Researcher/teacher collaboration: a symbiotic relationship

Many teachers are reluctant to have researchers in their classrooms for a range of reasons. According to Caruso (1997), these included teachers being distracted from their main tasks in an already overloaded work environment. This paper tracks the experiences of a researcher and a teacher, working together in a classroom. What transpired was a mutually beneficial relationship between researcher, teacher and the students. This Year 10 class had several identified students with learning difficulties, but they took on a class task to develop their own research project. The students were thoroughly engaged and completed a complex task successfully with the support of the class teacher and the researcher. This paper argues that the teacher/researcher relationship can be beneficial for all parties. A paradigm shift that allows for teachers and researchers working together in classrooms helps create authentic pedagogical experiences. The outcome can be transformative for the teacher, more effective for the researcher, and enriching for students' learning