School-university partnerships in Australia: a systematic literature review

ABSTRACT

Across Australia and around the world, school-university partnerships have been advocated by researchers and policymakers as a means of bridging the perceived theory-practice divide for which teacher education programs have been criticised. A range of literature exists that explores school-university partnerships either from a theoretical perspective, or grounded in specific examples. As these pieces of research typically provide an overview of school-university partnerships in general, or rely on findings from one or two partnerships, a broad understanding of partnerships and the research gaps that remain can be difficult to ascertain. This paper presents a systematic literature review to provide collective evidence on the implementation of Australian school-university partnerships for the purpose of developing pre-service teachers. The review reports on 59 sources, providing insights into the range of school-university partnerships in existence. It also highlights the benefits and challenges encountered through partnership implementation and proposes opportunities for future research.

KEYWORDS:

• School-university partnerships
• systematic literature review
• initial teacher education
• theory-practice divide

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Corinne A Green

Corinne A Green is an aspiring academic in initial teacher education. Her PhD research is focused on school-university partnerships that prepare pre-service teachers for the teaching profession.

Sharon K Tindall-Ford

Sharon K Tindall-Ford has worked to make a positive change for students and teachers through her research on cognitive load theory, teacher policy, and pre-service and teacher learning.

Michelle J Eady

Michelle J Eady is passionate about providing authentic experiences to develop quality educators. Her research areas include work-integrated learning, communities of practice, and Indigenous strengths.