Understanding (in)formal learning in an academic development programme: A social network perspective

Most professional development programmes provide teachers with formal and informal social networks, but limited empirical evidence is available to describe to what extent teachers build internal (within their programme) and external (with colleagues not involved in the programme) social learning relations. We triangulated Social Network Analysis with qualitative free exercise responses. Participants developed on average 4.00 internal and 3.63 external relations, and discussed teaching 128 times per year with externals. MRQAP modelling indicates group division, department, and friendships predicted learning ties. These findings indicate that research on impact of teacher education should widen its focus beyond the formal programme boundaries.