School-university partnerships (or ‘collaborations’) are a growing phenomenon in Europe and beyond; being policy measures designed ostensibly to improve the quality of teacher education by integrating better the university and practice components in teacher education. Developed initially to enhance initial teacher education, the concept of partnership is now being widened to include ongoing professional learning beyond the early phase.

There exists a fairly substantial, and growing, body of literature exploring partnerships, including work which focuses on: barriers to, and conditions for, effective partnership (e.g. Smedley, 2001; McLaughlin & Black-Hawkins, 2004; Kershner et al., 2013); the design of such collaborations (e.g. Edelfelt & Coble, 2004); the experience of the respective partners (e.g. Erickson & Young, 2011); what the various partners learn from each other (e.g. Baumfield & Butterworth, 2007); the aims of such initiatives (e.g.Furlong et al., 2008; Zeichner, 2010; Kennedy & Doherty, 2012; ); outcomes of this way of working (e.g. Anderson & Stillman, 2013 ); and collaborative research between schools and universities (e.g. McLaughlin, 2007).

Most of this research comes from the professional perspective; it attends to the teacher education imperative rather than the HE standpoint. What has been explored less frequently is how such developments in teacher education policy reform fit within established cultures and structures in the higher education environment. This study uses the Scottish context as a case study and explores the extent to which the professional discourse of partnership developed in teacher education policy fits with the wider imperatives and structures within the HE environment, of which teacher education is only a small part. The crux of the matter is that while structural partnerships have been created, they have been created principally between Schools of Education and teachers/local government education officials, and not by the wider university. Indeed, some aspects of partnership working arguably work against the key priorities of the university sector, in particular, the growing emphasis on the production and dissemination of externally funded world-class research. 

In order to explore this potential tension in an empirical way, the study takes Scotland as a case study, examining both policy documentation and the tensions felt by key staff in universities who are required to work within two distinct policy realms: the professional realm of teacher education and the HE realm of the wider university context.

The research questions are:

1. What discourse is evident in key policy documents which promote school-university partnerships in teacher education in Scotland?

2. How do key staff in university Schools of Education (mainly Heads of School) describe the tensions they experience in managing the demands of two different policy realms?

3. What lessons can be taken from this particular case study that might prove helpful in understanding partnership policy development beyond Scotland?

The study is framed by McConnell’s (2010) work on policy success, which presents a three-fold approach to the evaluation of policy. He argues that policy analysts should focus on three strands: process, programs and politics. The politics strand, McConnell argues, is much less well represented in most evaluations than the process or program elements. This study therefore takes a particular focus on the political dimension of the partnership policy in Scotland.

The findings of the study have clear implications for how this policy agenda might be progressed, not only in Scotland, but in Europe and beyond. The work also has implications for the university/practice relationships in a number of other areas of professional education such as social work, law and accountancy.

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