Abstract:

Schools are "open systems" sensitive to their external environment, including social, political and economic conditions. The School as Learning Organization (SLO, Kools&Stoll, 2016), should be proactive in a continuous analysis of the environment to monitor and respond to external challenges and opportunities. Following this approach, the school is not focused only on the relationship between teachers and student, that remains central, but emphasizes also the concept of learning community, where teachers, students, parents and community members cooperate in order to increase learning opportunities and the well-being of students. Parents are key partners for schools as learning organisations. Without cooperation between families and schools, it is more difficult for all students to achieve positive results. The school as learning organization shares information with parents and considers parents as strategic partners in the educational process and the improvement of the whole organization. In addition, it builds and retains the professional capital it needs through the creation of partnerships and networks of students, teachers, parents and members of local communities. The relationship between school and parents, between school and its stakeholders is a central issue, around which an increasing number of schoolteachers, parents and legislators are reflecting and debating. Changing the role of parents and other community members from spectators and observers into active members conveys the message to the whole community that what students learn and what they have learned is not an issue that only affects ‘the school’, but it is a real priority for the whole surrounding social context. Hence, for a school as learning organisation it is important to find appropriate strategies to share with stakeholders school mission and vision and to involve them for school improvement and innovation. That implies to define a communication plan considering how to reach the different stakeholder using different media and channels. This contribution aims to present the results of a questionnaire, administered in a community of practices composed of teachers and head teachers during a training course, in order to reflect in particular on the use of social networks by educational institutions for the involvement of their stakeholders.

Keywords:

Learning organization, social network, stakeholder engagement, accountability, relationships with the territory.