Realizing the Power and Possibilities of a Collaborative University and School Partnership: CUSP to CUSP2

• In Event: Developing and Strengthening School-University Partnerships

Abstract

The Collaborative University/School Partnership (CUSP) programme reconceptualised the year-one practicum programme for a 3-year Bachelor of Teaching degree for primary teaching in New Zealand. Informed by a developmental evaluation based on a design-based intervention approach we aimed to produce robust explanations of innovative practice and to provide principles that could be used in other settings. Now extended to the year-two practicum (CUSP2), the research highlights the power and possibilities of partnerships that develop common knowledge, relational expertise and relational agency (Edwards, 2010). Wenger’s 1998 community of practice theoretical frame helped explain the complex web of relationships and interactions required to enact, extend and sustain the innovation.

Authors

• Beverley Cooper, University of Waikato

• Bronwen Cowie, University of Waikato