Unpacking the dynamics of collegial networks in relation to beginning teachers’ job attitudes

Abstract

Previous research has pointed at the pivotal role of professional collegial support relationships to keep beginning teachers in the profession. In this study, we build on previous research by using follow-up mixed-method social network data to explore (1) to what extent, in what ways and for which reasons beginning teachers' work-related network (position) changes throughout a school year, and (2) how the network (position) of beginning teachers influences their job attitudes, as important precursors of teacher retention. Five follow-up case-studies of beginning teachers and their school teams were explored. The network data showed that some teachers had a central and stable position in their team, while others were more peripheral and showed considerable changes in their work-related relations. The interviews with the beginning teachers revealed several reasons for the formation, loss and retention of their work-related ties, such as physical proximity, network intentionality and the presence of a staffroom. Finally, the results indicated that the professional support in these work-related ties can play an important role in beginning teachers' job attitudes, or can act as a mitigating factor in case of experienced challenges. In this respect, the structural and cultural conditions needed for teachers to professionally connect require our attention

Complex Transitions of Early Career Academics (ECA): A Mixed Method Study of With Whom ECA Develop and Maintain New Networks

“…A range of studies have highlighted the importance of social network formation for learning for ECAs (Pataraia et al, 2014;Rehm et al, 2014;Thomas et al, 2020a). For example, Pataraia et al (2014) investigated the informal networks of teaching academics using a SNA approach.…”

“…Pataraia et al (2014) found that the personal networks were strongly localized to the academics' departments and disciplines, and were dependent on whether the majority of the members knew each other well. Similarly, in a schooling context a range of studies have found that with whom an earlycareer teacher networks is essential for successful transition (Thomas et al, 2019(Thomas et al, , 2020a. For example, in a year-long study of 10 beginning teachers in Belgium (Thomas et al, 2020b) combining four SNA measurements with in-depths interviews with both beginning teachers and their colleagues indicated that many early-career teachers went through diverse complex transitions.…”

“…A substantial body of research has highlighted that the social network around an individual employee influences his/her attitudes (Van Den Bossche and Segers, 2013; Rienties and Hosein, 2015;Thomas et al, 2020a), motivation , behavior (Jippes et al, 2013;Pataraia et al, 2013) and action (Thomas et al, 2020b). A social network consists of set of nodes (i.e., participants in a PD program) and the relations (or ties) between these nodes (Wassermann and Faust, 1994).…”

“…An emerging body of research has indicated that SNA can provide transition researchers several analytical tools to make these (in)formal relations amongst participants and people outside the learning context "visible" (Jindal-Snape, 2016; Jindal-Snape and Rienties, 2016;Froehlich et al, 2020). A consistent finding of research using SNA is that formal and informal social network relations strongly influence with whom people learn (Thomas et al, 2019(Thomas et al, , 2020bFroehlich et al, 2020), develop coping strategies (Daly and Finnigan, 2010;Moolenaar et al, 2012), establish new friendship relations (Rienties and Kinchin, 2014), and build (in)formal communities to effectively learn together (Froehlich et al, 2020;Thomas et al, 2020a). At the same time, people (sub)consciously develop strategic network relations with a range of people in order to maximize their network potential (Coleman, 1988;Burt, 1992;Lin, 2001;Roxå et al, 2011).…”

“…While our first (explorative) studies (Rienties and Kinchin, 2014;Rienties and Hosein, 2015) have found that ECAs indeed maintained a range of internal and external social relations, using a larger sample of 114 participants in this follow-up large-scale study we are particularly interested in the characteristics of these "external connectors, " and how these external connectors might facilitate or hamper transition processes of ECAs. In particular, given recent findings that hierarchy and seniority of connectors might influence network formations (Edmondson, 2002;Rehm et al, 2014;Thomas et al, 2020a), we specifically focussed on the frequency of contact, the hierarchical position, and type of job role of these external connectors. Therefore, the following research questions were formulated:…”