Leveraging a School–University Partnership Model Through the Process of Co-design: A Case Study of One Australian School–University Partnership and Its Developmental Stages

Collaborative school–university partnerships provide opportunities for education researchers to come together with classroom teachers to translate research into practice. They also provide a vehicle in which to enhance the pre-service teacher (PST) experience. The case study presented in this chapter explicitly reflects on a co-designed partnership model from the perspectives of three university-based teacher educators and one school-based educator. The driving purpose of this co-design process was the enrichment of the pre-service teachers’ professional experience (PX) placement in schools and supporting the professional learning of classroom teachers regarding mentoring practices. The context was a PX unit in the second year of a Bachelor of Primary Education initial teacher education (ITE) program. Findings from this case study demonstrate that a key motivation for involvement in this collaborative partnership was the co-construction of knowledge to authentically inform the practice of academic researchers and classroom practitioners. There are three considerations that emerge from this study around the application of this model in other settings: the co-design model, the relational agency of pre-service teachers, and the coaching approach adopted by school-based educators. This study provides a point of reference from which to begin collaborative discourse to shape new partnerships and generate meaningful learning opportunities.