Hoofdstuk 2 uit Position paper Learning Communities van Netwerk learning Communities Grote maatschappelijke uitdagingen op het gebied van vergrijzing, duurzaamheid, digitalisering, segregatie en onderwijskwaliteit vragen om nieuwe manieren van werken, leren en innoveren. In toenemende mate wordt daarom ingezet op het bundelen van kennis en expertise van zowel publieke als private organisaties, die elkaar nodig hebben om te innoveren en complexe vraagstukken aan te pakken. Het concept ‘learning communities’ wordt gezien als dé oplossing om leren, werken en innoveren anders met elkaar te verbinden: collaboratief, co-creërend en contextrijk. Vanuit het Netwerk Learning Communities is een groep onafhankelijk onderzoekers van een groot aantal Nederlandse kennisinstellingen aan de slag gegaan met een kennissynthese rondom het concept ‘Learning Community’. Het Position paper is een eerste aanzet tot kennisbundeling. Een ‘levend document’ dat in de komende tijd verder aangevuld en verrijkt kan worden door onderzoekers, praktijkprofessionals en beleidsmakers.
There is a central dilemma embedded in the relationship between teachers and researchers. Teachers know the story of the classroom well, but they are seldom asked to tell their stories, nor do they usually have the opportunity. Researchers, on the other hand, are skilled at telling certain things about classrooms, but they often miss the central stories that are there. This divergence can lead to different opinions on what teaching is about and what is important within it. To bridge this gap, we describe an approach which puts the teacher and the student at the centre. With respect to emotional and behavioural problems of students, we underline the notion of student-teacher compatibility, deriving from theories emphasizing the transactional/reciprocal nature of human behaviour. One of the aims of the Lectorship and Knowledge Network Behavioural Problems in School Practice, is to identify at-risk-teachers (i.e. those most vulnerable to the presence of behaviourally challenging students and parents) so that interventions, both in initial teacher training as well as in inservice training can be applied to help them develop adequate attitudes and coping-skills. In clinical supervision, peer coaching or reflective practice, these teachers can be helped to consider in what way student and parental problem behaviour contribute to their loss of satisfaction, their feelings of self doubt, perceived disruption of the teaching process, and their frustration working with parents.
Debates about social theory and social policy are highly fragmented and unclear in subject and direction. A recognised paradigm is failing. Maybe we have to accept that social reality is not to reconstruct in social theory. But we certainly need social theorists and social theories to support citizens, policy makers and social workers in improving social reality. Social reality in post modern societies is to be characterized by problematic relationships among citizens and between citizens and the public sector and by a sharp rise in problematic behaviour. The affluent society has failed to create a more sensitive world where people behave more socially. The dominant social problem is no longer seen from a social economic perspective but from a social cultural one. Social competences and social capital are considerer to be essential assets to cope with life in post modern society. For people weak ties and thin trust are essential to integrate into society. Thick trust and strong ties can bind people to much and cause inflexibility. The current social problem is a matter of designing a social world where relationships and behaviour are fair and reasonable. It asks for an interesting and creative social policy and social work, not too much stressing the problematic issues but encouraging people to trust each other. Current social policy is too much focused on the needs and problems. It has to change into a more expressive social policy, a policy that people challenges to express them and to create new relationships. Social behaviour asks for flexibility and creativity, for being authentic and playing roles. Scientists, policymakers, social workers and citizens are in the same field and have access to the same knowledge.
