Modern governance challenges in education

United in Diversity: A Complexity Perspective on the Role of Attainment Targets in Quality Assurance in Flanders

“…In education, just as in any complex system, these platforms need to gather a wide variety of stakeholders from all levels of the system -not only institutionalised partners, but also informal groups and new players like social entrepreneurs. Linear and formalised forms of dialogue, representation and communication can no longer be taken for granted (Burns and Köster, 2016).…”

“…"There can be -indeed there should beroom for a variety of strategies to achieve the goals, but there cannot be substantial dissent on the main purposes themselves" (Levin and Fullan, 2008: 294; see also Levin, 2012). Those key strategies pertain not only to the aims but also to the processes used to reach these aims (Burns and Köster, 2016). Common understanding of both the aims and the processes is vital for sustainable change.…”

“…This implies that different components are closely attuned to each other, and that possible tensions between potentially conflicting forces, for instance, between accountability and trust, are balanced or even mutually reinforcing. Furthermore, a whole-of-system approach involves aligning roles and responsibilities as well as activities across the system, improving effectiveness and efficiency (Burns and Köster, 2016). In this case study, a lack of a systemic vision has created challenges in the alignment and implementation of the attainment targets.…”

“…Capacity building is about providing different actors with effective and efficient ways to access and use knowledge in order to achieve desired outcomes. It includes not only access to information, but also the ownership and willingness to use it, as well as the ability and tools required to make a change efficiently and to build new reflexes and routines for sustaining the initiated change (Burns and Köster, 2016).…”

“…Particularly in environments where linear and hierarchical direction is not applicable, a shared understanding facilitates higher levels of legitimacy, ownership of policy goals and initiatives, smoother implementation and identification of capacity building needs. Common understanding should not be confused with uniformity and consensus per se, but for a whole system to move forward, actors should agree on key principles on where to go and how to get there (Burns and Köster, 2016). Developing a shared understanding through a participatory process may create synergies through collaboration in practice, and may even end up articulating consensus, even if this did not exist at the beginning of the process (Levin and Fullan, 2008).…”