Networked improvement communities (NICs) support sustained educational improvement through collaborative learning and iterative problem-solving. This study examines how the TAMAM initiative, spanning schools across multiple Arab countries, has been sustained over time through a partnership between the university hub and its member schools. Using learning organization theory as a lens, we highlight the structures, practices and conditions that enable the initiative to adapt, evolve and maintain long-term sustainability.
Through a case study design, we examine the experiences of the TAMAM leadership team in designing, developing and sustaining a NIC through school partnerships in the Arab region.
Our findings reveal five themes that are instrumental in developing and sustaining a NIC partnership: (a) a laser-like focus on the improvement process; (b) shared leadership focused on common mission and goals; (c) human development, growth and empowerment; (d) leading and learning across varying contexts and (e) relational trust as the glue of the network.
TAMAM builds partnerships with schools to address the needs of practitioners and to support them in finding solutions to their problems. At the basis of this partnership is a collaborative iterative process of research-based design, where both K-12 educators and university researchers join efforts to design improvement interventions that are informed by research and grounded in the sociocultural context of the schools.
