What Factors Lead to School Improvement in Challenging Contexts? Contributions from a Case Study

In recent times, the study and analysis of schools located in socioeconomically challenging contexts have gained special attention. Improving schools in disadvantaged areas is today one of the most important issues on the agenda of researchers and policymakers, both nationally and internationally (Clarke & O'Donoghue, 2016; Harris & Chapman, 2002a, 2002b; Lupton, 2005; Maden, 2001; Muijs, 2003; Torres, Moncusí and Osvaldo, 2015; Olmo et al., 2021). Research developed by Maden (2001) in the United Kingdom provided descriptions of good practices in schools with high vulnerability scenarios. With a similar research objective, Harris & Champan (2002a, 2002b) also highlighted the importance of distributed leadership in these contexts. Later, Lupton (2005) investigated the characteristics of these schools and established several characteristic elements. Among them, she highlighted the existence of continuous unpredictability together with the presence of low expectations. In addition, the author revealed that schools in difficult contexts have more problems taking on the same educational challenges than those in more favourable circumstances. On their side, Torres, Moncusí & Osvaldo (2015) showed that living in an unfavourable environment has a direct influence on the lives of the school population. Clarke & O'Donoghue (2016) also delved into the study of vulnerable schools located in the most challenging neighbourhoods. Although the evidence from research on this subject shows that schools located in vulnerable contexts are characterized by being unstable and having students with low performance, low self-esteem and expectations (Lupton, 2005), there are also studies that reveal the ability of some schools to overcome and cope with adversity (Marujo et al., 2003; Olmo et al., 2021). The works located within this second approach focus their attention on schools that have led to a transformation towards school improvement. Some of the key issues that have motivated this research field are as follows: how has the change been possible? what/who has brought it about? what does this school improvement materialise? how do they work in these schools? what kind of leadership is needed? How do they overcome adversities? (Day y Gu, 2015; Muijs, 2003; Hargreaves; 2007; Stoll, 2009). The present study is part of this line of research, which has been developed within the framework of two larger Spanish research projects. The purpose of this study is to know, understand and analyse the factors that have allowed a school, located in Spain, to transform its circumstances in order to achieve educational quality and equity.This work is part of the project with reference number PID2020-117020GB-100, funded by the Agencia Estatal de Investigacion (AEI/10.13039/501100011033of) the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, and project P20_00311, funded by the Plan PAIDI of the Junta de Andalucía