Innovation and Change in Jesuit Education: Horizon 2020, a Case Study in the Jesuit School Network in Catalonia, Spain

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