Lines of School-University Partnership: Perception, Sensation and Meshwork Reshaping Of Pre-Service Teachers’ Experiences

Abstract

School-university partnerships are complex, entangled and layered. As renewal of initial teacher education is at the forefront, understanding how we approach partnerships is imperative. This paper draws on reflective narratives of a school leader and initial teacher education staff involved in setting up a school-university partnership program. We identify the use of ‘meshworks’, that is complex and layered weaving of ideas or lines (Ingold, 2011; 2015; 2017) – specifically the lines of ‘partnership’, ‘partnership understanding’, ‘involvement’, ‘supporting pre-service teachers’, ‘noticing of pre-service teachers’, and ‘impact’. The analysis of the findings illuminate benefits from co-design and vision, while demonstrating how a call to action from Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) can illuminate how working closely together can support the development of pre-service teachers. We conclude by suggesting that future teacher quality is dependent upon the strength of the intersections of these school-university partnerships.