offer—namely living practice where teachers and students can be observed in a
naturalistic setting, providing a rich data source, to be complemented by the gath-
ering of the views of the various stakeholders associated with schools. In short, the
act of researching within a school setting opens the possibilities of broadening the
work education of both teachers and education researchers.
20.2 A Personal Introduction
This chapter is simultaneouslyaboutschool-university partnerships, itdescribesan
instance of a specific school-university research partnership, and itswritingis a
living exercise in partnership. The literature review was written largely by Leanne,
whose postgraduate study focuses on school-university partnerships. Leon and Bill
worked closely in 2015 once the school agreed that Leon could conduct the next
phase of his research there. While most of the participants in the study described in
this chapter were conventional research participants, Leon and Bill collaborated on
a practitioner conference presentation, while Leon and Leanne worked together on
shaping the literature review. All have shared in writing this chapter.
This chapter presents a review of literature outlining the subject of
school-university partnerships. A practitioner perspective is provided by Bill, fol-
lowed by a researcher perspective, in which Leon outlines his larger research activity,
following some of the usual conventions governing presentation of research. This
provides a context for understanding the research conducted at Rosehill College.^1
The presentation offindings is however kept to a minimum, as the focus is to discuss
the implications of the research process andfindings for the development of practi-
tioner research arising from school-university research partnerships.
20.3 An Introduction to School-University Partnerships
School-university partnerships are not simple in terms of structures, processes, and
outcomes (Nelson 2006 ; Schuck 2012 ; Segedin 2011 ). Intersecting theory and
practice, they are oriented towards building shared expertise (Tsui and Law 2007 ),
are subject to shifting power relationships, and must be responsive to complex
accountabilities. There are certain factors common to successful school-university
partnerships—committed individuals who areflexible, and adaptive to emergent
needs, whilst being cognisant of the overarching principle of reciprocity.
School-university partnerships, where interactions contribute to mutually bene-
ficial outcomes, are relevant to the future of education in secondary and tertiary
(^1) Although the terms of the ethics agreement was that the school and participants would not be
mentioned by name, for the purposes of this chapter, the school has agreed to be named.
Participant identities (apart from the co-authors) have, however, been kept anonymous.
300 L. Benade et al.