Intercultural and International Reciprocal Learning for the Improvement of School Education: Stories from a Toronto-Shanghai Sister School Network

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

Studies have demonstrated the potential of school networks in promoting educational quality and school transformation in the 21st century (Dobyn & Ark, 2018). School networks allow collective knowledge creation and information sharing at the classroom, school, and system levels (Mifsud, 2020). They are uniquely positioned to advance large-scale educational reforms, foster innovation, overcome educational isolation and build educational capacity (Mifsud, 2020).

In this panel, an international team of university researchers and school teachers share their experiences of developing and studying a school network which aims at promoting collaborations and reciprocal learning between Toronto and Shanghai school educators for the enrichment of school lives and communities. This Toronto-Shanghai school network is a component of the Canada-China Sister School Network program that forms the backbone of the 7-year Canada-China Reciprocal Learning Partnership (RLP) Project, supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) and co-directed by two Canadian professors. Since 2013, the Canada-China Sister School Network has promoted inter-school partnerships between more than 40 schools in Toronto, Windsor (Canada), Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing and Changchun (China). Guided by the idea of “reciprocal learning as collaborative partnership” (Connelly & Xu, 2019, 2020; Xu & Connelly, 2017; Xu, 2017, 2019), the program provided a platform for researchers and school educators from Canada and China to engage in collaborative inquiries as well as intercultural reciprocal learning through working on joint projects. As of 2021, more than 200 researchers (including graduate student researchers), 344 pre-service teachers, and over 200 school educators from Canada and China have participated in the RLP's Sister School Network program.

Xu and Connelly’s (2015, 2017) idea of “reciprocal learning as collaborative partnership” frames the development of the Canada-China Sister School Network. Grounded in Schwab’s (2013) notion of "the Practical," “reciprocal learning as collaborative partnership” goes beyond the idea that two or more people or groups may learn from one another to the idea that one society’s historical-cultural narratives could convey meaning and be useful to another society’s different historical-cultural narratives (Xu & Connelly, 2015). Within the Canada-China Sister School Network, educators from different Canadian and Chinese schools have an opportunity to come into direct contact, explore and learn from each other’s knowledge, values, and teaching methods. Researchers from different Canadian and Chinese universities are also encouraged to work collaboratively and reciprocally with Sister School educators to engage in research projects that bring practical changes and improvements to schools and educators’ lives.

The stories presented in this panel are the result of a joint inquiry into the experiences of researchers and teachers participating in the Toronto-Shanghai Sister School network. Narrative inquiry, alongside ethnographic fieldwork methods, is used to explore how intercultural, international reciprocal learning between Toronto and Shanghai educators has enriched the lives of principals and teachers and improved curriculum, teaching and learning in their schools and classroom.

The panel begins with an overview of the Canada-China Reciprocal Learning Partnership Project as well as the history of the Toronto-Shanghai Sister School network and the theoretical and methodological framework that shapes its development. Next, it showcases different examples of collaborative projects that have been developed by partnering Toronto and Shanghai teachers through reciprocal learning interactions. Principals and teachers’ transformative reciprocal-learning experiences, as well as their impact on curriculum, teaching and learning, will be highlighted in this panel. Canadian and Chinese researchers' reflections on their participation in the school network will be shared.

Overall, this panel demonstrates the potential of an international school network in improving school education through promoting intercultural reciprocal learning partnerships amongst school educators and researchers. It further illustrates concrete ways in which intercultural reciprocal learning can take place between Canadian and Chinese schools and K-12 educators with the support of university researchers. Despite tensions between Canada and China and numerous challenges encountered when fostering reciprocal learning among Toronto and Shanghai schools and educators, the panel shows how bottom-up, inquiry-based and mutually cooperative working relationships among school practitioners and researchers were what allowed a West-East reciprocal learning partnership to improve school education and teacher practices in both Canadian and Chinese settings.

Sub Unit

• Educational Improvement SIG

Chair

• yuhua bu, Faculty of Education, East China Normal University

Individual Presentations

• Reciprocal learning as collaborative partnership: Canada-China reciprocal learning partnership in teacher education and school education - Shijing Xu, University of Windsor; Michael Connelly, OISE/University of Toronto

• From Me to We: Our journey as reciprocal teachers and learners - Lang Qin; Meng Dai, East China Normal University

• West-East Reciprocal Learning through collaborative inquiries around water education - Michael Connelly, OISE/University of Toronto; Yishin Khoo, University of Windsor

• Priceless Friendship: 15 Years of Reciprocal Learning between a Shanghai-Toronto Sister School Pair - yuhua bu, Faculty of Education, East China Normal University; Meng Dai, East China Normal University

Discussant

• Jun Li, Western University