This paper explores the challenges and affordances of a national-scale scheme, funded by the professional regulator for teachers in the Republic of Ireland, which was designed to partner university-based researchers with schools to support teachers’ engagement with research on problems of practice.

Engagement with research has long been a widely-held ambition for the teaching profession (BERA-RSA 2014; OECD 2022), but routes to developing capacity for research engagement have been difficult given the competing demands of teaching and the cultural norms with respect to research use (Malin et al. 2020).

There has been extensive writing for over a century on a “theory-practice” or “research-practice” gap (Dewey 1904; Korthagen & Kessels, 1999; McGarr et al. 2017). Teachers can perceive a hierarchy where theory is ‘aloof within the ivory tower, espousing ideals and the principles that govern them’ (Smagorinsky, Cook, & Johnson, 2003, p. 1399), and practice has little reciprocal impact on theory (Knight, 2014). There is a recognition that one element to resolving this gap is recognising the dialogic relationship between research/theory and practice. That is to suggest that teachers’ engagement with research ought to be rooted in relevant problems of practice that teachers are motivated to address, and that evidence-informed practice involves contextual adaptation of research; sometimes known as practical theorising (McIntyre 2005). Such practical theorising in professional learning can be supported through relationships with university-based researchers (Burn & Harries 2021).

There is good evidence to support the benefits of collaboration between teachers and university-based researchers (Jones et al. 2022). Researchers in universities are well positioned to provide support to a school if they are well matched on the area of expertise relevant to the school’s interest area or problem of practice (McLaughlin & Black-Hawkins 2007). Of course, the professional realities of teachers and academic researchers are quite different. Their skills sets and needs will also differ. The differences may be complementary and mutually supportive (Cai et al. 2018), but there also needs to be attention paid to how collaborative endeavours address their differing professional needs.

The ongoing sustainability of partnerships also requires attention; Often such collaborative projects are funded through research grants awarded to university-based researchers or universities into which teachers or schools are recruited (e.g., Hamza et al 2017). It is far rarer to have a funded programme at a national scale to support teachers to explore problems of practice in partnership with an experienced educational researcher but, where these have existed, the impacts have been positive. For example, Simons et al. (2003) observed overwhelming testimony of teachers in the value of the experience, a rediscovery of professional confidence, a growth in familiarity with research practices situated in teachers’ own contexts.

The policy direction in the Republic of Ireland has placed increasing importance on the use of research in practice (Murphy 2020). As part of this, the professional regulator for teachers (the Teaching Council) has implemented a range of initiatives to support teachers’ engagement with and in research. This paper explores one of these initiatives, the Researchers in Residence Scheme (RiRS). The scheme was intended to promote teachers’ ongoing learning through exploring existing research in their school context. This may, for example, be through interrogating, synthesising, sharing, and applying research in their practice. Each school was partnered with a university-based researcher to support their engagement with research. This paper reports initial findings from a project which sought to understand the challenges and affordances of the RiRS scheme for all stakeholders involved. The findings have the potential to be informative across European contexts where there is potential to initiate funding schemes and partnerships.

The scheme was launched in January 2022, seeking university-based researchers’ expressions of interest to support schools to engage with research. 73 such expressions of interest were received and made available to all schools to review. 52 schools submitted applications for funding, listing the topic or problem they wished to explore and nominating a teacher to be a research leader. Schools could also suggest a university-based researcher to work with. 30 schools were funded (€2000), 21 named a university-based researcher, and the remainder were matched with a researcher by the Teaching Council. Very few parameters were placed on the collaborations, but the scheme was intended to involve engagement “with” research rather than “in” research, for which there was another funding scheme. The overarching research question being addressed in this paper is “What are the challenges and affordances of a national funding scheme to partner schools and university-based researchers to support teachers’ engagement with research?” Further to this, sub-questions focused on exploring the expectation of university-based researchers and teachers when embarking in the project, how the partnership supports the goals and needs of partners, and what opportunities and barriers emerged during the implementation of the partnerships. This research was conducted by an external university-based researcher in collaboration with a team of staff within the Teaching Council who were responsible for the implementation of the funding scheme. Data were captured through surveys, interviews, and fieldnotes from school visits. Schools and university-based researchers were invited by email from the Teaching Council to complete surveys at the beginning (26 schools; 18 researchers) and at the end of their projects (12 schools; 13 researchers). A member of the Teaching Council staff conducted 15 school visits between March and June 2023. During school visits detailed fieldnotes were produced with the consent of the schools and with guidance from the external researcher. Interviews with 4 university-based researchers (representing 10 of the partnerships in total) and 2 members of the Teaching Council staff were conducted by the external researcher in Autumn 2023. Ethical approval was granted by the external researchers’ university ethics committee prior to data collection. The analysis was driven by the research interest in the expectations and needs of all actors, as well as the challenges and opportunities experienced in the implementation of the scheme. All data were reviewed holistically and organised with respect to their meaning to generate themes (Braun & Clarke 2022).

Dimensions of engagement While the investigation sought to understand the ‘affordances’ and ‘challenges’, the findings are nuanced. Different dimensions of the implementation emerged, along which there were a spectrum of experiences. For example, in relation to: 1) The nature of the relationship between schools and the university-based researcher. 2) The form of research engagement utilised. 3) The nature and extent of collaboration within and beyond the school. The paper will present a conceptualisation of these various dimensions and argue there is no singular ‘best’ model for partnership or research engagement. Instead, we recognise that schools will be at different starting points with respect to their research engagement, with different problems of practice and different contextual circumstances. The findings do, however, offer some indicative conceptualisations and directions for more helpful practices in generating productive partnerships. It is further argued that notions of a binary of engagement ‘in’ versus engagement ‘with’ unnecessary generated issues. Benefits for stakeholders The findings of the study suggest over-arching positivity of the scheme and demonstrate real potential for impact on practice and senses of professionalism and professional identity. University-based researchers also reported positive benefits to their partnerships with schools, such as forging ongoing relationships and seeing research having real impact. Elucidating these potential tangible benefits will be important for the ongoing sustainability of running such schemes. Challenges in the process Being the inaugural implementation of this scheme, there was a high degree of flexibility afforded to the awarded partners in how they conducted their projects. Although the trust and professional autonomy was valued, unclear expectations also generated challenges when managing some projects. This tension between autonomy and guidance is one which needs careful consideration. Furthermore, the differences in the professional lives and needs of teachers and university-based researchers emerged as a challenge that ought to be considered.

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