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Research-practice partnerships (RPPs) are emerging as a promising approach for educational change by closing the gap between educational research and practice. However, these partnerships face several challenges, such as addressing cultural differences as well as relationship-building in a historically unbalanced relationship between researchers and practitioners. Scholars have argued that these cultural differences, also called boundaries, have learning potential if approached constructively, but that we need to know more about what characterizes them in an educational context. The aim of this study is to contribute to our understanding of frameworks for RPPs. By analysing 45 hours of video recordings from meetings in an RPP between four researchers and 300 practitioners, the study offers a characterization of seven different boundaries organized into three different boundary themes: a) prerequisites for collaboration, b) collaborative practices, and c) collaborative content. Moreover, the different boundaries affect the positioning of different actors in the RPP. For example, depending on the boundary expressed, teachers are positioned as either flawed implementers or co-inquirers. We argue that the boundaries and different participant positions within the RPPs they reinforce may affect their learning potentials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this Practitioner Perspective, we explore two boundary spanning field experiences provided to teacher candidates to center middle school student voice and lived experiences supported by a school-university partnership. Surveys and teacher candidate reflections provided perspectives on both experiences and how these connected to coursework. We describe how both experiences influenced teacher candidates, enhancing their understanding of young adolescents, and bridging the theory-practice gap. Lessons learned through these experiences and future recommendations are included. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Jordanian Educational Journal is the property of Association of Arab Universities and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

A growing number of researchers are employing participatory research approaches to address social determinants of health. Despite evidence supporting school-based participatory action research (PAR) approaches as powerful health intervention strategies and recent calls to assess the implementation of PAR processes and outcomes, there is a paucity of research that addresses the meaning of sustainability in participatory health interventions in schools. This case study addresses some of the complexities that emerge when partners with a variety of goals and experiences engage in participatory action research (PAR) within complex institutions. We describe two PAR initiatives within a pragmatic intervention in two middle schools aimed at improving the school environment to promote school engagement and connectedness among adolescents, highlighting perspectives from PAR facilitators and school administrators. Findings underscore complexities of participatory research approaches, including the dynamic and iterative nature of the intervention and limited resources to support collaboration, and stress the role of alignment to existing systems and processes and the need to shift roles and responsibilities in navigating complexities to achieve sustainability. Ultimately, we (re)conceptualize the meaning of sustainability in participatory interventions as a process that is shifting and inseparable from the collaborative, reflective practices characteristic of participatory approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4: Quality Education has recently driven more outreach teacher professional development (PD) programmes. While research evidence shows the importance of school-university partnerships for effective PD programmes, this research area remains under-investigated in many developing countries, including Malaysia. This qualitative study investigated the experiences and perspectives of 40 primary school teachers who participated in a three-phase, school-university PD programme. Phase 1 emphasised reflective pedagogy and co-development of teaching interventions. Phase 2 focused on classroom teaching intervention and continuous feedback on teaching methods, whereas Phase 3 consisted of interview sessions. Guided by the 'Interconnected Model of Teacher Professional Growth', an extended version of the model was developed to include an emerging domain; the Initial Positive Perception Domain. This domain addresses teachers' voluntary involvement and their clear intention to collaborate with the university researchers. Most importantly, this domain facilitates positive interaction between the existing domains in the model by promoting teachers' reflective pedagogical practice and strengthening the collective learning community. This study provides explicit evidence that a teacher's initial positive perception towards school-university partnership serves as a fundamental bridge between theoretical k nowledge and practical knowledge for developing highly effective PD programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current international policy documents on teacher education are peppered with the word partnership and there seems to be an assumption that there is a common agreement regarding understandings of 'partnership'. Traditionally the university has been the decisive voice in educational partnerships which has often led to a power differential as well as a failure to fully maximise the potential of the partnership. Based on interviews with school leaders [n = 10], student teachers [n = 10], co-operating teachers [n = 10] and university tutors [n = 10] associated with an initial teacher education (ITE) programme in a university in the Republic of Ireland, this article provides a synthesis