Transforming educational systems requires new ways of thinking about educational change and development. Our past attempts at large scale reform have tended to see the individual school as the unit of change and have underplayed the potential for innovation and development across schools. However, a new educational order is rapidly emerging and its direction is best characterised by networks and network learning. This is good news for schools. It reinforces a shift away from vertical to lateral capacity building and from hierarchical to distributed forms of leadership. Collaboration rather than competition is now the driving force for system level change and networks have a pivotal role to play in this transformation.

Collaboration amongst teachers has been shown to be one of the most important conditions for school and system level improvement. The research base is unequivocal; the quality of teacher interaction and development makes a significant difference to student learning outcomes. The most effective schools actively support teacher collaboration. However, it is important to note that collaboration is not automatically a positive force for change. So much depends on the type of collaboration that teachers embark upon, the purpose of collaboration and the structures that support their collaborative activity. The same is true of networking. Lurking in the dark recesses of the current networking epidemic is the stark but real possibility that there can be ineffective networks, empty networks (that is, structure but no content) and contrived networks that exist simply because of the extra funds they provide to schools.

Meaningful networks, on the other hand, are partnerships based on clearly shared goals, ways of operating and mutual trust. They are networks that function as 'learning communities' by sharing expertise, knowledge and problem-solving capacity. It is clear that networks of schools do not exist in isolation; their effectiveness is not a matter of internal development alone but also a matter of how they connect with other communities and constituencies. Schools in federations, partnerships and networks represent constellations of communities that encompass many groupings and cross many boundaries. Therefore the real challenge is to harness this collective energy in a way that will generate positive system level change and ensure that schools remain at the heart of system transformation.

Professor Alma Harris
Director, Institute of Education
University of Warwick, Coventry, UK

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