Linking Network Learning Capacity (NLC) to professional community and organizational learning in an International Baccalaureate (IB) school in Taiwan
Published date | 03 September 2018 |
Date | 03 September 2018 |
Pages | 620-642 |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JEA-10-2017-0150 |
Author | Warangkana Lin,Moosung Lee |
Subject Matter | Education,Administration & policy in education,School administration/policy,Educational administration,Leadership in education |
Linking Network
Learning Capacity (NLC) to
professional community and
organizational learning in an
International Baccalaureate (IB)
school in Taiwan
Warangkana Lin
I-Shou University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, and
Moosung Lee
Faculty of Education, University of Canberra, Canberra, Australia
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to explore a concept that has been less examined in empirical
research on school organization, namely Network Learning Capacity (NLC). It is proposed that teachers’
professional networks enhance teachers’individual NLC. This process leads to a formation of professional
community (PC) and therefore affects the level of organizational learning (OL).
Design/methodology/approach –The quantitative study with multiple methods comprising social
network analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling was conducted. Data were
collected from a school implementing the International Baccalaureate (IB) programs in Taiwan.
Findings –Findings suggest that c ertain network positions were crucial in for ming NLC on instruction.
In addition, reflect ive dialogue, shaped by N LC, is the key component in establishing learn ing in this
case school.
Originality/value –As thefirst of its kind in an educationalcontext,the study highlightsthe linkages between
network position and the development of professional learning community, which is mediated through NLC.
This study contributes to illuminating the process of how PC practices and OL can be promoted in schools.
Keywords Organizational learning, Taiwan, Professional community, Social network analysis,
International Baccalaureate school, Network Learning Capacity
Paper type Research paper
There has been a growing body of empirical research that professional interactions and
collaborations among teachers enhance teacher knowledge and improve instructional
practice. In particular, a line of research has closely explored the conditions under which
teachers within a school form professional learning communities (PLCs) that facilitate
collaboration, discussion, exchange and reflection upon their practices as a means to
promote school improvement and reform (Louis, 2006; McLaughlin and Talbert, 2001,
2006). Creating such conditions and school structures that promote the transmission
and sharing of knowledge among teachers has been recommended as an approach to
enhance teacher quality (Quintero, 2017). These conditions cultivated through shared
norms and values allow teachers to refine their practice and reconstruct skills through
repeated interactions.
Journal of Educational
Administration
Vol. 56 No. 6, 2018
pp. 620-642
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0957-8234
DOI 10.1108/JEA-10-2017-0150
Received 29 October 2017
Revised 21 April 2018
2June2018
Accepted 2 June 2018
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0957-8234.htm
An earlier version of the paper was presented at conferences such as the XXXV Sunbelt Conference
of the InternationalNetwork for Social Network Analysis (INSNA), Brighton, UK, 2015 and the Annual
Conferenceof the International Congressfor School Effectivenessand Improvement (ISCEI), Yogyakarta,
Indonesia, 2014. The authors appreciate the reviewers’insightful comments to improve the paper.
620
JEA
56,6
Within this context, a number of studies introduced social network analysis to delve into
how teachers’professional interactions form and to examine how the interactions augment
teacher learning in groups. Moolenaar (2012) conducted a thorough review of existing
theory and methodology that applied social network perspective to understand teacher
collaboration in schools. Penuel et al. (2012) examined how collegial interactions increase the
mechanism of teacher learning through organized professional development resulting in an
improvement in instructions. Beyond focusing on professional development, Coburn et al.
(2012) identified dimensions of teachers’social networks that matter for sustainability in a
longitudinal study of mathematics reform. Teachers with strong ties, deep interactions and
high expertise are instrumental to their ability to adjust their mathematics instruction to
new conditions. Schools have increasingly been viewed as communities of professionals
working together to generate, combine and transmit knowledge. The value of high-quality
interactions among teachers reflects the social dimensions of work as a critical factor that
enhances organizational performance (Leana and Pil, 2017). In short, existing research has
reported that structure and quality of professional networks are foundational to promoting
school improvement (Datnow, 2012) and reform sustainability (Coburn et al., 2012). In this
regard, individual teachers’capacity to access and/or accommodate opportunities and
resources for professional learning through their professional interactions is key to
understanding how and why teachers’professional networks work for school improvement.
We conceptualize such a capacity as Network Learning Capacity (NLC)[1]. That is, we view
individual teachers’capacity to learn from their professional networks as NLC; NLC is
characterized as each teacher’s capacity to access and/or accommodate resources and
opportunities embedded in their professional networks for their professional development.
Specifically, the concept of NLC in this study highlights “accessibility”of an individual’s
capacity for learning through networks. “Accessibility”is a catalogue of people’s stock of
actual and potential access to resources held by network members (Van der Gaag and
Webber, 2008). This characteristic of NLC can be operationalized by the combination of
the following three elements: the number of alters in the individual’s social network, the
resources these alters give access to and the accessibility of these resources from alters to
the focal individual (ego), of which willingness of alters is a major component (Flap, 2002).
The accessibility of resources can be modeled by tie strength between ego and alter
(e.g. depth and frequency of interactions, and presence of reciprocity) (Van der Gaag and
Snijders, 2003). Informed by Flap (2002), NLC in this study is further quantified as:
X
iX
j
rijpij
where NLC is the quantification of one’s total NLC, irefers to the number of network
members (alter), and jrefers to the number of resources items, r
ij
is a quantification of type
of resources jthat a network member possesses, and p
ij
is the probability that alter iwill
give ego access to his resource of type j(i.e. accessibility or tie strength). In other words,
ego’s NLC is influenced by alter’s expertise and resource as well as ego’s accessibility to
alter’s expertise and resource. NLC of a focal teacher is a total accommodation of accessible
resources from all of his/her contacts. A total NLC of a focal teacher is a composite value
as a total sum of weighted expertise of each contact ×his/her accessibility to mobilize
resources acquired from each contact. Level of expertise that each alter possesses refers to
the extent to which each network member demonstrates his/her professional strength.
In this study, one’s level of expertise as resource is a composite value derived from one’s
years of teaching experience, number of workshop that one attends within two years before
data collection and perception of expertise described by one’s colleagues (see Figure A2 for
detailed calculation).
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Linking
Network
Learning
Capacity
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