Creating a ‘third space’ in the context of a university–school partnership: supporting teacher action research and the research preparation of doctoral students

The focus of the Education Works Personalization Project was to facilitate teams of teacher action researchers whose goal was to personalize their teaching with the support of university partners including doctoral students in education. The subsequent apprentice-like research experience within this university–school partnership provided an opportunity to study the ways in which teacher action research could serve as a vehicle for bridging the culture gap between schools and universities. Both the research team experience and the development of the school–university inquiry/knowledge network were initially characterized by undefined roles accompanied by ambiguous expectations. Although the ambiguity proved difficult initially, those who persisted and engaged in new roles ultimately found these emerging inquiry communities generative and valuable. We have come to conceptualize these generative inquiry communities as third spaces and we describe how oppositional categories framed by the cultural differences between schools and universities can work together to generate new knowledge.     

Disability and the restructuring of welfare: the problem of partnership with parents

Parent Partnership Services are now required in every local education authority (LEA) in England and Wales. Research has documented parents' experience of dissatisfaction when engaging with services responsible for providing for children's special educational needs, and differences in priorities and assumptions between parents and professionals. Analysis suggests that Parent Partnership Services have the potential to make the system work in a more understandable, friendly, respecting and involving way for parents. Evidence is drawn from interviews in Newby LEA with 24 parents and both LEA and voluntary agency Parent Partnership Officers. However, tensions and assumptions were identified that suggest a limit to authentic partnership possibilities. The political nature of the discourse of partnership continues to be ignored. There remains little awareness of the need to negotiate the meaning of partnership. Partnership was assumed to be ‘good’, with little understanding of the need to work in ways that avoided its potentially disempowering effects. Parent Partnership Officers represent a further tier of ‘professionals’, which for some parents remove them from those who are the decision-makers. Parent Partnership Services remove from schools the arena of parent partnership when a child is undergoing statutory special needs assessment. Such services move this area of partnership into a space between schools and the LEA—which may distance responsibility of schools to take seriously the need to engage with parents as partners.     

Students’ Perspectives of a Science Enrichment Programme: Out‐of‐school inquiry as access

Science enrichment programmes housed outside traditional school settings can offer students from traditionally under‐resourced schools valuable opportunities to access authentic scientific tools and practices. The present study contributes to our understanding of this potential and how it can best be realised through an analysis of the students’ own perspectives on a specific out‐of‐school programme—a one‐year partnership with a university‐based science outreach programme, which culminated in a half‐day laboratory experience for a total of 292 secondary students (ages 11–18 years). Extensive data were collected on this experience, including detailed field notes and video recordings of the classes’ visits to the university as well as the planning meetings with teachers at the beginning and end of the school year, surveys of the participating students, and surveys and interviews of the teachers, and were analysed both qualitatively and quantitatively using a grounded theory approach. Building on the valuable perspectives of the participating students, and comparing them with those of their eight teachers, this study confirms that carefully designed collaborative out‐of‐school inquiry programmes have the potential to broaden students’ (especially those from under‐resourced schools) experiences of science as well as bridge them to school science.     

The Impact of Action Research for Professional Development: case studies in two Manchester schools

Teacher professional development has come to be recognised as a major policy tool as part of the UK Government's agenda for raising standards and school improvement. These demands call for new approaches to professional development. We need to reconceptualise what teachers learn while at work as professional development which can complement direct work with children. The study reported on in this article is an attempt to investigate the impact of teacher inquiry as part of an action research project on three teachers involved in the North West Consortium for the Study of Effectiveness in Urban Schools (NWCSEUS). This was a partnership of schools, Manchester and Salford local education authorities, the University of Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan University set up with the intention of establishing a research culture in schools in order to improve practice and raise teaching standards. The aim of this particular study was to undertake a critical analysis of the impact of the NWCSEUS project on three teachers’ professional development as well as to provide relevant information on the critical components of teacher inquiry. Using the methodology of a multiple‐case design, a cross‐case analysis was drawn up NUD*IST software was used to aid analysis and category development. The teachers reported on demonstrated the positive impact that teacher inquiry can have on both individual teachers and the school as a whole, as through a teacher inquiry culture, schools can become learning environments where teachers continuously plan and evaluate for school improvement and effectiveness.     

