Creating Shared Spaces: A Collaborative Partnership Model that Prepares Initial Teacher Education Students for Effective Practice

The Australian education sector faces significant challenges in relation to attracting, preparing, and retaining teachers. One response to this is the creation of an alternate initial teacher education (ITE) pathway through the establishment of Teaching School Hubs, which helps to cultivate closer partnerships between Universities and Schools. This chapter describes the development, implementation, and ongoing evolution of one such ITE pathway within the Australian context. It involves a collaboration between schools within the independent sector and a private University College, using a Teaching School as the key operational mechanism. This model promotes a contextually responsive, immersive, and arguably more sustainable model of teacher formation (as opposed to training or education) in response to the current challenges facing ITE. A case study approach is employed to explore the effectiveness of this model and the nature of the partnership exhibited. The outcome of the study suggests that the early success of the model depends on an example of partnership where commitment and vision are shared, and ITE preparation enabled through dynamic collaboration, reciprocal relationships, and flexible structures at each operational level.