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The purpose of this paper is to explore the concept of group identity formation amongst school business managers in the English school system.

Data were generated via a research project that employed semi-structured interviews with school business managers as a means of exploring their experiences as a relatively nascent group, carving out their own territory within a school system traditionally led and managed by trained educationalists.

The findings provide insight into the enabling and inhibiting factors encountered by school business managers in establishing and negotiating a distinguishable group identity within the wider school workforce including their variable career trajectories and motives, the suitability of their qualifications and the diverse composition of their roles.

The paper throws light on the identity formation of a cohort of the school workforce in England who are not directly involved in educational leadership or classroom practice but nevertheless play a crucial role in the ecosystem of the school. While the research reported is situated within England, the issues raised can be applied to education systems in other contexts given the universal importance of financial and organizational management in schools.

This chapter explores school-to-school collaboration via Teaching School Alliances (TSAs) in one locality in England, drawing on governance theory (Bevir, 2011) – specifically hierarchy, markets and networks (Tenbensel, 2017). It focusses on three TSAs in detail, describing their individual development as ‘school-led’ networks but also how they interact with each other and with other networks in the context of wider hierarchical and market-driven pressures and opportunities. It compares these examples to the three common TSA trajectories described by Greany and Higham (2018) – exclusive, marketized, and hierarchical – showing how these trajectories overlap and interact in hybrid forms. It concludes by discussing these findings in relation to social regulation and cohesion (Chapman, 2019; Hood, 1991) and to the wider themes in this book. We argue that while collaboration between schools in the English system has been driven at the policy level by an egalitarian narrative, in reality, such activity is enacted within a hierarchical and individualist framework which can be in tension with the professional values and ethics of school leaders. We conclude with recommendations, which include a need to rethink national and local accountability structures in order to encompass a broader range of outcomes; encourage more ambitious levels of experimentation in how the needs of children and families can best be addressed; focus on place-based coherence and collaboration; and, finally, develop the skills and capacity of frontline leaders to shape productive networks.

Collaborative teaching and learning in Kenya is at relatively immature phase. There is dearth of empirical research undertaken on school-to-school collaboration and its impact and influence on the students’ learning outcomes. The 8:4:4 system of education, which begun in 1985, and which was short of insights into the impact of collaborative, is coming to an end to pave way for 2-6-3-3-3 education curriculum framework which is largely seen as progressive. As such, collaborative teaching and learning across the whole-school system is slowly beginning to evolve – with the learners being expected to learn, un-learn and re-learn collaboratively. The Kenyan education system is highly marketized and when coupled with lack of clear national policy guidelines on inter-school collaboration, it falls short of obligating teachers to initiate or even deepen the few existing collaborative designs within and beyond their schools’ boarders. Given that the challenges facing learning appear to increase exponentially, it appears to be timely to have students and teachers from different schools come together to network and share ideas, knowledge, expertise, resources and best practices – bearing in mind that cultures that work together hold the prospect of long-term impact that is not dependent on a few individuals but the whole team (Hargreaves & O’Connor, 2017).

This chapter aims to explore Polish experiences of school-to-school collaboration (SSC): a mosaic of dynamic interplay between history, culture, politics, economics, and education. Starting with a diagnosis of Poland’s education system as ‘fatalist’ via the lens of the cohesion/regulation matrix, this chapter reveals the complex nature of SSC in this country, which is underpinned by conflicting logics: the decentralized education system, the state’s desire for control over that system’s key mechanisms, and the heavily capitalistic influence of neoliberal pressures. Then, drawing on data from available policy reports and legal acts, as well as the authors’ own research experiences, this chapter offers some insights on promising policy developments and examples of good practices in SSC at national and international levels. Furthermore, this chapter identifies possible barriers that block the full utilization of the potential inherent in collaboration between schools. These include formal/legal barriers (e.g. lack of policies regulating the collaboration between schools, unstable education policy after 1989, and competition between schools) and normative/cultural barriers (e.g. lack of long-standing tradition and experience of cooperation between schools, the bureaucratic school management model, and lack of cooperation skills among the main stakeholders). This chapter concludes with a discussion of some key lessons for policy and practice in tangibly harnessing the potential of SSC as a means of addressing current education challenges in Poland.