Neo‐liberal Subjectivities and the Limits of Social Change in University–Community Partnerships

In this paper the authors analyse a university–school partnership that went awry. It was designed to develop a new set of philosophical principles to inform work with violent student behaviour in schools. The project brought together a team of researchers from the university and school sector with a strong record of examining and improving the management of behaviour in classrooms. The authors sought volunteer school‐based educators to work with them as co‐researchers. Despite the team's strong school‐based research background, the mutual interest in developing a new approach to work with violence, and the strong collaborative base, they found themselves, as the initiating research team, unable to progress in the ways they had anticipated. This paper analyses the dynamics at work in that lack of progress. The analysis is put forward with the hope of enlivening discussion about what makes for successful collaborative projects between schools and universities.     

Inter‐agency partnerships and Integrated Community Schools a Scottish perspective

Integrated Community Schools (ICS) in Scotland provide a focus for studying the role of inter‐agency partnerships in supporting more inclusive schools and their communities. In this article, Lyn Tett examines two types of intervention, those designed to coordinate supportive programmes within and outside schools, and those that have acted as a catalyst to restructure local authorities' education and children's services. It is argued that inter‐agency work is difficult and change requires time, resources and commitment to building a meta‐strategy that will allow all relevant interest groups to find a way forward. Inter‐agency programmes can contribute to social inclusion, it is suggested, by sustaining projects that prioritise collaborative partnerships with all the community.     

Teachers as writers: learning together with others

In the context of renewed interest in teachers' identities as writers and the writers as artist‐educators, this paper reports upon the findings of “Teachers as Writers” (2015–2017). A collaborative partnership between two universities and a creative writing foundation, the study sought to determine the impact of writers' engagement with teachers on changing teachers' classroom practices in the teaching of writing and, as a consequence, in improving outcomes for students. The project afforded opportunities for writers and teachers to work together as learners in order to improve student outcomes. The study involved two complementary datasets: a qualitative dataset of observations, interviews, audio‐capture (of workshops, tutorials and co‐mentoring reflections) and audio‐diaries from 16 teachers; and a randomised controlled trial (RCT) involving 32 primary and secondary classes. The findings reveal that the teachers' identities and assurance as writers shifted significantly. The Arvon experience also led to pedagogic shifts which the students reported impacted positively upon their motivation, confidence and sense of ownership and skills as writers. However, these salient dispositional shifts did not impact upon the young people's attainment. The professional writers gained new understandings which substantially altered their conceptions of writers' potential contribution in schools.     

Understanding the nature of school partnerships with business in delivery of vocational programmes in schools in Australia

This article seeks to provide a school perspective on the nature and quality of the partnerships which schools form with businesses in order to deliver work placements and workplace learning in Australia. It found that the ability of schools to engage with external partners depended on the ability of school leaders to define and communicate the role of VET within the school and its broader community. This dependence on individuals and leadership is vulnerable to changes in key personnel and the informality of some of the processes and relationships can lead to problems in monitoring, evaluating and replicating programmes. Our study shows that a balance is required between carefully documented processes and the flexibility required to operate programmes successfully. The study also noted the tension between the perceived needs of the school and those of industry. A successful partnership necessarily requires school flexibility – in the decisions as to what programmes should be offered and how work placements and timetabling should be organised.     

A comparative study: English and Turkish teachers' conceptions of their professional responsibility

This paper discusses some of the findings pertaining to how teachers see their work, produced by a comparative study of 120 English and 120 Turkish primary school teachers. The sample was drawn from schools in four different types of matched catchment areas—rural, inner city, suburban and affluent suburban—in Leicestershire. England, and in Erzurum, Turkey. Four major dimensions of difference between the two national contexts are identified in terms of the range of professional activities undertaken, the ambiguity of relative importance to teachers of the process as against the products of learning. Against a background of contemporary policy changes which seem likely to effect different teaching and learning activities in the two countries, the paper argues that attempts to change teachers' practice without due regard to those conceptions of professional responsibility which are deeply rooted in particular national traditions, as well as more general classroom realities, will result in a lowering of morale and decreased effectiveness.     