of this range of stakeholders' views on how school-university partnerships can be optimised. The major themes that emerged from the research data included: (1) misconceptions about degrees of partnership in ITE and of roles therein; (2) the key role of the co-operating teacher and 'close-to-practice' research in fostering a 'third-space' in ITE and (3) a sense of malaise in relation to levels of pressure, change over-load and lack of adequate resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Movimento (0104754X) is the property of Movimento, da Escola de Educacao, Fisica, Fisioterapia e Danca and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The challenge of educational improvement, due mainly to the complexity of educational systems, is well-known. The aim of this study is to provide knowledge regarding the process of change within schools to better understand how it might depend on cultural context and the characteristics of individual schools. Based on interventions in four compulsory schools (6–15 years old students) in Iceland, the study uses both qualitative and quantitative data. The process of change was guided by a framework grounded in professional learning community principles and designed to be adaptive for cultural contexts as well as the interdependence of different factors of educational systems. Theories of drivers of change and indicators of schools as professional learning communities were used to understand cultural conditions within them. The main findings indicate that the change process in team-driven schools with relatively high levels of teacher collaboration and engagement works well in the framework. By contrast, the change process seemed restrained in the profession-driven and problem-driven schools characterised by either a high level of teacher autonomy and lack of collaboration or engagement in solving several generic problems. The study provided valuable insights regarding the complexity of facilitating change, particularly, the importance of identifying main drivers of change affecting an intervention process at the initiation stage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A team of teacher-researchers in a large urban school board is working in partnership with researchers from a leading Canadian university to use action research to broaden and deepen environmental education in their teaching practice. This research-informed approach involves teachers, students and their communities in collaboratively deepening their knowledge and raising awareness about environmental issues, as well as devising local solutions to global environmental challenges in age-appropriate ways. This article shares the research of this innovative team by introducing their stories and the impact of their studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors describe collaborative efforts between novice teachers and their former university teacher educators who partnered to design and enact equity-oriented teaching and learning experiences for teacher candidates and young adolescents despite limitations, barriers, and disruptions generated by COVID-19. Observations and feedback from students, teachers, and leaders speak to mutual benefits that the partnership generated. Authors will describe their collaborative processes, feature artifacts from the activities, and discuss implications for future practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to review the research paradigms of action research, narrative inquiry, and teacher research, mainly through the writings of John Elliott; F. Michael Connelly and D. Jean Clandinin; and Marilyn Cochran-Smith and Susan Landy Lytle respectively, for conceptual possibilities for fruitful schoolteacher and University researcher partnerships. This study seeks to survey the focal points relevant for the concerns of practice, theory and partnership to give the reader an introduction with an intention to further develop these practitioner research with the possibility of encouraging more fruitful School and University partnerships. This is with a view that teachers need to engage in educational research and that researchers' perspectives can also contribute especially within partnerships. The literature review aims to survey the current stances of the research paradigms along with their features, research foci, methods, outcomes and others. These are then conceptualized for possible research--practice partnerships (RPP) within educational research in terms of definitions, conceptualizations, organizations, practice and enactment. The review also investigates possible partnership issues, problems and tensions of the research paradigms to suggest resolutions, guiding questions and recommendations for researchers and practitioners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study offers insights into a professional graduate programme developed at the University of Fukui (Japan) that used the lesson study approach to elevate the application of field-based reflective practise for teachers and school leaders. This paper first details the programme's structure and its school-university collaborative inquiry partnership model developed to build a sustainable platform where practices and research are integrated as teachers inquire about school-based issues. The impact of the programme and its lesson study approach is then assessed by qualitatively analysing the longitudinal reflection reports written by three graduate students enrolled as: new entrant teachers, in-service teachers, and school leaders. This study concludes by highlighting that the Fukui PGP brings a more significant commitment to HEI and the BoE and extends the application of lesson study for school changes and reforms. Internationally, it demonstrates a new systematic structure that works in institutional environments and settings where lesson study is practised to make changes in the organization. It fosters a more meaningful