Research engaged schools promote enquiry stances by teachers, and the use of published research and other school evidence; they are outward looking and connect to the research community (Godfrey & Brown, 2019). In these schools, research is integrated into the lives of teachers and school leaders, as part of the structures and cultures of the organization. In this qualitative case study, a research engaged school is studied to address the following questions:

• What are the perceptions and attitudes towards the use of research among teachers and school leaders in a research-engaged school, and why?
• How can research engagement be observed in behaviors, communications, and practices of educators?
• How can research engagement be observed in artefacts in the school environment and in documentation of values, visions, and practices?

To analyze this, two separate theoretical lenses will be used. First, the research engagement will be seen through the optics of Etienne Wenger’s (1998) social theory of learning, conceptualizing the school as a community of practice. This entails an exploration into how the research engagement is reified in the organizational culture, as well as how participation enhances and reproduces a research rich culture.

           Second, the  culture and structure of the case school will be analyzed using a framework for multi-level mechanisms of research use (Hagevold et al., under review), in an effort to understand how trust, skills development, sustainable structures, and relationships shape and affect research use in practice.

To select the school for this single-case study, a purposive, criterion-based sampling method was employed, leveraging the expertise of a municipal school leader with deep institutional knowledge of the municipality’s schools. This leader identified a specific case that met five key benchmarks for research engagement: the promotion of practitioner research, a commitment to interpreting published studies, active participation in external university-led programs, the integration of research into decision-making at all levels, and an outward-looking orientation sustained through research-based partnerships. This expert-led approach ensured the selection of an information-rich case where research engagement is deeply embedded in the school’s professional culture. The identified school accepted to participate in the case study. Case studies can be defined as “an in-depth investigation of a specific real-life project, policy, institution, program or system from multiple perspectives in order to catch its complexity and uniqueness” (Cohen et al., 2017, p. 375). In its nature, a case study is eclectic, and can include multiple methods to investigate and answer the research questions. The research questions in this case study will be addressed through three types of data gathering: 1. Group interviews of teachers and school leaders. (Conducted autumn 25) 2. Field notes from observations of staff meetings, leader team meetings, and team meetings. (to be carried out spring 26) 3. Document analysis of the school's strategies, and visible artefacts in the school environment (to be carried out spring 26) Data from all three sources will be analyzed using both inductive and deductive approaches.

This case study is currently in early stages of data analysis. The expected outcome of this case study is a deeper understanding of how teachers and school leaders in research engaged schools perceive, understand, value and practice research use. Furthermore, it is expected that we find that trust, skills development, sustainable structures, and relationships are important mechanisms that govern this use. Finally, seeing research engagement as a product of reification and participation in a community of practice, can highlight that its sustainability is rooted in the shared artifacts and the collaborative processes of the professional community itself.

Cohen, L., Manion, L., & Morrison. Keith. (2017). Research Methods in Education (8th ed.). Routledge. Godfrey, D., & Brown, C. (2019). An eco-system for research engaged schools: Reforming education through research. Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge Core. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511803932 Hagevold, C.G., Forsström, S.E, & Keles, S. (under review). Research on research use in schools: A systematic review with framework synthesis