Leading Schools towards Ecosystems for Learning and Flourishing

Introduction

The global education landscape has been profoundly shaken by the COVID-19 pandemic, putting tremendous stress on school communities. This crisis has amplified student mental health concerns, exacerbated learning disparities, and widened social inequalities. Notably, schools that have effectively weathered this storm are those that extend their focus beyond mere instruction. They are actively nurturing school cultures that revolve around the holistic learning and flourishing of all community members.

Moving away from the narrow emphasis on students' academic achievements towards a broader perspective that considers the entire community as an ecosystem for learning and flourishing has become an imperative in our time. Within this context, a critical need emerges that spans countries and educational systems – the need for robust research, tools, frameworks, and processes that can empower school and district leaders to understand and monitor such school ecosystems, with a profound impact on learning and flourishing.

This special issue welcomes empirical papers designed to enrich the global discourse on school leadership within the context of learning and flourishing ecosystems in education. These contributions aim to provide fresh evidence in the field, equipping leaders from diverse contexts with the tools, processes, and frameworks they need to illuminate pathways towards deeper and more extensive learning and flourishing for students and teachers in various settings.

List of topic areas

• Collaborative Partnerships: Delve into tools that empower school leaders to foster cultures of collaboration and innovation within their school communities.
• Leadership Practices and Strategies: Analyze the leadership practices and strategies used by schools worldwide to promote the development of learning ecosystems.
• Systemic Student-Centered Approaches: Explore leadership approaches that adopt a systemic perspective, emphasizing the relationships between community members.
• Technology Integration: Investigate the role of technology in the development of learning ecosystems.
• Systemic Impact and Sustainability: Examine the systemic impact and sustainability of the learning ecosystems developed by schools and school districts.

Submissions Information

Submissions are made using ScholarOne Manuscripts. Registration and access are available here.

Author guidelines must be strictly followed.

Authors should select (from the drop-down menu) the special issue title at the appropriate step in the submission process, i.e. in response to "Please select the issue you are submitting to".

Submitted articles must not have been previously published, nor should they be under consideration for publication anywhere else, while under review for this journal.

Click here to submit!

Key deadlines

Opening date for manuscripts submissions: 30th January, 2024

Closing date for manuscripts submission: 13th May, 2024

Email for submissions: Jordi Díaz Gibson