Partners in practice: Establishing a system for educational development towards student participation

“Partners in practice” is a partnership between researchers in teacher education and schools. The project seeks to develop a teaching practice that accentuates student participation. Earlier attempts to develop practice indicate that a quick-fix solution to this challenge does not exist, and the project thus aims at establishing systems that stimulate gradual development over time. At the core of these systems are the participants' collaborative development and exploration of examples of practice. These examples will then be shared on the platform “Language tracks”. The project involves the school subjects Norwegian language, mathematics, science and social studies. The project consists of three main parts. The first part is organized around the establishment of subject-specific groups of teachers and researchers that collaborate on developing practice through crafting and exploring specific worked examples. These examples are manifestations of a teaching practice that promotes student participation, and they are often grounded in work on a particular problem. These problems can be texts, mathematical problems or different kinds of dilemmas that are up for discussion or investigation. In this first main part of the study, we explore how a dialogic approach to problem-based teaching can be realized in different school subjects, and how a practice like that can support student participation. In the second part of the project, we study how our efforts to explore worked examples influence teachers' and students' conceptions of practice. An underlying assumption is that a teaching practice that is based on investigation of problems will change the conditions for student participation, and in this second part of the project we seek for traces of such change. The third part of the project targets the level of school leaders and stakeholders. We investigate to what extent school leaders acknowledge the possibilities of this approach to developing practice. We believe that such acknowledgement is vital to sustainable development of practice. In the first main part of the project, we have in the course of 2023 and 2024 established subject-specific groups where teachers and researchers have collaboratively explored development of practice. Each group has carried out regular meetings in schools, and this part of the project is being finalized in the autumn of 2024. Worked examples from the partnership have provided a foundation for the development of competence packages in the school subjects of Norwegian language, mathematics, social studies, and science. The first version of these competence packages has already been published on the platform “Language tracks” and made available for schools in the partnership municipalities for use in their own development efforts. In this first part of the project, we wanted to explore how a dialogic approach to problem-based teaching could be realized in different school subjects, and initial analyses of data have indicated challenges that can emerge in this process. Among other things, we have seen how the teachers’ view on themselves as teachers and their own practice might potentially prevent development, and we have also identified how researchers’ attempts to establish equal partnerships can lead to unclear communication in the teacher meetings. In several subject-specific groups, we have experienced the need to adapt the interventions to the teachers’ own practice. Change of practice is challenging, but we already see indications that teachers begin to change the way they talk about their own practice, and the teachers are in a process of exploring new ways of developing their practice toward a more dialogue-based and problem-based approach. In the second main part of the project, we have carried out interviews with teachers and students before the interventions, and the post-interviews will be carried out toward the end of 2024. Initial analyses of the interview data from the pre-interviews indicate that the students did not experience teaching as explorative or dialogue-based beforehand, so there should be opportunities for change in this respect. Analysis of the post-interviews will show if teachers or students experience change, and if they begin to talk about the teaching in new ways. We have planned to commence the third main part of the project in the last half of 2025.

Partners in practice is a partnership between teacher education, researchers and schools with an ambition of developing subject didactics that emphasize student participation. The project will establish a dynamic system for professional development that will connect the separate systems of educational practice and teacher education by developing, exploring and sharing high-quality examples from four subject areas (language arts, mathematics, social studies and science) in local partnerships, framed by a dialogic approach to education. The project is organized into three work packages (WP1-3), linked to the three objectives (O1-3 see the box above) and a set of research questions (RQ1-3) and assumptions: In WP1 we will investigate challenges and opportunities in the partnership-based approach to professional development (RQ1.1), while also focusing on examples of what is possible to achieve (RQ1.2), based on the assumptions that 1) effective professional development must be context-sensitive, realistic, and supported by school leadership, and that 2) teaching with problems can change how teachers plan and perform teaching, and how they understand knowledge and learning. In WP2 we will investigate how the interventions affect the understanding of disciplinary practice and roles among students and teachers (RQ2), based on the assumption that 1) the transmission model of knowledge and learning is a key obstacle for change and that 2) teaching with problems presented as first-hand experience can change the conditions for student participation. In WP3 we will investigate how key stakeholders experience the system for educational development (RQ3). We assume that school leaders and administrators will acknowledge the realistic approach and the understanding of student participation in disciplinary practices. Such acknowledgement is necessary in order to overcome the gravitational pull of traditional practices.