Researching Innovative Partnerships in Education: Working and Learning with our Partners

An essential component of preservice teacher education programs at Victoria University is Project Partnerships. With the advent of the Applied Curriculum Project, preservice teachers are supporting school student learning as a result of their work in school based professional learning team projects. The School of Education at Victoria University (Melbourne, Australia) initiated a two year research project in 2006/2007 with over 45 schools and other educational sites. The Researching Innovative Partnerships in Education (RIPE) project aimed to identify the features of Project Partnerships which contributed to the learning of school students, preservice teachers, teachers and teacher educators. More specifically, the RIPE research offered a set of collaborative research investigations in which teams of preservice teachers, teachers and teacher educators planned, implemented and evaluated innovative extensions of Project Partnerships. The intended outcome of the research was to establish the conditions for strengthened partnership-based teacher education. This paper outlines the collaborative practitioner research methodology that was used in each participating school. It provides a summary of initial outcomes of the research, a case description of one RIPE project and future plans for additional data analysis and publication. Proceedings of the 31st HERDSA Annual Conference, 1-4 July 2008 Rotorua, New Zealan