A case study of collaboration and educational leadership inside a technical-professional high school in Chile: patterns, perceptions and contrasts among teachers and directors

Educational leadership and collaboration are highlighted as fundamental in the literature. However, research on this topic in vocational or technical-professional (TP) education is scarce. This case study examines a series of attributes of the actors in a Chilean school (role, gender, postgraduate possession, years in school), through a quantitative-descriptive analysis of the collaborative network, and the perceptions stated by these actors. The results indicate that, although most of them have not been in the institution for more than 5 years, the school shows a high cohesion and a prominent valuation among colleagues. In terms of leadership, the management team is mostly composed of men, and they are those with a postgraduate degree, being the most prominent actors in the collaborative network. Contrasting their perceptions on educational leadership, the vision of PT teachers is less optimistic about the current situation, although more optimistic about what can be achieved. This shows the relevance of probing the TP educational contexts, since the patterns of collaboration and distribution of leadership would be conditioned by the actions of its actors and their opinion about what is happening and future projections.