"Networks in Education" serves as an introduction and textbook, providing a comprehensive overview of the methods and findings of social science network analyses related to educational institutions and processes. Additionally, it presents approaches and success criteria for designing network projects that are currently important and widespread in the German education system. In engaging with the partly competing and conceptually contradictory approaches, the authors of this introduction aim for a more nuanced use of the concept of networks in both public and academic discourse on school reform.