This chapter explores the Scottish government policy drive for school improvement through processes such as distributed leadership, empowerment and cross-school collaboration to school settings. Compared to other nations, this shift towards collaboration has been relatively slow, but reflects the history of Scottish education, one where there is a reduced emphasis on individualist/competitive cultures and instead focuses on social justice and equity. This chapter discusses two programmes of work that were developed to foster school-to-school collaboration in the Scottish education system. In doing so, we comment on the conflict between national priority setting and the translation of this agenda at the local level by different local authorities.

This chapter provides an overview of approaches to collaboration in Ontario and then focuses in particular on the experiences of the Norway–Canada (NORCAN) programme involving nine schools across Alberta and Ontario (Canada) and Norway from 2014 to 2018. NORCAN was established through collaboration by the teachers’ unions in Alberta (Alberta Teachers’ Association), Norway (Utdanningsforbundet), and Ontario (Ontario Teachers’ Federation) and the Ontario Ministry of Education. A central guiding question was co-developed to inform the work of NORCAN: ‘How can an international network of schools and educators committed to mindful leadership help to identify obstacles to students’ mathematics learning and develop strategies for attaining success?’ With funding support, school teams involving school leaders, teachers, and students had opportunities to collaborate at NORCAN-facilitated events, school visits in each jurisdiction, through an online platform, and ongoing communication. The following important features of NORCAN are identified: the development of collaborative structures, processes, relationships, and trust; student voice, agency, and leadership; professional learning and agency; and sharing knowledge and de-privatizing practices. Four lessons for policy and practice are proposed: 1. school-to-school collaboration benefits from adequate resources of time, funding and a support infrastructure; 2. the intentional cultivation of mutually respectful and trusting relationships is essential; 3. bringing together educators and students as co-learners is powerful and beneficial; and 4. mobilizing knowledge and de-privatizing practices needs to be central to the purpose and operation of collaboration.

Evidence suggests that networking can be beneficial to enhance learning in challenging contexts, when there is a shared purpose, trustful relationships, and the development of meaningful collaborative practices. In Chile, the adoption of collaborative network practices has faced some challenges due to the long history of neoliberal policies characterised by hierarchical and market governance that promotes competition over collaboration among schools. Using Hood’s (1998) cohesion/regulation matrix, the Chilean education system can be characterized as fatalist, where cooperation among peers is mandated solely to meet external requirements to regulate schools’ and practitioners’ practice. However, in recent years, collaborative projects have been implemented that are framed and supported in an egalitarian culture, highlighting the importance and value of collaboration and support among peers to develop effective teaching practice. By analysing three experiences of networking in Chile, we identify two barriers for networking, distrust and isolation, and analyze the ways in which these networks attempted to overcome them to sustain effective collaboration. The first experience describes the implementation of the collaborative inquiry networks (CIN) methodology. This programme was designed to facilitate the development of networked leadership capacities of principals and curriculum coordinators to support teachers’ practices during COVID-19 in one municipality (Pino-Yancovic & Ahumada, 2020). In the second, we report on a group of principals who developed focussed interventions in their network of urban primary public schools to enhance the exchange of knowledge and practices among network participants. The third centres on the development of a model to enhance teacher leadership and professional learning in Initial Teacher Education through collaboration in a university–school partnership. Finally, we present some lessons to be considered in similar social and policy environments to successfully introduce a collaborative networked approach.

School networks are of increasing importance in Germany. Despite not being formally anchored in the structure of the school system, school networks are promoted via a wide variety of programmes. These initiatives have varying aims such as the systemic promotion of school development and the identification of key factors for success. Some programmes even provide for accompanying research into the impact of networks on their success. Following the classification of the German school system according to the cohesion/regulation matrix by Chapman, and suggesting an emphasis on ‘egalitarian culture’, this chapter then focuses on the topic of school-to-school collaboration. Doing so, we shall define our understanding of school networks, present a typology of commonly found networks in Germany and provide systemic examples of some of the larger school networks. The review of the national state of research in this field including experience from two of our research and development projects shows desiderata especially concerning processes of school-to-school collaboration. The role of school leadership, which will be expanded upon further, has proven to be a driver of success in school networks.