185preservice teachers to work cooperatively with mentor teachers not only on curriculum but
on the creation of intellectual and practical space for the professional engagement of ideas,
knowledge and comprehension of schooling. (p. 68)
Applied Curriculum Project engagement has also provided opportunities to
develop a culture of ‘teachers as researchers’ (Robinson, 2003 ) in partner schools.
The Victoria University College of Education has a strong reputation for its collab-
orative practitioner research (CPR) methodology that engages key school teaching
and learning stakeholders in research planning and design, data collection and,
importantly, data analysis relating to their school practice. In such contexts, univer-
sity staff and preservice teachers work alongside school teachers in the pursuit of
research activity negotiated with the school to address an inquiry of specific and
immediate concern to the school and its community.
Over the past 5 years, the Victoria University College of Education has collabo-
rated with clusters of primary and secondary schools as part of School Centres for
Teaching Excellence (SCTEs: 2013/2014) and currently Teaching Academies for
Professional Practice (TAPP: 2015/2016) that have been funded by the Victorian
Department of Education and Training. The placement of significant groups of pre-
service teachers within these school clusters has enabled sophisticated and more
enduring Applied Curriculum Project research projects undertaken by professional
learning teams of preservice teachers, teachers and university educators to support
school improvement and change. University resources and networks have enhanced
schools’ research activity allowing for links to be made to other researchers under-
taking comparable work and allowing schools to access appropriate venues and
forums for dissemination of findings. Interested teachers can gain credit for their
research and mentoring activity within a university postgraduate program and can
access research methodology units with the option of onsite delivery of such units
available for teacher participants.
Not only have the Applied Curriculum Projects demonstrated a strengthening of
the communities of practice in each school, but they have also shown these partner-
ships also raise the educational aspirations of students in schools. This is done by
enabling greater, deeper and more sustained contact between school and university
students. Many of the Victoria University preservice teachers have been educated in
schools located in the western and northern suburbs of Melbourne (i.e. similar areas
to the schools they are entering) and thus have the potential to be key role models
for the school students. This is a region in which a mixture of factors – low SES,
high levels of culturally and linguistically diverse students and low social and edu-
cational capital – make the transition from school to work or further study a difficult
one for many young people. Victoria University is committed to this socially inclu-
sive approach that offers expertise in working with the particular needs of such
communities.
11 Professional Experience and Project-Based Learning as Service Learning