https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6910-3372
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Abstract
This paper analyses the impact of a recent large-scale Catholic school amalgamation. It explores how a change process that brought two existing schools together impacted staff, student and parent stakeholders within the initial year of a school amalgamation. The objective is to analyse the process to understand the impact and inform the leading and planning of future school amalgamations and associated processes, which have increased in recent years. The study was a single case study utilising survey data collected during the amalgamation. Participant perspectives are the primary means of data analysis, supplemented where relevant with documents relating to the planning and implementation of the amalgamation. Emerging themes are analysed to provide insight into the challenges and opportunities of current and future school amalgamations. This paper provides evidence of the school community's goodwill and commitment to a merged entity and highlights the complexities of a school amalgamation.
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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Stephen Gough
Stephen Gough is the Headmaster at Edmond Rice College, Wollongong. He has over 30 years of teaching and leadership experience, 20 of which have been in senior leadership roles. His research focuses on Catholic school leadership and improving student learning experience.
Sean P. Kearney
Sean P. Kearney is a professor of education at the University of Notre Dame, Australia, where he lectures on learning sciences and general pedagogy. His research spans school leadership, international immersion programmes, and assessment reform in higher education. He is past president and current vice president of the NSW Institute for Educational Research and co-founder of the Dayamani Foundation, which built and runs a residential school for at-risk children in Tenali, India.