What characterises well‐connected schools? Exploring centrality in inter‐organisational school networks

Abstract Within the educational literature, inter‐organisational school networks are commonly considered instruments for administration, management, and school improvement, but are rarely scrutinised as objects of study themselves. Conversely, in organisational studies, this perspective is given more prominence. Adopting this perspective can provide insights into the possibility that schools are engaging unevenly in inter‐organisational networks, with some schools comparatively better or worse connected than others. This article explores this assumption empirically in a context where recent evidence shows that schools build inter‐organisational relationships for multiple reasons, some of which are vital for their organisational sustainability and their students' educational opportunities. Our premise is that if what schools do is at least partially inter‐organisationally resolved, then their positions and those of the others they relate to are worthy of further exploration. Drawing on organisational theory, this article reports on a study that utilised a sequential mixed‐methods design to generate data with school networks in an urban area of Santiago, Chile. Utilising social network analysis, we develop and introduce a typology of three school types: symbiotically dependent, exemplary, and charismatic‐led schools to consider how centrality can be understood at various scales, driven by different motivations, and establish inter‐organisational relationships of diverse kinds. These insights not only contribute to the school networking scholarship but also illuminate broader issues that hold particular significance within the inter‐organisational space between schools.