Collaborative Networking in Education: Learning Across International Contexts

Abstract

There is growing consensus on the need to prepare future generations in environments of collaboration and cooperation. This way of understanding education cross borders in the quest for networking. A wide range of theoretical bases supports networking, which underlines its potential in the educational arena. There are few comparative studies that explore the forms that networking takes in education at the international level. This article discusses a series of examples from various countries in order to add to the current knowledge about networking in education in different parts of the world. The examples selected were chosen after a review of the international specialist literature (prior to Covid-19). This was followed by a screening process of the documentary sources based on temporal and thematic criteria, notably including research published in the past decade with content directly related to collaborative networking in diverse educational contexts. Many initiatives have been carried out in a wide range of school settings over the last few years through a combination of top-down interventions, accountability measures and changes in governance arrangements. This article focuses on proposals from countries whose collaboration networks can boast long experiences, together with a synthesis of the main advances reported in the area.