Collaboration in Chile to Develop a District-Wide Pedagogical Framework: How's the Partnership Progressing? (Poster 3)

• In Event: Bridging the Gap: Enhancing Research Use in Research-Practice Partnerships Based Across the Globe

Abstract

Purpose and theoretical framework
This poster presents findings from a study on the collaboration process between a local school district and a research university as they form a research-practice partnership (RPP). We use the definition of RPPs by Farrell et al. (2021) to analyze our developing partnership. From this perspective, we apply Farrell et al. (2021) proposed principles for RPPs –long-term collaborations oriented toward improvement or equitable transformation, engagement with research, intentional organization to bring diverse expertise, and use of strategies to shift power relationships– as a framework to study RPP's features and critical points in the process of becoming an actual partnership.

Methods
This study focuses on a first collaboration attempt that involved teams from a school district and a research university, who sought to identify problems of practice (Fishman et al., 2013) that both groups' knowledge and expertise could address. They negotiated a focus on defining the pedagogical framework for the district's schools. University researchers helped the district identify the central ideas that different school members (students, teachers, and leadership teams) valued, using a participatory action-research approach (Campano et al., 2015) that included interviews, mandala visualization (Palmer et al., 2014), and Lego™-based workshops. The findings from such research became a resource for the district's vision and allowed the partners to experience and study our attempt to become an RPP. Data comprised meeting notes, documents, research plans, reports, and partner and partners' interviews. We analyzed these data using a qualitative exploratory approach using content (Gläser-Zikuda et al., 2020) and thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2021).

Findings and Significance
Preliminary findings show that our partnership is an emerging collaborative endeavor that has advanced some steps to become a partnership as per Farrell et al. (2021) principles. There is an explicit commitment to school improvement that the partners share as a common goal. However, there is tension in the partnership around defining learning in the district's schools, as identified in the collaboration studied, where a much more explicit focus was placed by participating schools on collaboration as a shared value. Partners are committed to long-term collaboration and focus on understanding how to improve educational outcomes. This focus would require collective inquiry with contextual data, even though the mechanisms to maintain this focus in the long run are still developing. In the poster, we will share our reflection on the conditions that promote and hinder the development of collaboration between research and practice teams that contribute to problems of practice raised by communities, discussing the progress of this partnership.
This study contributes to the growing knowledge about RPPs in a global context, particularly in the Latin American context, where these collaborations have only recently been considered possible and beneficial for education improvement.

Authors

• Florencia Gomez Zaccarelli, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile

• Susana Mendive, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile

• Magdalena Claro, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile

• Horacio Solar, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile

• Javiera Marfán, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile

• Juan Saldaña, Servicio Local de Educación Pública

• Camila Núñez, Servicio Local de Educación Pública