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Just finished writing a chapter for a new Springer book (in press) – edited by Green, C. & Eady, M.

Creating and Sustaining Purposeful School-University Partnerships : Building Connections across Diverse Educational Settings

The chapter I wrote is titled:

“Invitations, Impact, and Involvement: Tales from successful school–university partnerships in STEM and STEAM in Australian schools”.

Here is the abstract:

This chapter details research the author conducted as an academic partner in three school–university partnerships with 14 schools in New South Wales, Australia, each instigated and funded by groups of school principals from diverse educational settings. Central to these principals’ invitations was a desire to gain insights into initial teacher education and to seek pedagogical expertise in teaching and learning. Noticing the decline in wider bureaucratic involvement in school–university partnerships in research, the principals were keen to ignite, and construct, sustained professional relationships for experienced teachers and middle leaders within their own school settings. Over 4 years, 59 teachers engaged in inquiry-based learning sequences to build their confidence and capacity to integrate the Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM) disciplines with the Arts/Humanities. The author used consistent methods of data collection, resource sharing, and bespoke workshops that focused on enhancing teachers’ subject matter expertise in STEM. In 2019 the Australian Research Council awarded this research “high impact” status for its Engagement and Impact Assessment. Findings from the research have culminated in a blueprint for Australian STEM schools. This chapter examines one of the guidelines in this proposal, the role of school-university partnerships involving participatory action research and practitioner inquiry.

Note : the image featured on this page was painted by a 6 year old for the 2023 Young Archie competition. https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/prizes/young-archie/2023/