Improving inclusive practices in Australian schools: Creating conditions for university-school collaboration in inquiry

Abstract

This paper describes a model of professional development that guided a two-year university-school partnership in Melbourne, Australia. The project was aimed at enhancing teachers' capacity to respond to diversity through collaboration and active involvement in evidence-based inquiry in their schools. The project involved eight schools and approximately 45 teachers in two years of university accredited post-graduate study. Conditions that fostered collaborative inquiry and supported teacher and student learning are presented from the view of the leaders and teachers as well as from the perspective of the university facilitators. Findings suggest that CI partnerships will be of higher quality if they are sustained over time and build conditions that demonstrate a value for both collaboration and inquiry as part of teachers' routine work. The process is highly complex and the relative importance of conditions that appeared to support the change process is not fully understood.

Community-Academic Partnerships: A Systematic Review of the State of the Literature and Recommendations for Future Research

“…2007XXXXX15Christopher et al. 2011XXX16Cobb & Rubin 2006X17Deppeler 2006XXXXX18Drabble et al. 201319Ebersohn et al.…”

Developing teachers as agents of inclusion and social justice

“…Studies that examined teachers' struggle to promote inclusive practices and cultures in their schools show the value of collaboration, inquiry and compromise as part of teachers' routine work (Deppeler 2006;Kugelmass 2001). Kugelmass' (2001) ethnographic data gathered over 4 years illustrates how, contrary to teachers' fear of diminishing their professional independence, collaborative ways of working between teachers and specialists enhanced teachers' autonomy and ability to negotiate with school district administration.…”

Towards functional school libraries: supporting library assistants in under-resourced schools through a university-community-school partnership

“…Locating itself within the broader university-school partnership literature (Deppeler 2006;Groundwater-Smith & Dadds 2004;Nehring & O'Brien 2012;and others), the SII has extended the two-way university-school alliance to include its community partners. This addition supports the SII's view that, through purposeful collaboration between the university, the education district, community organisations and the schools, a deeper, more engaged support strategy could be implemented and sustained.…”