and critical lens to the traditional practice of lesson study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this essay, the authors draw on their experiences as teachers, scholars, and parents who identify as Chinese American and Chicana to articulate their vision of antiracist schools. The essay names love as a necessary corrective to systemic violence and othering in schools—specifically, love for children who routinely traverse racial, ethnic, cultural, and linguistic borders in their full humanity, elevating their ways of being, knowing, living, sensing, and thinking. This concept is explored in terms of three kinds of relationships, all of which require an ethic of love: teachers loving children, children loving one another, and loving relationships between adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The value of teachers' engagement in and with research is long recognised and it is acknowledged that school–university research partnerships are one way of enabling such engagement. But we know little about how research‐based knowledge is negotiated into school practices. Here we draw on data from nine 'research champions', who are teachers in schools which are part of the Oxford Education Deanery, a research partnership with a university department. Taking a cultural/historical approach, the study examined the strategic intentions and actions in the activities of the champions as they negotiated research‐based knowledge into their schools. Data comprised 59 completed templates that described what they did and why. Findings revealed differences between those with close links with senior leaders—who could take a whole‐school approach—and those whose reach was restricted by their position in school practices. Nonetheless, all the champions carefully selected and targeted research in ways that reflected their knowledge of local contexts. The findings point to the need to incorporate the champion role into school systems and for universities to value the role as they develop their own research agenda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper advances the discourse on school-university partnerships by considering the challenges of implementing a project to support the professional development of teachers through the use of video-mediated lesson observation within such a partnership network. The project discussed here was initially established by teacher-educators and located in the secondary sector of a school-university partnership in England. It offers an interpretive framework for analysing school-university partnerships. The impact of this project was limited due to asymmetric power relations. The effectiveness of partnership working is discussed by considering the degree of congruence between the perspectives of and division of labour between both school-based mentors and teacher-educators and those factors identified in literature as supporting effective partnership working. The findings point to effectiveness being compromised when power and control are located within one community resulting in school-based mentor disengagement and the project aims only being partly fulfilled. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the experiences and professional learning of a group of in-service primary school teachers, participating in a STEM education programme in Ireland. Four primary teachers from the same case school engaged in a two-year project to explore STEM teaching and learning. This STEM project was structured as a multi-tiered partnership involving these four in-service teachers collaborating with six STEM teacher educators and a group of pre-service primary teachers, working together to develop an effective school-university STEM collaboration. The project focused on developing and facilitating meaningful classroom-based STEM learning experiences for primary aged children in the school. This paper specifically explores the professional learning and experiences of the in-service teacher participants. The teachers engaged in co-creating and co-facilitating a series of STEM lessons over two years in partnership with, and supported by the university STEM Education faculty. The paper provides insight into the participating teachers' professional learning in STEM education, as well as implications for school–university partnerships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teachers have tended to be underestimated as experts of their own practice and relegated to a technical role. In this context, action research appears as a form to legitimate teachers as active agents and producers of educational knowledge. This article aims to examine how a collaborative research-practice partnership between schools and universities in Chile fosters teachers' role as researchers. It adopts a qualitative methodology based on thematic analysis of data collected from questionnaires and focus groups. In particular, it reports perceptions of inservice teacher researchers who conducted research projects between 2016 and 2017 as a part of a researcher-practitioner partnership strategy implemented by a university in Chile. The findings suggest that the partnerships were highly valued among teachers because the partnerships allowed them to develop pedagogical reflection towards the improvement of their practices and required particular awareness and recognition of roles and the relationships between practical and theoretical knowledge. Finally, possibilities for strengthening teachers' role as researchers and collaborative research are presented at the end of the article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a report on the practical research concept of the Bielefeld Laboratory School in Germany. It states that since 1970s there has been educational research and educational practice working together at the Bielefeld Laboratory School. It also mentions about how the partnership between research and practice developed there.

