ESERA Konference 2023: Facilitating networked science education leadership to promote an open and sustainable school culture

Science education has over the past years gained a growing focus and plays an important role in school development especially regarding education for sustainability. This paper asks how educational leadership can facilitate a sustainable, collaborative school culture at different levels of the educational system. We build on the Danish national centre of NAFA as well as a new case study from 2022 of a science program in the lower secondary education in a Danish public school, which indicate that aspects such as trust and equity are important for the perception of the facilitation of collaboration. We argue that science education leadership is equally complex and important in facilitating meaningful collaboration, to create student-centered learning. With this paper we seek to add to the research field of science education leadership by offering perspectives on what sustainable leadership could look like going forward to strengthen school collaboration and students’ learning.