TY - JOUR
T1 - Networks in education
T2 - an analysis of selected discourses
AU - Sousa, Sofia Branco
AU - Doroftei, Alexandra Oliveira
AU - Araújo, Helena Costa
N1 - Funding Information:
The project is funded by FCT—Fundac¸ão para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (The Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology) in the scope of the Operational Competitiveness Programme (COMPETE) of the Community Support Framework and reimbursed by FEDER (PTDC/CPE-CED/104460/2008). The research team is composed of 13 researchers from three research centres: the Centre for Research in Education and Intervention of the University of Porto (CIIE-FPCEUP), the Institute of Education of the University of Lisbon (IE-UL) and the Centre for Trans-Disciplinary Studies for Development of the University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro (CETRAD-UTAD).
PY - 2013/12
Y1 - 2013/12
N2 - 'Network' is a fashionable and current term in every field of contemporary society and education is no exception. In this paper, the concept of network (and other associated concepts, such as partnership and collaboration) is reviewed. Such revision regards selected theoretical contributions and is explored in terms of the use of the concepts in legal documents and in the discourses of aldermen and educational officers from Portuguese municipalities, offering a critical and multi-layered perspective. The analysis reveals the various layers of the network concept, often appearing vague and diffuse. It is a floating signifier disputed by different discourses and embodied by different meanings. This, in turn, brings major research problems linked to the use of the concept of network in education.
AB - 'Network' is a fashionable and current term in every field of contemporary society and education is no exception. In this paper, the concept of network (and other associated concepts, such as partnership and collaboration) is reviewed. Such revision regards selected theoretical contributions and is explored in terms of the use of the concepts in legal documents and in the discourses of aldermen and educational officers from Portuguese municipalities, offering a critical and multi-layered perspective. The analysis reveals the various layers of the network concept, often appearing vague and diffuse. It is a floating signifier disputed by different discourses and embodied by different meanings. This, in turn, brings major research problems linked to the use of the concept of network in education.
KW - Discourses
KW - Education
KW - Networks
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84902651419&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s10780-014-9214-6
DO - 10.1007/s10780-014-9214-6
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84902651419
SN - 0826-4805
VL - 44
SP - 311
EP - 331
JO - Interchange
JF - Interchange
IS - 3
ER -