Forging Success from Adversity: A Chilean Case Study of One School Achieving Against
the Odds1
Simon Clarke, Sergio Galdames, Dr. Luis Ahumada
Abstract
This paper reports a single case study of a Chilean K-8 school that is achieving extraordinary
success in spite of its adverse circumstances.The case study employs narrative accounts to
portray the challenges school leaders face as they perform their work, the nature of the context
within which these challenges arise and the strategies school leaders adopt to deal with the
complexities of their work as well as the reasons behind these strategies.These narratives are
organised around three key themes that have been instrumental to the success of the schooland
may be enlightening for other schools, especially for those located in Chile, that are facing
comparable challenging circumstances.
Objectives or Purposes
Given the prominence of schools facing challenging circumstances in Chile, this paper reports a
case study of a disadvantaged K-8 school highlightingthe challenges school leaders face as they
perform their work, the nature of the context within which these challenges arise and the
strategies school leaders adopt to deal with the complexities of their work and the reasons behind
these strategies. The case study school was selected purposively on the basis of its distinctive
context and the approaches to school improvement being adopted by the principal. Although the
school is located in an exceptionally high poverty urban neighbourhoodit is also, according to
national assessment students’ testing data, one of the highest performers. Students’ results in
standardised tests have strengthened steadily over the last five years, which may be explained by
the ways in which school improvement has been initiated, implemented and sustained in keeping
with contextual circumstances. The main purpose of this paper, therefore, is to portray how
leadership in one extremely disadvantaged school enables it be successful against the odds.
Perspective(s) or Theoretical Framework
This paper reiterates Gronn and Ribbins’ (1996) persuasive argument that leadership can only be
understood within the context in which it is exercised. It is context that constrains leadership and
gives it its meaning, and is therefore the vehicle through which the agency of particular leaders
may be empirically understood.Accordingly, the paper’s focus is on leadership in schools facing
challenging circumstances. These schools are purported to ‘encounter a multiplicity of economic,
emotional and social challenges’ (Harris & Thomson, 2006, no page no) that, in certain
1
This project was funded by a grant from the Chilean National Fund for Scientific and
Technological Development and by the Centre for Advanced Research in Education.
combinations, can result in constant crisis. They also require different kinds of leadership from
those applying to schools operating in less complicated and relatively stable situations.
Methods, Techniques or Modes of Inquiry
Our research approaches based on interviewing principals in their workplace. In doing so, we
accommodate Harris’ advice that ‘one role of the educational researcher is to provide the
opportunity for those in schools, absorbed and, at times, weighed down by day-to-day practice,
to express their values, impressions, fears, passions and in this way allow their latent
understandings to become manifest’. Harris applies the intriguing metaphor of the ‘naked
participant’ to portray the self revelation that is integral to the process. Using the interview data
gatheredin this way we construct short narrative accounts of problems, issues and challenges
principals encounter and how these are handled as well as reflections on their experiences.We
believe that the narrative account offers an effective means of depicting the complexity of
principals’ work characterised as it is by dealing withdilemmas, interacting with colleagues and
the community, and coping with a diversity of professional responsibilities. In the study reported
here narrative accounts were constructed collaboratively by two researchers, both of whom had
taken notes. These accounts were crafted around emerging themes, using as much as possible of
the verbatim talk from the interview material. The audio recordings were replayed to check
accuracy of data and then the written accounts were given to the participants for verification. In
these ways, the researchers sought trustworthiness in matching the constructed realities of the
participants with the reconstructions attributed to them.
Data Sources or Evidence
The data collection process for the case study was three-fold. First, three semi-structured, indepth interviews were conducted with the principal at the school. We also conducted an in-depth
interview with the vice-principal so that we were not relying exclusively on the principal’s
interpretation of her role andher self-construction as a leader. Secondly, data collection
comprised two focus group discussionsfacilitated with students and parents respectively. These
discussions were focused on the nature of the challenges experienced by the school community,
and also on the strategies implemented to tackle them, with a particular emphasis on the role of
the principal. Thirdly, numerous site visits sensitised researchers to the contextual circumstances
influencing school leaders’ work.
Results and/or Conclusions/Points of View
The three narrative accounts included in the paper portray the context of the school, the
challenges encountered and the strategies implemented to deal with those challenges. These
accounts have been organized according to three conspicuous themes that appear to have been
instrumental in enabling the school to excel in the face of adversity, namely,the importance of
nurturing high expectations among students and staff, the importance of enhancing teachers’
morale and the importance of setting and sharing a common vision for a preferred future.
Educational Importance of This Study for Theory, Practice, and/or Policy
The stratified school system in Chile has tended to result in affluent students migrating in large
numbers to subsidized fee-based private schools, while lower-income students remain confined
to municipal public schools(Hsieh & Urquiola, 2006).With the introduction of the Preferential
School Subsidy, schools may be eligible to receive additional funding based on their numbers of
‘vulnerable’ students, thus amplifying the need for leaders to engage transparently with school
improvement and performance goals.As such, this paper and the broader research agenda in
which it is located presents insights that may sharpen understandings of how disadvantaged
schools in Chile can ‘punch above their weight’. The paper might also help toshift the discourse
on ‘transformational’ approaches to leadership in schools facing challenging circumstances from
apredominantly normative level to one that is more descriptive.
Connection to the Themes of the Congress
This presentation is aligned explicitly with sub-theme 1, ‘School Effectiveness, School
Improvement and School Transformation - What do they Mean in Different Contexts and
Different Paradigms?’More specifically, it has relevance to ‘School leadership for Effective
Teaching and Learning in Different Socio-Cultural Contexts’. Most importantly, however, the
concern of the paper is integral to ICSEI’s overall aim of pursuing educational quality and
equity, as well as reinforcing the need for ICSEI to extend its deliberations to the enterprise of
human beings in all circumstances, in all countries and in all conditions.
Gronn, P. and Ribbins, P. (1996).Leaders in context: Post positivist approaches to understanding
school leadership. Educational Administration Quarterly.32(3), pp. 452-473.
Harris, A. and Thomson, P. (2006).Leading school in poor communities: What do we know and
how do we know it? Paper presented at the International Congress of School Effectiveness and
Improvement, Fort Lauderdale, 3-6 January 2006.
Harris, C. (2003). The Naked Participant; Balancing Personal Perspectives with the Concept of
“verstehen” in Interpretive Inquiry, In R. B. Macmillan (ed.). Questioning Leadership.The
Greenfield Legacy. (pp.117-143). Winnipeg: The Althouse Press.
Hsieh, C.-T., &Urquiola, M. (2006). The effects of generalized school choice on achievement
and stratification: Evidence from Chile’s voucher program. Journal of Public Economics 90,
1477-1503.