Collaboration in Education

What is Collaboration?

The term collaboration crops up extensively throughout educational articles in many forms: among teachers, between administrators, and between students. Beyond individual interactions, the term collaboration is also employed to describe inter-agency relationships useful in promoting educational change. For example, one California Collaborative, the California Office to Reform Education, unites ten districts with the aim to: “work together to innovate, implement, and scale new strategies and tools that help our students succeed, so that our districts are improved to meet the challenges of the 21st century.” Clearly, collaboration is a growing concept in both education research and practice, statewide, nationally, and internationally.

This popularity is perhaps intuitive, as the concept of collaboration is appealing: working jointly towards a shared goal. However, bringing about collaboration in the educational field is frequently complex. Collaborative groups and networks can take almost any form and versatilely adapt to address novel issues. It is this strength that also creates a difficulty in defining, categorizing, evaluating, and instigating instances of collaboration. 

In light of this difficulty, this research brief attempts to shed light on some of the intangible, yet practical aspects of collaboration. 

Why is collaboration important?

Most literature on educational collaborations conclude that they are a positive force for change and progress. For example, a Dutch study found that more connectedness among teachers was positively related to an innovative school climate (Moolenaar, Sleegers, & Daly, 2011). Further, research on comprehensive school reform implicates collaboration as a key agent of successful school improvement (Waldron & McLeskey, 2010). Collaboration definitely has an impact in many school outcomes. 

However, collaboration and collaborative networks are not educational panaceas. Many experienced educational practitioners and leaders may be wary of simply supporting the most recent buzzword in the field. This concern is not unfounded. For example, Sousa & Doroftei (2013) note that research on ‘collaboration’ covers many broad issues, including the purpose, method, participants, and focus of collaboration. This broad range can obscure practical concerns regarding collaboration; even just considering how collaboration takes place within educational agencies implicates issues of equity, power, trust respect, logistic resources, and leadership.

Given the promising impact of collaboration and ubiquity of the concept, it is surprising that practical applications remain uncharted territory. From this vantage point, the research summarized subsequently provides an outline to guide exploration of collaboration among educational leaders and practitioners. 

Working Effectively through Inter-Institutional Collaboration

In the classic text Interactions: Collaboration Skills for School Professionals, authors Friend and Cook (1992) outline six essential characteristics of successful collaboration:

1. Collaboration is voluntary.
2. Collaboration requires parity among participants.
3. Collaboration is based on mutual goals.
4. Collaboration depends on shared responsibility for participation and decision making.
5. Individuals who collaborate share their resources.
6. Individuals who collaborate share accountability for outcomes.

These key characteristics mirror more recent discussion within the educational literature surrounding successful collaboration. For example, echoing the first two characteristics outlined above, Moore and Kelly’s (2009) research in two UK network initiatives led them to highlight power dynamics as essential for collaborative network success. Including authority relationship — power over a network; internal politics — power within the network; and legitimacy — power beyond the network.

Definitely, issues of parity and power illustrate that a climate of trust is essential for building strong collaborations with good relationships among partners (Atkinson, Springate, Johnson, & Halsey, 2007). But power dynamics can also be linked to organizational features of collaborative networks. For example, one literature review of multiple studies concluded that leadership should be located within the collaboration — as opposed to a top-down hierarchy — evenly distributing power (Atkinson, Springate, Johnson, & Halsey, 2007).

Current research looking at collaboration in action in the educational arena is not definitive but it does suggest that collaboration could be a powerful tool. We know that collaboration can spread effective practices and instigate practitioner-informed, innovative practices, however the same mechanism could potentially spread weak practices, as well (Moore & Rutherford, 2011). Thus, those working in education should be prudent in building suitable collaborative networks. If educators are fostering collaboration, and wish to incorporate research findings into practice a list of “to do” bullet points are inappropriate. Instead, it might be beneficial to consider the following questions:

• What is the shared goal and aim of this collaboration?
• What are the barriers to participating in a collaborative network?
• What shared resources and responsibilities are activated by collaboration, and how will they be sustained?
• What evaluation mechanisms will support continued improvement?