Collegiality among headteachers in the formation and sustainability of inter-organisational school networks

This study examines the role of headteachers in building and sustaining inter-organisational school networks. It draws on concepts from neo-structural sociology to distinguish between bureaucratic and collegial organisational types. Drawing on the concept of collegial inter-organisational networks, it discusses evidence on school networks that can be considered informal and heavily reliant on individuals, in contrast to those supported by institutional and formal frameworks. Quantitative and qualitative data on inter-organisational networks were collected from headteachers at 16 primary schools in Santiago, Chile. The evidence highlights how kinship, career paths, history, and existing formal structures for school networking are essential in explaining the existence, diversity, and relevance of those inter-organisational relationships that occur independently of formal, policy-informed, and institutional arrangements. The main contribution of this study is to provide empirical ground for considering novel organisational theory to study aspects of school networking that are far less acknowledged by the current literature.