Dialogkonferansen – arena for kollektiv utvikling i skolen

Abstract

The purpose of this chapter is to examine dialogue conference as a space for collective school improvement. The article employs the theory of action research in general and the methodology of dialogue conferences in particular as lenses to explore and discuss challenges in using dialogue conferences as tools for school improvement. Two examples from different action research studies using dialogue conference show different ways of doing the conferences with the aim of improving educational practices. Findings from these studies suggest that we need to find new ways to handle the representative problem in action research projects in networks. That is when we use groups from schools as participants in action research studies as opposed to full participation. Findings also show there might be challenges for schools to export ideas from the dialogue conference to the practice in classrooms. This problem relates to a possible distance between the discursive arena and educational practice. The article also concludes that we need to use different kinds of dialogue conferences, depending on what intentions and aims for school improvement we are looking for.