This paper reports an evaluation of an innovative university-school partnership in which teacher practitioners work as university lecturers in a regional Australian pre-service teacher education programme. The philosophy of this programme encompasses authentic partnerships between universities, schools and other industry employers. The study was motivated by an interest inunderstanding the experiences and outcomes for the teacher practitioners and in documenting their experiences. Staff members who are currently on contract as university lecturers as well as teachers who have completed secondments and returned to school settings are surveyed. This paper focuses on suggestions to improve the partnership and discusses future directions for the partnership.

A fundamental partnership: the experiences of practising teachers as lecturers in a pre-service teacher education programme

This paper presents an array of structural configurations that invite new consideration of the necessary conditions for developing systemic school reform; first by reviewing the current literature, and then by examining thirty-six existing partnerships as structural configurations, an exploratory typology for the analysis of successful school-university partnerships is developed. The basis for three models is derived from Mintzberg’s five-part framework adapted for schools and universities. The paper concludes by noting the strengths and weaknesses of the three models, and suggests areas for inquiry, no matter the model chosen for a school-university partnership.

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Three Configurations of School-University Partnerships: An Exploratory Study.

Clifford, Matthew, and Millar, Susan B. (2007). K–20 Partnerships: Literature Review and Recommendations for Research Federal programs, such as the National Science Foundation’s Math and Science Partnership program, are promoting K–20 partnerships (partnerships between K–12 and higher education institutions) in hopes of fostering greater alignment and cooperation among participating institutions, and pooling resources within institutions to address persistent problems associated with poor student performance. To identify what is known about K–20 partnerships and assess the rigor of the available research, the authors undertook a literature review. They identified 36 research articles that met pre-established selection criteria, reviewed all articles, and conducted an analysis of the literature. The analysis addresses the following questions: (1) What inquiry methods have been used to study K–20 partnerships, and what is the rigor of the methods?; (2) How is partnership defined?; (3) What do we know about the formation, process, and results associated with partnership? The authors conclude that the K–20 partnership literature lacks methodological rigor and scope, that partnership is inadequately defined in essentially all cases, and that the research about how K–20 partnerships form and function, and what they achieve contains significant gaps. Despite these weaknesses in the literature, a strength is that multiple, independent qualitative researchers working with a grounded approach and in different contexts arrived at similar conclusions about factors associated with success and failure. They recommend that future research articles begin with a clear definition of the term partnership, build upon and extend available research through replication studies and diversification of samples, pay closer attention to the contexts in which K–20 partnerships operate, and include findings on how K–20 partnerships form, and how they function.

K-20 Partnerships: Literature Review and Recommendations for Research. WCER Working Paper No. 2008-3.

Postgraduate students are excellent role models for school students, where their passion and energy play a vital role in engaging younger students and spreading enthusiasm and excitement about science. However, participating in outreach is not a one way activity for these postgraduate students. Through focus groups we show that the postgraduate students perceive that there are many benefits for themselves. These benefits are identified and discussed. This paper also contrasts the postgraduate with their undergraduate counterpart in terms of their contributions to engagement activities.

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The many positive impacts of participating in outreach activities on postgraduate students

An essential component of teacher preparation is clinical practice that allows teacher candidates (TCs) to observe, reflect upon, test their ideas, and adjust and improve their methods in classroom...

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0022487119858992

From Mediated Fieldwork to Co-Constructed Partnerships: A Framework for Guiding and Reflecting on P-12 School–University Partnerships:

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Amanda Shaw

Papers

Chemistry Inreach: Engaging with University Employees’ Children within a Chemistry Department