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.