The Nature and Conditions of Collaboration in School Development during Stable and Unstable States Viewed Through the Lens of Complex Adaptive Systems

Complexity theory describes systems that evolves and adapt to their environment as a complex adaptive system (CAS). By relying on the complexity theory framework, this study examined teachers' experiences of the nature and conditions of collaboration in a stable (before COVID-19) and unstable (during COVID-19) state in five primary schools in Finland. The aim of the study was to examine how teachers describe their 1. collaborative professional activities, 2. innovation climate and 3. resources in both stable and unstable states, and whether and how these components changed during COVID-19 enforced distance education. The data consisted of teachers’ open-ended self-report questionnaires collected in autumn 2019 (n = 61) and teacher interviews conducted in May 2020 (n = 10) from five schools. The data was qualitatively content analyzed. The results indicate that changes emerged in relation to 1. Teachers’ collaborative professional activities, including teamwork, leadership, competence development, and external networks, 2. Schools’ innovation climate and 3. Resources when comparing the conventional classroom education in fall 2019 and COVID induced distance education period in May 2020. Distance education became a cross-cutting innovation object for all school actors and stakeholders, appearing as a coercive external change driver with teachers developing their operations and competences accordingly. Sharing of knowledge increased, and teachers relied on colleagues’ support recognizing its importance more than before. Rapid change accompanied with novel technology use caused negative changes such as increased workload. By learning from the nature and conditions of collaboration in stable and unstable states and by acknowledging both enhancing and hindering factors and practices for object-oriented school development, they can be utilized to support systemic school transformations, which are by nature complex and hard-to-control.