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This research explored the impact that the relatively new role of the Health and Wellbeing Lead upon the health and wellbeing of children and their families at this school.

This case study took place in a primary school (children aged 4–11) in the South-West of England. Data was collected through activities with children, semi-structured interviews with senior staff and parents and a “learning walk”.

Our data suggested that this role provided compassion, unconditional positive regard and respect for parents, factors that are frequently absent from research into parent partnerships in education. The role presented as invaluable in tackling the many mental and physical challenges that parents faced in rearing their children, and in providing their children with the best possible chance of success.

This is a single Case Study and, as such, may or may not be representative of similar schools. We also question to what extent the findings demonstrated the strength of this role per se, or whether the impact could simply be the result of a uniquely caring and passionate individual.

We concluded that this was a role needed in all schools, recognising the key role that parents play in their child’s wellbeing, and the indirect impact that parent mental health can have upon their child’s success.

It is vital that this role is not used as an excuse by the government to further reduce the already denuded Social Services landscape within communities. It is also important that this responsibility does not become yet another burden added to already overstretched teaching staff.

This research presents a fresh perspective on the multiple pressures that parents face and how these can impact upon their child's education.

The purpose of this study is to explore the shifting power dynamics within an inter-organizational relationship (IOR) over time through an institutional theory lens. Specifically, this manuscript explores power by acknowledging its relationality, temporality and typology through a case study focusing on an international collegiate ice hockey tournament. This study seeks to demonstrate the complexity of power as a multi-dimensional, relational, and temporal concept that can ebb and flow given actors’ positionality.

This study uses a chronological case study that is an appropriate in-depth qualitative framework to explore the how and why of a particular phenomenon. Yin (2018) describes a case study as “investigat[ing] a contemporary phenomenon (the ‘case’) in depth and within its real-world context, especially when the boundaries between phenomenon and context may not be clearly evident” (p. 45). Specifically, I used a chronological case study method as it provides the ability to document the chronology of events to determine important factors shaping the phenomenon (Yin, 2018). This includes collecting various types of data (organizational documents, news articles, interviews and observations) to create a robust understanding of a bounded chronological case over time.

Examining power dynamics is important as “power or its absence influences the mechanisms available to partners for initiating, challenging, and/or enforcing institutional change” (Gray et al., 2022, p. 3). This paper demonstrates the complexity of power as a multi-dimensional, relational and temporal concept that can ebb and flow given actors’ positionality. Further, the paper provides a case study showing how power asymmetries in an IOR can shift over time.

This study provides a case study on an IOR wherein multiple international organizations collaborated to create an ice hockey tournament. Through the case study, I demonstrate how different partners navigate power imbalances and changes over time.

This study provides a textbook case study of a successful IOR. Entrepreneurial actors capitalized on a catalyst event to leverage a boundary-spanning document and their professional networks to form a new identity and shared vision through the formation of the tournament. Further, this study provides insight into how an organization in an IOR can work to balance asymmetrical power relations.

As organizations seek to engage in collaborations, leveraging power through their contextuality can help create more equitable arrangements over time. Even when organizations may truly be at a disadvantage when entering an IOR, such as a local indigenous community partnering with an international corporation or non-profit, the status of particular locals or local organizations can be powerful in balancing an imbalanced relationship.

While a wealth of research documents the relational dynamics of IORs, there remains a significant gap in our understanding pertaining to the dynamics of power asymmetries in IOR partnerships. Existing research primarily focuses on the antecedents leading to sport organizations engaging in IORs and the various processes organizational leaders can employ to ensure an IOR’s success. However, several scholars acknowledge a profound gap in our understanding of how partners experiencing a power deficit in an IOR partnership work to balance power asymmetries.