‘Push on through’: Children’s perspectives on the narratives of resilience in schools identified for intensive mental health promotion

Child mental health is a growing concern for policymakers across the global north. Schools have become a key site for mental health interventions, with new programmes aimed at promoting ‘resilience’, through which children may maintain or regain mental health during adversity. As one of the first studies to explore the early impact of intensive mental health promotion in schools from children’s perspectives, we adopt a governmentality approach to consider the logic and techniques of such programmes with a specific focus on England. An innovative visual methodology was used to focus on student perspectives of mental health interventions in school. Young peoples’ photo representations of mental health were collected and used to stimulate focus group discussions with 65 students aged 12–14, across seven schools. ‘Resilience’ was seen to be the key organising concept for mental health interventions in schools. The concept was viewed as narrowly focused on attitude towards—and performance in—school work, with individuals being encouraged to ‘push on through’ difficulties to achieve success. Young people were critical of this approach, suggesting several alternatives. These included increased access to independent mental health professionals, safe spaces within schools and mental health education that addressed the social and affective dimensions of mental health difficulties.     

Preventing and confronting school bullying: A comparative study of two national programmes in Norway

Efforts to prevent and curb school bullying have resulted in a proliferation of anti‐school‐bullying programmes, many based on intuitive appeal rather than systematic evidence. This article presents a comparative analysis of two Norwegian programmes whose developers have demonstrated the effectiveness of their interventions: the Olweus Programme and the Zero Programme. By probing the key components of these programmes, the article provides schools with information about two prominent anti‐school‐bullying programmes that, to varying degrees, and mainly based on quantitative evaluations, have been found to work. In weighing up the potential of lesson drawing (both nationally and cross‐nationally), schools will attach significance to the probability of positive effects, to issues concerning intensity of implementation, and to the prospect of adapting programme content to school culture and school‐specific problems. It is important too that schools keep up to date with current research in the field, including studies that offer qualitative insights.     

The business of learning: Parents as full,unwilling or sleeping partners

The concept of a partnership between parents and schools or parents and teachers has, for almost two decades, been written into policy documents such as home-school agreements and homework programmes without the term being adequately questioned. As a 'condensation symbol', partnership is persistent and is used to drive ideological initiatives at the expense of those whom it suggests it serves. This article proposes that the partnership metaphor has been inappropriately invoked from a business lexicon and, with little to tie it into the school and home-school context, potentially does damage to those it claims to involve.     

Practical Experience in Teacher Education: issues Charting a European Agenda

This paper provides an overview and analysis of the role of practical experience within pre‐service and in‐service programmes of teacher education. The increasing importance of practical experience is noted and the variety of forms of partnership between Universities and schools are reviewed. The paper argues (i) for a stronger theoretical articulation of the relationship between the practicum and overall course design, (ii) for greater co‐operation between European countries in developing studies around this common element in all courses and (in) for intellectual links with newly emerging and closely related theories of learning and curriculum.     

Book review

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.     

Towards a Taxonomy of Mentoring

Initial Teacher Education in England and Wales is currently undergoing substantial change. In particular, the government has insisted on increased time for school‐based work, on the development of training partnerships between schools and higher education providers, including the transfer of training funds from universities to schools, and on a competence model of assessment. This article focuses on one of the new partnership training courses. Using two of the areas of competence, Subject Knowledge and Subject Application, it explores the reality of partnership from the perspectives of students, school mentors and university tutors as they work through the first year of the new course. Finally, the writers present a series of questions for all those involved as the basis for developing such courses and for ensuring the quality of teacher education.     

