Working Relationally to Bridge the Divide: An Exploration of An Australian School-University Professional Experience Partnership form the Perspectives of Five Stakeholders.

The theory to practice divide has long been a recurring theme across international research literature on initial teacher education (ITE). It refers primarily to the tension between university-based learning about teaching, which is seen as theoretical, and school-based learning, which is seen as situated practical experience (Baumfield and Butterworth, Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice 13:411–427, 2007; Ng et al., Teaching and Teacher Education 26:278–289, 2010; Nguyen and Loughland, Teaching Education 29:81–97, 2018). In an attempt to bridge the theory to practice divide and enhance quality-integrated professional experience, Australian policy reform has focused on university and schools establishing strong partnerships that deliver a collaborative approach to ITE. This chapter presents a study of one such school–university partnership that has sought to develop an authentic relationship between school and university teacher educators through the co-design and shared delivery of a core professional experience course (term “course” is used to describe an individual subject or unit) within an undergraduate ITE program in Australia. Using a case study methodology that incorporated a collaborative, autoethnographic approach (Hernandez et al., Auto/Biography Studies 32:251–254, 2017), we were all active participants in the partnership, shared their experiences and respective motives for engaging in this cross-institutional endeavour. Findings from this study offer insights into how universities and schools can reconnect through the co-design and shared delivery of ITE courses, building strong, mutually beneficial, and trusting relationships that help eliminate the perceived theory–practice divide.