Teachers' beliefs and actions in supporting school-work partnership in the Italian context

School-work partnership is required by the methodology of School-Work Alternation (SWA) programs which are compulsory for every kind of school as a result of the recent educational innovation which has several aims: to not only support students in the acquisition of basic knowledge, but also in the development of skills useful in the world of work so as to bridge the gap between formal learning and societal needs. With the awareness that norms are not sufficient enough to promote changes in perspective, a qualitative study, based on seven focus groups with teachers from different schools, was carried out in order to investigate what beliefs teachers have with regards to the new methodology, and what actions they implement in order to support the strong partnership required with workplace organizations