Collaboration and Leadership Roles for School Improvement: A Case Study through Social Network Analysis

Abstract

In several countries, educational leadership has become essential for promoting school improvement. However, little is known about how to detect and visualize leadership among educational actors in Chilean schools -whether teachers or management team-, considering the advances that have been made internationally. To address this gap, this research used Social Network Analysis (SNA) to examine the interactions and collaborative practices related to teaching and improvement processes, as well as to determine leadership roles and patterns inside a Chilean school. Data was gathered through a questionnaire for all educational actors working in a school, which has had an improvement in its trajectory according to the national standardized achievement test (SIMCE) and other metrics, in order to detect which educational actors are actually in educational leadership positions. Centrality indicators of teachers and management team, the density of interactions inside the school, and the visualization of their sociograms or network maps showed that actors associated with the School Inclusion Programme (SIP) have a preponderant presence. The study argues that the covid-19 pandemic presents itself a scenario that highlights their role beyond the existing school hierarchies. This provides contextualized evidence for educational practices and school improvement processes.