Educational networks as catalysts for cultural change: a tale of two systems

Abstract This paper draws on evidence and insights from attempts to build Networked Learning Systems (NLS) over a seven-year period in Scotland and Chile. The paper examines how both systems seek to leverage the middle tier and illuminate the possibilities and pitfalls associated with initiating and sustaining school-to-school improvement networks in diverse international cultural and policy contexts. Drawing on socio-cultural theory (Douglas in In the active voice, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1982), which is applied to public service organisations (Hood in The art of the state: culture, rhetoric, and public management, Clarendon Press, 1998) and research and developmental activity associated with Research Practice-Partnerships (Farrell et al. in Research practice partnerships in education: The state of the field, William T. Grant Foundation, 2021) the paper analyses, compares, and contrast these contexts and their developments in relation to cultural change and NLSs. The Scottish approach to education, and public policy has a strong tradition of universal public provision whilst the Chilean system is market-based and highly segregated. In Scotland a partnership working and collaboration is a core feature of policy aspiration to support the development of a networked learning system (ICEA, 2020), however, there remain challenges to realise this ambition in practice. In Chile, there are many functioning educational networks, many of which have been useful in supporting key actors (Pino-Yancovic in OECD, ed., Who really cares about using education research in policy and practice? Developing a culture of research engagement, OECD, pp 195–201, 2023). However, given the neoliberal context generating professional relationships based on trust remains a significant issue for the Chilean system. The findings reported in this paper offer valuable insights into how two diverse contexts have attempted cultural change to support educational change and improvement across the middle tier. The Scottish case highlights the importance of senior leadership support in early stages and the later shift toward a more egalitarian culture. For Chile, strengthening collaboration across local education service administrators could benefit from identifying and supporting leadership capacities within well-functioning networks to harvest talent, articulate the system, and challenge individualistic cultures.