Mireia Civís Zaragoza

El Liderazgo y la Gobernanza colaborativa en proyectos educativos comunitarios

Introduction and objectives: In the current economic context collaboration between educational and social organizations in the community is a key asset for improving educational outcomes. This article intends to describe the strategies needed to lead collaborative projects in a community level, so as the structures of decision-making required to make the most of inter-organizational collaboration. Methodology and data processing: This paper looks at the case of Barcelona (Spain), where there is an outstanding tradition of community collaboration and successful experiences of Educational Networks (EN). The study conducted a content analysis of 30 interviews with experienced professionals in leadership and governance of successful EN. Results and discussion: Results show a leadership model aimed at building alliances at the community level, where leaders seek synergies weaving between different institutions and services by qualitatively connecting different professionals, building trust between them and encouraging discussion consensus and innovation. Moreover, the results highlight the existence of spaces designed specifically for collaborative decision making, ranging from more general or representative -where strategic issues are decided- to more technical and operational -where action project issues are discussed-. The results underline the importance of balancing between professional representation and action to achieve project effectiveness. Finally, the existence of 3 different models of network governance is found, highlighting the importance of adopting the model to the characteristics and needs of each program.

Networked leadership in Educational Collaborative Networks

Educational Collaborative Networks (ECNs) aim to achieve educational goals at the community level and base their actions on collaborative partnering between schools and community organizations. These approaches are an emergent and innovative leadership and policy strategy being used increasingly across the globe, given the interconnected and pervasive nature of issues facing education. The enthusiasm and promise of such community-based initiatives are accompanied by concerns related to its leadership. This paper describes the insights of networked leadership as a driver, which facilitates ECN outcome achievement. This article examines the experience of leaders involved in the current leadership of 18 high-performing ECNs in Barcelona (Spain). The results stress that networked leadership may become a key driver of change in educational contexts, capable of building a collaborative culture to optimize the educational performance in every specific community.

Asesoramiento al programa CaixaProinfancia; evaluación del cambio hacia un modelo de acción socioeducativa

El objetivo de esta investigacion es valorar la incidencia del asesoramiento sobre la gestion del cambio iniciado en el Programa CaixaProinfancia, programa que desde 2007 se desarrolla en las areas metropolitanas mas pobladas de 9 Comunidades Autonomas de Espana, atendiendo una media anual superior a 35.000 familias y 55.000 menores, gracias a la colaboracion de 351 entidades del tercer sector. En 2010 se desarrollo un complejo proceso de asesoramiento en el que participa una red de 12 universidades espanolas para redireccionar el programa, enmarcado en un paradigma mas asistencialista, hacia un modelo centrado en las capacidades y el empoderamiento de los participantes y con el territorio como referente ineludible Por tal motivo se han realizado dos investigaciones evaluativas complementarias: a) un analisis estadistico descriptivo de la evolucion en la incidencia del programa sobre menores, familias y territorios, realizado a partir de la informacion recogida por el aplicativo de gestion del programa; b) una evaluacion cualitativa de la percepcion de impacto por parte de los grupos de interes, realizada a partir de la informacion recogida mediante grupos focales y entrevistas. Los resultados muestran un progresivo giro de una primera atencion fragmentada y puntual hacia una atencion mas integral y continuada, con intensificacion del acompanamiento social. Se tienen evidencias de evolucion en los procesos de trabajo y colaboracion de las entidades sociales. Aunque no puede confirmarse el impacto positivo respecto a la efectividad del programa para sacar a los participantes de la pobreza, se reconocen mejoras en el desarrollo de oportunidades y factores de resiliencia en los participantes. Principalmente se explican por la calidad del acompanamiento personalizado y sistematico que se realiza. Las dificultades que frenan el proceso son: a) de tipo normativo y/o administrativo, b) de escasez de recursos de las entidades y las administraciones para realizar un trabajo socioeducativo de calidad, y c) resistencias al cambio de la cultura profesional y la cultura politica por parte de los agentes involucrados

Improving interaction in teacher training programmes: the rise of the social dimension in pre-service teacher education

ABSTRACT This paper studies the social side of pre-service teacher education and draws on social network analysis to explore the relation between the social capital of pre-service teachers and their academic and professional success. An online survey was applied to a sample of 321 students enrolled full time either in Preschool Education or Primary Education programmes at the Ramon Llull University-FPCEE Blanquerna in Catalonia, Spain. The instrument consisted of a combination of social network questions and rating scale attributes. Findings allow us to understand the relationship between aspects of the cohort’s social network and key development constructs and demonstrate the importance of considering informal interactions within the programme to improve the performance of pre-service teachers.