School-university partnership and teachers’ professional learning communities in China: a five-year case study of a group of schools

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study explored organisational learning activities in professional development communities based on school-university partnerships through a case study in China. Data were drawn from a five-year case study based on observation, interview and field notes collected from a cross-school professional learning community between late 2018 and summer 2022. Analyses of the findings revealed that school-university partnership facilitated teachers’ learning in three stages. This study suggests a ‘power/learning mechanisms/learning value’ model for understanding organisational learning in school-university partnerships in teachers’ professional learning in China.