Of Teams and Ties: Examining the Relationship Between Formal and Informal Instructional Support Networks

Abstract

This study examined an urban district's capacity to diffuse instructional innovations. Social network analysis (SNA) was used to examine the relationship between "informal" teacher support networks and "formal" teacher support networks engineered by administrators through required membership on a team. This study also sought to uncover how school leaders considered study findings in light of their district's theory of change to improve teacher collaboration. Method: About 1,100 employees responded to a sociometric survey that queried for demographics, team membership, and advice-seeking behavior. SNA methods were used to examine network cohesion (i.e., size, density, isolates, ties) and degree centrality. Statistical analyses (chi-square and multinomial logistic regressions) were performed to examine how team membership were associated with teachers' advice-seeking behaviors. Visual inspection of sociograms was used to communicate and make meaning of findings with district personnel. Findings: The majority of teachers' informal instructional support ties were concomitant with shared membership on an administrator created formal

The impact of trust and information networks on teachers’ job satisfaction

“…Schools and colleges are confronted by reduced federal or state funding and by an increased stakeholders' demand to update current approaches to organizational effectiveness. In education, SNA has been used to depict and manage how resources flow to and from educators in a school or district (Woodland and Mazur, 2019). Researchers indicate that SNA could facilitate information sharing and exchange of knowledge by providing a complete picture of a school's network (Leana and Pil, 2006).…”

Beginning teachers’ professional support: A mixed methods social network study

“…Furthermore, in terms of promoting a team to share their expertise with the BT, the principal appears to play an important role. The principal can stimulate support in a team by, e.g., creating a welcoming staffroom (Struyve et al, 2016), promoting collective action and mutual responsibility (Minckler, 2014), and organising formal support structures (e.g., professional learning communities) (Struyve et al, 2016;Woodland & Mazur, 2019). Woodland and Mazur (2019) found that formal support networks arranged by the principal were positive predictors of informal instrumental ties between teachers and as such played a key role in teachers' access to social capital.…”

“…The principal can stimulate support in a team by, e.g., creating a welcoming staffroom (Struyve et al, 2016), promoting collective action and mutual responsibility (Minckler, 2014), and organising formal support structures (e.g., professional learning communities) (Struyve et al, 2016;Woodland & Mazur, 2019). Woodland and Mazur (2019) found that formal support networks arranged by the principal were positive predictors of informal instrumental ties between teachers and as such played a key role in teachers' access to social capital. These initiatives for a team in which open communication becomes self-evident may also counterbalance BTs' inhibition to engage in work-related contact.…”

Curriculum making as relational practice: A qualitative ego‐network approach

“…There has been a growing body of research on teachers' networks and a recent call for a fine‐grained analysis of different features of these networks to expand our knowledge of teachers' interactions (Sinnema et al, 2020; Tuytens et al, 2019; Woodland & Mazur, 2018). Teachers' networks, which are named differently in different contexts (e.g., professional learning networks and communities of practice) are considered one of the essential elements for improving the quality of educational reform (Coburn et al, 2012).…”

“…There are different facets and forms of teachers' networks, and the content, context and particular time periods matter; these reveal the complexity of understanding teachers' interactions (Little, 1990). For example, both formal and informal connections, the quality of the relationships as well as what the communications entail are essential ingredients in improving our understanding of teachers' interactions (Woodland & Mazur, 2018). Recent changes in the emphasis on curriculum policy—the ‘new curriculum’ (Priestley & Biesta, 2013)—in which teachers are often seen as change agents, would benefit from better understandings of the crucial role played by networks in policy implementation (Coburn & Russell, 2008; Daly et al, 2010).…”