School Networks in Europe: a Network Analysis of the Comenius Multilateral Partnerships under the Lifelong Learning Programme

This paper is part of a wider study on the impact of European Education policies as implemented in the Lifelong Learning Programme (LLP) by Comenius multilateral school partnerships. It is based on a collection of data from the European Shared Treasure (EST) and is supplemented by material from various National Agencies (NAs) and relevant Eurydice reports. The data was processed in accordance with the Social Network Analysis (SNA) theory. The use of SNA gave a new perspective and richer understanding of partnership structures. The main objective of the analysis was to understand how schools from different countries connected to each other and the relations and patterns they formed. The main results of the analysis showed that the Comenius partnerships helped the participants establish strong ties among them. Secondly, the analysis revealed the central role schools from countries like Italy and Germany seemed to play in partnerships, and that often partnerships demonstrated a fixed mix of countries.