights a slightly different perspective on educators’ social networks that reflects the background and interests of the authors involved, ranging from sociology, psychology, and educational policy to organizational science and mathematics. The studies examine social networks in a wide array of settings and actors, such as elementary school teacher teams and high school leadership networks. The articles build on empirical data acquired through quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods and offer great insights by visualizing the networks. This work collectively illuminates the importance and potential of social ties for educational change and highlights the interdependency of schools as social systems.

 How do you see this study of social networking impacting educational change?

As reflected by the success of social media, we are now constantly aware that social networks are everywhere, that we are in the epicenter of our own social network, and that our world is continuously affected by others in ways we often don’t even notice. Recent research suggests that our happiness, health, weight, and even wealth are influenced by the social networks in which we reside.

If networks can affect something as personal as our health or happiness, surely they will also affect our teaching and learning, and how we approach educational change.

Educational change happens not only in technical plans and blueprints, but also through the interaction and collective sense making of educators as they go about enacting change.  The articles in the special issue show that the social networks that reflect the pattern of relationships among these educators may affect and even determine the direction, speed, and depth of a planned change. We think that this combination of ‘blueprint bricks and social mortar’ will continue to gain traction in education, and ways to strengthen this social mortar need to be explored and tested to build solid foundations for our students.

 Where do you see this type of research heading as educators and scholars become more aware of social networks?

An important implication of our work is that we as researchers have to stretch ourselves to make our work useful and accessible for a wide audience. This means not only conducting research studies and writing scientific articles, but also making sure that the work will have a lasting impact in the way educational change is brought about. To understand how we may orchestrate networks to support educational change, more research and testing is needed – and with the current climate of increased collaboration, the educational field seems open to explorations of how we can support teachers to work and learn together.

For instance, while research until now has mostly focused on the potential outcomes and benefits of social networks, there is much less known about the factors that shape social network structure over time. There may be multiple reasons for people to collaborate. For example, if we want to understand why teachers collaborate, we may think of formal structures that guide collaboration, such as grade levels and subject matter. The alignment of formal structures and informal social networks may have an important impact on educational change and its sustainability.

While formal organizational structure such as grade levels may play a role in shaping social relationships among educators, other factors may also matter for creating a sustainable learning partnership among teachers. Take, for instance, the introduction of a new reform or approach, such as the Common Core Standards. The extent to which teachers discuss these Standards, whether in formal settings or not, and how to adjust their teaching accordingly, may be entirely dependent on the extent in which they believe that these Standards will be feasible and viable and make a difference for their practice. As such, for sense-making and organizational learning to occur, we need to understand additional factors that shape educators’ interactions, such as shared beliefs about relevant topics, and how these factors may support or constrain educational change.

Ultimately, we believe our role as network researchers is not to be the conductor of this orchestration, but rather the voice that helps educators to become more aware of the players and instruments that surround them, which may enhance their own playing. We believe that, for education as a whole, there is a huge potential of knowledge and experience that is currently not tapped into because of lack of awareness of the skills of others or even organizational conditions that inhibit risk taking and vulnerability. Increasing this awareness, we believe, will have a profound impact on how teachers work and how education may improve. We hope that this special issue offers an introduction to the many questions that social network research in education yet has to answer.