Hybrid teacher educators are school- and university-based teacher educators who work across the boundaries of schools and universities to facilitate the professional learning of teachers in the third space of school-university partnerships. This case study of 'Sofia" examined how a reassigned classroom teacher was transformed from her four-year experience as a hybrid teacher educator in an exemplary professional development school (PDS). The findings identified four transformations: (1) deepening reflection, (2) preserving relationships, (3) prioritizing students, and (4) distributing leadership. This study has implications for clinically-based teacher education suggesting that hybrid teacher educator roles in PDSs have powerful transformative qualities and the potential for developing teacher leaders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Ministry of Education in New Zealand in 2013 provided funding for universities to develop and implement initial teacher education programmes with innovative school–university partnerships to promote the success of graduates. To enhance the success of this new programme, four teacher educators reviewed the literature on school–university partnerships. The authors investigated critiques of and successful strategies for partnerships to develop three models to be trialled by primary school partners and the university staff involved in the pilot programme. Model A represents the traditional practicum partnership whereas models B and C look at partnership as a professional learning community. These models are explained and the findings from discussions throughout the initial implementation of the programme to determine aspects conducive to success for student teachers in each context are outlined. Questionnaires, interviews, and focus groups provided school and university staff members the opportunity to analyse the models as well as benefits and challenges of such a relationship. From this analysis, the four teacher educator/researchers concluded that working as a professional learning community with student teachers, teachers and university lecturers provided a strong foundation for partnership. School and university staff members valued working together as professional development for all partners, as a potential avenue for joint research, and as a platform to enhance student teacher's preparedness for their first classroom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Started in north-east England in 2015, MammalWeb aims to improve our knowledge of British mammals through the use of motion-sensing camera traps. Fundamental to the project is the involvement of local communities and individuals who act as citizen scientists. They contribute to the collection and analysis of the camera trap photographic data. Here, we jointly describe our experiences as a partnership between Belmont Community School and Durham University. School students became citizen scientists and ecological ambassadors who took part in research and designed outreach materials for their local community. We discuss what we learned and the resulting mutual benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is limited research investigating models of partnering between University and Schools in initial teacher education (ITE). This project investigated, over a 10 year period, how student teachers in an English University on a one year course, draw on theoretical models, introduced in university sessions, when planning for a 'creative week' placement in schools. Working within an interpretivist paradigm drawing on data from 52 student teachers, 10 teachers and 50 children this case study explored a model of teacher education provision. Findings illuminated factors that inhibited student teachers from planning engaging lessons, which challenged their learners, including poor relationships between stakeholders, misunderstandings of the purpose of the placement and under developed knowledge and understandings of how to successfully draw on theoretical models to enhance learning, together with the challenges of limited time during a one year course. Findings also uncovered the extent to which student teachers were 'allowed' by some teachers, but not by others, to take risks in their practice, and the impact this has on student teachers' sense of autonomy and confidence. Implications of the research demonstrate how findings can impact on ITE course design and partnering models between University and schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The school-university partnership is considered a promising approach to teachers' learning. However, few studies have focused on the brokering practice of university experts and its potential influence on teachers' learning. Employing two years' longitudinal qualitative data from a small-scale partnership in China, this study explores from teachers' perspective how university experts perform their boundary broker role to support teachers' learning. Firstly, findings show that the university expert's broker role has multiple facets ranging from resource linker, knowledge conveyor, translator and co-creator to learning network builder and authoritative judge. Secondly, the study discusses the connection between university experts' brokering practice and teachers' learning at multiple levels. Thirdly, the study re-examines the impact of university experts on teacher professionalism and stresses the significance of university experts' competences to cross school-university boundaries. The paper concludes with several implications and the way forward for future study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/Context: The challenges documented in the literature on research--practice partnerships and similar school--university collaborations are outlined in the literature review in this issue. Yet only a collaboration among multiple educational and community organizations could create a synergy powerful enough to achieve the multifaceted goals of this project: (1) enhance instructional practices to better meet the needs of diverse learners; (2) better prepare teachers and teacher candidates to engage families in support of their children's success; (3) develop a community of practice in which preservice teachers, teacher educators, in-service teachers, administrators, and other educational and human service professionals participate in ongoing, collaborative professional development; and (4) recruit and retain more teacher candidates from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study: This study analyzes features and outcomes of a six-year school--university partnership funded by a large state grant. Project goals included developing innovative models for closing the achievement gap in an elementary school with a high percentage of English language learners and high-poverty measures. Using an inquiry-action model, the partners worked to better engage and support families as they enhanced teacher preparation and professional development. Research Design: This case study uses mixed methods research to analyze how one research--practice partnership navigated the challenges inherent in such collaborative work. Data Collection and Analysis: Data sources included student standardized testing data, teacher and intern surveys, semistructured interviews, a formative assessment of partnership processes, student and intern work samples, and observations in classrooms and teacher professional development activities. Conclusions/Recommendations: This partnership avoided or overcame many of the challenges typical of school--university partnerships. Four factors appeared to be significant to the project's success. First, all the key coordinators of the partnership, including the school principal and teacher education faculty, remained in place for five years. Similarly, there was very low turnover among teachers in the school, which meant that professional development was sustained. Second, the personal and professional characteristics of the people involved in the partnership were the right mix for the task. Shared meaning was fostered and school--university status hierarchies leveled as latecareer university faculty spent large amounts of time in the school, participating in professional learning communities with teachers and teacher candidates. Third, trusting relationships were fostered within the school by the principal; there was a high level of trust from the outset. Fourth, both school and university leaders waited for indications of "readiness" among teachers and faculty, drew on expertise within the team, and demonstrated a commitment to organic evolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article describes a school-university partnership to support the development of a full-service community school. It provides an account of the assets, challenges and processes that impacted the project. Topics discussed include the demographics of the elementary school, coordinating services within the full-service community schools model, and the innovation plan developed by the planning team.

