The study investigated the challenges of implementing effective partnerships in a College of Teachers’ Education and schools in Hosanna town, Southern Ethiopia, using the study used a descriptive design. The study was conducted in Hosanna town which had two public secondary schools, one private secondary school and one College of Teacher’s Education. The total number of educators was 150. The researchers sampled 37 instructors and 41 school teachers to make a total of 78 respondents.  While there are benefits of forming partnerships among Colleges of Teachers’ Education and schools, bridging the gap between theory and practices of trainees is one of the main established challenges.  Other challenges include gaps between theoretical and practical parts of teacher education programs, lack of finance in implementing partnerships between the college and schools and lack of collaboration between college instructors and teachers. The study recommends that the Ministry of Education should allocate a budget for developing effective partnerships. The regional education office should give training to develop trust among partners. Training should be given to change the pattern of the top to down work order and solve the cultural differences between the colleges and schools.

The study explored the perceived impact of collaborative partnerships on the core skills of the 21st century in learning institutions East-Central and Southern Ethiopia using the descriptive research design. The study involved 7 colleges of teacher education and 35 secondary schools with 6021 college teachers, secondary school teachers and student-teachers. The researchers randomly sampled 853 respondents. Questionnaire was used as the major instrument for data collection and 3.50-4.00 = strongly agree, 2.50-3.49= agree, 1.50-2.49 = disagree and 1.00-1.49 = strongly disagree. Respondents considered collaborative partnership to have impact on the development of critical thinking and problem-solving skills, research conducting skills, communication skills, creativity and innovation skills and life and career skills. Based on the conclusions, the researchers recommend that the Ministry of Education, colleges and schools should work collaboratively to improve the colleges and schools' curricula in a ways that encourage sustainable collaboration so as student teachers may develop various skills that are necessary for their future careers.