Date of Award

2018

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

School of Education

Abstract

Innovation has taken place in education as a necessity to respond to a rapidly

changing world. In their commitment to contribute to the creative and healing mission of the

Society of Jesus, the Jesuit School Network of Catalonia created HORIZON 2020 to

envision a new school to effectively educate in the 21st Century and adapt the Ignatian

tradition to the present day.

Understanding the case and extracting the main lessons from it were best

accomplished by using a qualitative research approach. Particularly, this study used

descriptive single-case design with embedded units. The project Horizon 2020 of the

Jesuit Education Foundation was the bounded case chosen by its exemplarity in Jesuit

education. Data was extracted from four different sources -interviews (individual and

focus groups), arcHIVal records, direct observations and documents- and was analyzed in

a narrative, interpretive and meaning making level.

Four themes emerged from the analysis as important pieces of the transformation:

communication, culture of care (cura personalis), decision-making, and participation. Each

theme is described from different perspectives and forces that drove the change and

mobilized people to promote or oppose it. The power dynamics that coexisted within the

organization were an important finding that explained the tensions within the emerging

themes.

This empirical research analyzes how adaptive leadership takes place in school

settings through multifaceted lenses enriched by theories of innovation, design thinking in

education and the characteristics of Jesuit Education. Its results can be used by those

interested in leadership and educational transformation. This study offers insights for

practitioners in school administration and advances the systematic knowledge in

leadership.

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