The article presents three cases to describes the efforts of school-university collaborations related to teacher education in Washington State. It describes a place-based approach to preparing community teachers with knowledge of the community context, efforts to saturate an elementary school with preservice teachers through the placement of student teachers, and impact of family involvement on preservice teachers while student teaching and later into their careers as classroom teachers.

Background: Partnerships between schools and universities are increasingly advocated as a way to bridge the research--practice gap in education. Empirical research has revealed a wide variety of benefits that these partnerships can bring to merging research and practice. Yet, empirical studies also demonstrate that merging research and practice through partnerships at local sites is neither straightforward nor a guaranteed process. Rather, it is a fragile process fraught with tension that often stems from the relationship between the school and university partners. Purpose: Kornfeld and Leyden reflected that if schools and universities are to successfully partner, they "should be ever mindful of . . . the infinite complexities and potential pitfalls in the relationship." The purpose of this literature review is to document these complexities and pitfalls more fully so that schools and universities involved in partnerships can have more realistic expectations of the demanding work entailed in maintaining healthy relationships. Realistic expectations can help school and university partners to more successfully navigate the fragility of their work. Furthermore, the research literature suggests that when partners work collaboratively to address these challenges, they will strengthen their relationships. Research Design: A literature review was conducted using an intellectual social network analysis and an extensive database search. A total of 56 studies were selected for analysis using relevant inclusion and exclusion criteria. Findings: The 56 studies reveal that challenges to maintaining partnerships emerge from the differences in schools and universities along three high-level categories: organizational structures, discourse practices, and power relations. Yet, schools and universities can mitigate these challenges by working together to collaboratively build organizational infrastructure, shared meaning, and trusting relationships. Recommendations: Schools and universities that partner to close the gap between research and practice at local sites should be mindful of the ways that their differences in organizational structures, discourse practices, and power relations can complicate their work together. At the same time, schools and universities can strengthen their relationships by intentionally working to collaboratively build organizational infrastructure, shared meaning, and trusting relationships. By working to reconcile the differences between themselves, schools and universities can better learn how to navigate the fragility inherent in their partnership [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction to the special issue of the journal about school-university partnerships is presented, highlighting challenges and success throughout their joint efforts.

The article provides an overview of a school-university partnership project, highlighting the changes to both the structures for planning and organizing the partnership and the personnel. Topics discussed include the planning year development process and theory of change, the resulting innovation and success plan that was subsequently developed, and the various activities and initiatives in support of the elementary students and families.

This paper explores teacher learning. It focuses on access to 'communicative learning spaces' (a concept we coin and develop within this paper) and argues that the creation of such spaces can be a powerful enabler of teacher learning. We draw on the findings from three studies conducted in three different countries - Norway, Australia and Sweden. The studies focused on different stages of teacher learning - initial teacher education, the induction phase of teacher learning in the workplace, and the continuing professional learning of in-service teachers. The paper considers the features that characterise communicative learning spaces and their development. Using the theory of practice architectures we examine what enabled and constrained the development of these communicative learning spaces in each of the three cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]