For the last three decades, educational systems
worldwide have known normative transformations on their organization, in a
context of (de)centralization and school autonomy. The reflection about recent
trends in educational policies points to a role transformation of some school
and civil society actors in education, as they set their framework of
constraints and possibilities.
In this context, schools have to assume certain responsibilities,
namely to relate and build themselves with the surrounding community, both in
identifying and sharing common goals or values and in strategically mobilizing
resources to address needs or enhance opportunities offered by local contexts. Families,
local community institutions and other actors interested in education are in
turn called to have a more active role in education, either by informal
contacts, representation in school boards or participation in specific programs
and projects.
Projects involving networks and partnerships between
schools and/ or other educational actors are becoming more common nowadays,
trying to address some particular issues such as the promotion of educational
success, the reduction of school-leavers or draw attention to questions as
environment or volunteering. A certain number of these emerge by the initiative
of schools, university researchers, local actors or civil society organizations
and work with relative autonomy.
Collaborative networks are being conceptualized as a
new tool of school administration and organization based on horizontal
relationships in order to achieve common goals, sometimes framed by social
network analysis, namely in association to social capital concept, or as
communities.
Within this context, some salient questions arise,
such as: How are networks/ partnerships in education built, by whom, how do
they work and for what purpose(s)? Do they constitute a regulatory instance in
educational systems? Does the participation in networks and partnerships have
positive effect on learning and results? Does it contribute to transform
educational practices? What kind of networks worldwide perform for better
schooling? What is the role of strategic planning in education?
This Congress aims to share experiences and scientific
studies of networks and partnerships in education, appealing to the
participation of professionals and researchers in the field. Prospective
presenters are encouraged to submit abstracts that offer reflection on
practical experiences, new research or theoretical contributions,
preferentially in the three following areas:
1) School/ Families partnerships;
2) School networks;
3) School/ local community partnerships and strategic planning
