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Chapter 45
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-5225-6155-2.ch045
ABSTRACT
This case history refects on a long-term change and development project in the Netherlands, undertaken
in communities of practice (CoP) of 20-36 professional development schools for primary education.
The initiators were 10 boards of groups of elementary schools and the University for Teacher Education
for primary education. The project leader was Dr. Paul Hennissen, and Dr. Corry Ehlen of CoCreata
Consulting and Research was invited as external consultant. For 8 years, several methods of in-service
quality improvement were used to strengthen the self-management ability of teachers, teams, and head
teachers. The case history especially demonstrates the application of “Co-Creation-Wheel” as a guid-
ing tool in an innovation team. This instrument stimulates the individual CoP members and the CoP as
a group to co-creative innovation. The digital tool of “Co-Creation-Wheel” proves to be suitable for a
bigger number of participants. Complexities of the project and success factors are shown.
INTRODUCTION
The project ‘CoPs in PLCs’ (Communities of Practice in Professional Learning Communities) was
started in Limburg, the Netherlands, in 2010. The initiators were cooperating partners, consisting of 10
Executive Boards of groups of primary schools, 36 in total, and the Primary Teacher Training College
‘De Nieuwste Pabo’. It was a public-public cooperation, partly funded by the National Government, in
which, from 2015, CoCreata Consultancy and Research was a private partner.
The “Co-Creation-Wheel”:
A Guiding Instrument for Sustainable
Change – A Case History of “Communities
of Practice” in Dutch Elementary Schools
Corry Ehlen
CoCreata Consultancy, The Netherlands & Zuyd University of Applied Sciences, The Netherlands
Paul Hennissen
Fontys University of Applied Sciences, The Netherlands