Head teacher professional networks in Italy: preliminary results of a national survey

In this article, we present the preliminary results of a national survey conducted by INDIRE on head teachers communities and professional networks. About one-fourth of the total population of Italian public school leaders participated in the survey. One of the main intents of this research is to contribute to understanding of the phenomenon of professional networks frequented by school leaders and to pave the way for a further reflection on how to use such networks for head teachers’ training so as to support their daily professional practice conducted too often in isolation. This contribution is synergetic with what was envisaged by the new Italian school reform introduced with Law 107/2015 and, in particular, with the roles of the school leaders and the networks. This research is conducted within the INDIRE DsinRete research project.