A Social Network Perspective on Knowledge Brokerage in Education: An International Comparison

• In Event: Educational Leaders Maximizing the Social Capital Benefits of Networks: Thoughts From an International Symposium

Abstract

Objectives: Empirical research consistently finds that social relations are fundamental to evidence-informed education policy and practice. Across national contexts, the social spaces of education systems can mediate the implementation of policy initiatives (Coburn & Russell, 2008); strengthen flows of knowledge and resources between research, practice, and policy contexts (Jesacher-Roessler, 2021); influence educators’ beliefs about their ability to advance evidence-informed efforts at improvement (Anderson et al., 2019); promote educators’ use of and expertise with research-informed practices (Finnigan et al., 2013); and most importantly, improve student learning (Siciliano, 2015). We and others argue that knowledge brokerage is key to unlocking potential in social relations (Farley-Ripple et al., 2017). However, studies of knowledge brokerage as a mechanism for strengthening research-practice-policy connections have presented limited analyses of the relational infrastructure of social systems. In response, we examine the following questions:

1. How do the relational dimensions of knowledge brokerage take shape in different education systems?
2. What are the implications for knowledge brokerage research and practice?

Methods/Data: We build upon past research that frames knowledge brokerage as relationally embedded and context-dependent using the concepts of network activity and network utility. While the former addresses direct and indirect social connections that mobilize research, the latter addresses multiple types of relations characterizing a social system. To illustrate the application of our novel conceptual framework, we contrast a cross-sectional study of research-informed practices mobilized among three schools in England with a longitudinal study of a two-district network in Southern California that aimed to improve mathematics achievement through research and practitioner knowledge. Across our two cases, we examined a variety of social relations that collectively made up each school-based social network. We used social network analysis to explore the relational data, including the network measures in our conceptual framework for each relation (i.e., degree centrality, betweenness centrality, and participant involvement in multiplex ties) and tie multiplexity.

Results: Findings from each case sustain earlier research that knowledge brokerage promotes evidence-informed policy and practice—as Cairney et al. (2023) argue, through “relational skills to oil the wheels of evidence implementation” (p. 3). At the same time, it is not enough to assume that knowledge brokerage can occur effectively in the absence of supportive systems. For the England case, different levels of EIPP among the three schools were not likely attributable to relational infrastructure and knowledge brokerage efforts alone. Varying levels of supportive, distributed leadership were also critical to enabling knowledge brokerage to function effectively. Similarly, in the California case, the initiative to promote student achievement in mathematics was not merely based on bringing people together without attention to the social and historical factors at play in the two school districts. The reality is that knowledge brokerage is not a static mechanism that can be applied without close attention to contextual factors. School social networks are inherently dynamic entities, meaning approaches to knowledge brokerage (e.g., who are considered key knowledge brokers and what knowledge brokering activities may be warranted) must be viewed as similarly dynamic and allowed to evolve over time.

Authors

• Stephen W. MacGregor, University of Calgary

• Joelle Rodway, Ontario Tech University

• Chris Brown, University of Southampton

• Alan J. Daly, University of California - San Diego