Co-Creating Link Language: Overcoming Epistemic Differences Between Academics and Principals for Rethinking Inquiry-Based School Improvement

• In Event: 66.086 - MTCC Roundtable Session 29
  In Roundtable Session: 66.086-10 - Meeting School-Based and Local Needs and Requirements for School Improvement

Abstract

In a design-based implementation research project, principals and academics in Dutch primary education collaborated to address the following research question: what are the design principles for cocreation between academics and principals of a toolkit for 21st-century leadership. The iterative, emergent design allowed several critical incidents in the collaboration during the project to become insightful learning events, in turn gearing all parties towards cocreation. The research purpose was to gain insights in the process of engaging in a relational epistemology. Results are presented in terms of the toolkit, including meaningful boundary crossing and the creation of new ‘link language’ between academics and principals. Moreover, the ‘experience-based decision change’ resulting from the project is discussed as an alternative to ‘evidence-based decision making’.

Authors

• Floor Basten, Open University of the Netherlands

• Femke Geijsel, Radboud University

• Marjan Vermeulen, The Open University of the Netherlands

• Arnoud Evers, Open University of the Netherlands