Reimagining a School – University Partnership: The Development of the Oxford Education Deanery Narrative

Abstract

We trace the recent development of the Oxford Education Deanery as an expansion of an initial teacher education partnership to include wider school-university collaboration in professional development, and in research. The current policy pressures in England are described on both school-university partnerships for initial teacher education, and on schools and universities generally. Then, using cultural historical theory, we show the recent development of a complex alliance through shared understandings of motives, which created common knowledge expressed within a common narrative. We argue that such re-imagined school-university partnerships offer an optimistic future for teacher education.

• common knowledge
• motives
• narrative
• school-university partnership
• teacher education

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Nigel Fancourt

Nigel Fancourt is a lecturer at the University of Oxford's Department of Education. He researches the relationships between schools and universities, and the relationships between religions and schools, and is a member of the Oxford Centre for Sociocultural and Activity Theory Research (OSAT). Email: [email protected]

Anne Edwards

Anne Edwards is Professor Emerita at the Oxford University Department of Education, where she was also recently Director of the Department and co-founder of the Oxford Centre for Sociocultural and Activity Theory Research (OSAT). She has written extensively on teacher education and professional learning. Email: [email protected]

Ian Menter

Ian Menter is Professor of Teacher Education and Director of Professional Programmes in the Department of Education at the University of Oxford. He was President of the British Educational Research Association from 2013–2015 and was previously the President of the Scottish Educational Research Association. Email: [email protected]