Professional background and working practices of consultants in school development: Initial empirical findings from Germany

Abstract

In Germany, it can be observed that schools increasingly take advantage of experts from the outside in their further pedagogical and organizational development. Regarding their profession and the area of content to which they are assigned, these experts represent a heterogeneous group. This contribution assumes that several patterns can be observed that have to do with the professional background of the consultants as well as with the content and the way these consultants work. It takes up insights from a larger research project conducted in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia from 2009 to 2012. The project's findings were gained by means of a standardized survey of 957 school administrations and case studies at six schools with standardized interviews of teachers (20-87 per school), qualitative interviews with school administrations and teachers (5-8 per school), as well as document analyses on the design, the process and results of the external consultation of schools. The results indicate that there are two different types of consultation: the consultation of the entire teaching staff in the area of teaching development with a consultant who is directly connected to the school system (type 1), and a consultation of subgroups of the teaching staff in the area of organizational and personnel development with a consultant from outside the school system (type 2). This contribution provides new insights into a field that has in the German speaking context so far not been well researched.

Changing conditions for teachers’ knowledge work: new actor constellations and responsibilities

“…This paper set out to explore what the broad range of new actor constellations means for teachers’ roles and responsibilities by focusing on the contextually specific relations through which teachers’ knowledge work is enacted. The findings provide various insights on this topic and substantiate previous studies that have shown how multiple sets of combined interests, concerns and demands are imposed on teacher professionals and schools (Dedering et al , 2015; Drew et al , 2016; Hall, 2017).…”

“…Although the literature on the relationship between specific actors and schools is extensive, few studies have looked at how the diversity of actors together poses new knowledge challenges for teachers’ work. While some researchers have documented how external developmental consultants and coaches increasingly play a significant role in transformations within schools (Dedering et al , 2015; Mayer et al , 2015), others have researched the role of school–university partnerships to foster teachers’ professional development (Bartholomew & Sandholtz, 2009; Lillejord & Børte, 2016). Certain studies have documented the role of local governing agencies, such as school reform support organisations (Datnow & Honig, 2008; Drew et al , 2016) and intermediary organisations to facilitate system‐level and collective learning (Honig, 2004; Rincón‐Gallardo & Fullan 2016).…”

Consultancy in ‘failing schools’: Emerging issues

“…developing a plan for grade 5–10 students with poor reading and writing skills). Issues can be attributed to the areas ‘teaching development’, ‘organizational development’ and ‘personnel development’ (Dedering, Goecke, & Rauh, 2015).…”

“…External advice is widespread in schools. How it is actually carried out and how effective it is have certainly been researched internationally and in German-speaking countries (Dedering et al, 2015). Yet, there are hardly any empirical findings on the specific case of external advice for failing schools .…”

“…In the research on school development consultancy, in general, various consultancy types (as a combination of ‘professional background of the adviser’, ‘content of consultancy’ and ‘forms of work’) have been identified (Dedering et al, 2015). In order to support compensation externally for the many deficits of schools in a challenging position, it is expedient to use a consultancy type that combines further training for all staff with systematic communication with selected members of the staff.…”