Internal leadership challenges of network participation

While networking is becoming an increasingly popular school improvement strategy with high levels of success, there is little research that shows the challenges school leaders face as they enter into these new relationships. This article supplements current literature by providing documentation and analysis of some internal leadership challenges - those between school leaders and their staffs and school communities - that emerged for administrators participating in a voluntary network in the UK. Our research showed that head teachers faced three types of challenges in these networks: contextual considerations for network involvement, building internal commitment and capacity for network participation, and balancing network activities with other school reform efforts. In spite of these challenges, our research suggests that networking can be learned and that the presence of a support system for network leaders may enhance the effectiveness and quality of participation for both individual schools and the network-at-large.