’Viewpoint 2’: a study of audience responses to schools television

As part of an M.A. course in Film Studies at the Polytechnic of Central London, a small‐scale study was undertaken of audience responses to two schools TV programmes from the recent ITV series, ‘Viewpoint 2’. The theoretical orientation and methodology derive from recent developments in semiology (notably the work of Morley on ‘The Nationwide Audience'). While the work does not aim at ‘scientific’ proof, a fairly consistent pattern of responses emerged which indicates the influence of socio‐demographic factors on the decoding of educational programmes. Particularly with responses to one of the programmes, concerned with media representations of race, these variations were sufficiently extreme as to suggest some disturbing questions for programme makers and for teachers using such material in schools.     

The ‘Environmentally Educated Teacher’: an exploration of the implications of UNESCO‐UNEP's ideas for pre‐service teacher education programmes

This paper draws on a range of recent curriculum development and research initiatives in order to consider what pre‐service teacher education programmes might, most effectively, be able to do to promote environmental education (EE) within schools and, through them, within the wider community. The paper begins with a critique of UNESCO‐UNEP's ideas on what constitutes an environmentally educated teacher; it then goes on to examine a number of priorities for pre‐service teacher education, drawing in particular on a current work of a European Union initiative in this field. The paper concludes by putting forward a series of organizational principles which are explicated in the form of course aims, programme elements and didactics characteristics which might inform the work of pre‐service programmes.     

THEORETICAL PROBLEMS IN THE EXPLANATION OF DELINQUENT BEHAVIOUR

The study investigated the extent of different types of contacts between home and school for a representative sample of 60 families of children with Down's syndrome who attended a range of different schools in 13 local education authorities (LEAs). The children were aged between five and nine years old. Data were obtained in semi‐structured interviews with mothers as part of a larger study of parents’ views of their children's schooling.

Basic links between home and schools (e.g. parents’ attendance at events such as open days, occasional visits to see a teacher) were common but parental involvement in the class‐room or in carrying out work at home on the teacher's suggestion was less common, and there was little evidence of parent‐professional partnership in areas such as joint decision‐making on educational programmes. Contacts between the children and their school friends outside school were few and there was a significant relationship between the frequency of these and the amount of parental contact with the schools. The factors related to amount of parental involvement were the child having started at the school before the age of four and the amount of support the mother received at home. There were no significant effects of social class or type of school.

The majority of mothers appeared to be motivated to maintain home‐school links, and many wanted more opportunities to be provided for involvement, particularly in areas such as helping or observation in the classroom.     

Practical work: Its effectiveness in primary and secondary schools in England

We report here on the first of two evaluations of a national project (Getting Practical: Improving Practical Work in Science—IPWiS) designed to improve the effectiveness of practical work in both primary and secondary schools in England. This first baseline evaluation of the effectiveness of practical work is based on a study of a diverse range of 30 practical lessons undertaken in non‐selective primary (n = 10) and secondary (n = 20) schools prior to the teachers undertaking a training intervention designed to improve their effective use of practical work. A multi‐site case study approach employing a condensed fieldwork strategy was used in which data were collected, using audiotape‐recorded discussions, interviews, and observational field notes. The analysis, based on work by Millar et al. and Tiberghien, considers what students do and think relative to what their teacher intended them to do and think. In both primary and secondary schools, the widespread use of highly structured “recipe” style tasks meant that practical work was highly effective in enabling students (n = 857) to do what the teacher intended. Whilst tasks in primary schools tended to be shorter than in secondary schools, with more time devoted to helping students understand the meaning of new scientific words, neither primary nor secondary teachers' lesson plans incorporated explicit strategies to assist students in making links between their observations and scientific ideas. As such, tasks were less effective in enabling students to use the intended scientific ideas to understand their actions and reflect upon the data they collected. These findings suggest that practical work might be made more effective, in terms of developing students' conceptual understanding—an aim of the IPWiS project—if teachers adopted a more “hands‐on” and “minds‐on” approach and explicitly planned how students were to link these two essential components of practical work. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 49: 1035–1055, 2012