This paper is derived from the research project: Collaborative networks in education. Critical teaching for an inclusive society by the Ministry of Science and Innovation (PID2022-138882OB-100), whose main purpose is, on the one hand, to analyse, understand and generate collaborative networks in education based on the recognition of educational projects, programmes and experiences; and, on the other hand, from the trajectory of research with and in educational centres where paths, routes, relationships and links are becoming visible for thinking about and developing another type of teacher training (Márquez, et al., 2020; Leite Méndez and Velazco Fano, 2022). The project is based on 15 case studies of various collaborative projects and collaborative research between the University and the community in general, involving social and educational institutions. We understand the formation of networks as a horizontal support and framework for research and accompaniment of educational and social processes (Martagón, et al., 2024; Ceip Gracia, et al., 2025). Networking as a framework, relationship and link allows us to think of a different university that not only transmits or guides processes of knowledge generation, formation and construction, often in a unidirectional way, but also the possibility of co-construction, co-research and co-creation of new spaces for relationship, production and social openness. In this sense, the idea of a third space proposed by authors such as Bhabha (2013) and Zeichner (2010) is relevant. We can also talk about hybrid spaces where encounters take place based on difference, dissent and the recognition of contexts with a critical, intersectional and decolonial perspective (Rivas Flores, et al., 2022). This allows us to move towards other visions of the university as a generator of other movements and practices based on situationality, the horizontality of knowledge (Corona Berkin, 2019), complexity and uncertainty (Morín, 1995). The case studies include educational and social contexts, urban and rural settings, curricular areas, management, artistic movements, music, theatre, and social and psychological unrest. They give shape to different projects, programmes, and experiences with diverse participants: students, social collectives, teachers from different educational levels (early childhood, primary, secondary, university), and other networks (Ocaña, et al., 2025).

For the purposes of this communication, we analyse one of the cases developed through collaboration with educational centres based on three experiences of articulation between the university and the school. This collaboration is characterised by the work between university students and teachers, teachers and students from three educational centres in urban and rural areas, where synergies and collaborative experiences have been generated between the students and teachers of the centres themselves. Thus, we experience processes of real participation where teacher training is permeated by these experiences, which lead us to think about processes of identity and belonging that build identity and belonging (of students and teachers) to the educational community as an alternative form of training from the beginning of university life (Leite, et al., 2025).

The methodological approach is geared towards collaborative and participatory research. From the outset, the research has taken a collaborative approach with and from the participating centres. In this sense, the recognition and evaluation of educational projects has remained at the core of the research. The opportunity to be part of the educational community, sharing ideas and engaging in situated learning, constitutes a form of training and research that breaks with the established norm. This research is far removed from extractivist practices that collect information to exploit the results without transforming the reality in which it is developed. On the contrary, the main objective is a transformation based on the joint analysis of contexts, focusing on listening and assuming dialogue as the main strategy. The entire process is based on free and informed participation, supported by accompanying teachers in their daily routine (beyond specific observations), leisurely conversations (rather than specific interviews) and group meetings. This facilitates the sharing of uncertainties, expectations and desires to make their centres a more humane place for the families and students who pass through them. Participation takes place in classes, staff meetings, gatherings organised by the centre, collaborative production of teaching materials or articles that report on the research, participation with the community, design of activities, seminars and reflection meetings. The centres are part of the process of identity building for education students in a two-way movement: from the participation of students and teachers in the centres and from critical reflection on training by the University, recognising the conditions, limitations and possibilities that arise when experiencing the educational system in the daily life of the institutions. The strategies used to identify and understand the collaboration processes are: Interviews with teaching staff, families and volunteers about the educational project, their own involvement, contributions and possibilities, as well as providing the university teaching staff's point of view on the experience. Meetings with students who collaborate with the centres to reflect on their own learning, feelings and experiences. Analysis of documentation, production by the centres and production by the students. The information generated is analysed jointly by both students and teachers to identify dimensions, elements or aspects that make collaborative work, participation and community involvement possible.

From the perspective of participation and collaborative work as the focus of the research, some challenges for teacher training are emerging from the prism of coexistence and immersion in educational projects and the educational community. We mention some aspects that can articulate the training processes at the university with the life of educational institutions: -Continuity and discontinuity of teaching teams to sustain projects. This research has demonstrated the importance of management teams in terms of how the educational project is undertaken, sustaining democratic practices and shared leadership, and facilitating the learning process by being open to proposals from teachers, families and students. -Committed collaboration, which means not only being present in the centres but also being an active part of the community that it forms together with other cultural and social agents and families. Participating in activities, learning about the needs and possibilities of each centre, and contributing, both institutionally and personally, as volunteers do. Learning about the project and understanding how it impacts the academic and personal development of students, both schoolchildren and trainee teachers, and the recognition and advancement of the community context. -Need for diverse spaces between the university and the school to share, learn and discuss one's own professional development, training or other issues of concern but which are blocked by the urgencies of everyday life. - The neoliberal context in which public schools operate requires us to keep in mind the conditions, constraints, bureaucratic mechanisms, and different rules of the game that govern them. This is especially true when we consider the advance of privatisation in education, where the basic right to education is being challenged and collaboration compromised. Collaboration between public institutions stands as an act of resistance.

Corona Berkin, S. (2019) Horizontal knowledge production. University of Guadalajara. Cortés González, P., Leite Méndez, A., Mañas Olmo, M. and Calvo León, P. (2025) Secondary education and community engagement. An ethnographic study at the IES Sierra de Yeguas Comprehensive Secondary School, In J.I. Rivas Flores; R. Anguita Martínez; J. Valverde Berrocoso; A. Ocaña Fernández (coords.). Nomads of knowledge: analysis of disruptive practices in secondary education. (pp. 29-55). Octaedro Bhabha, H. (2013) The Place of Culture. Manantial Leite-Méndez, A.E., Rivas-Flores, J.I., Nieto-Martínez, M. and Martagón-Vázquez, V.(2025) New spaces for teacher training: Training reports based on collaboration with educational centres. Revista Cocar. 45, pp. 1 - 22 Leite-Mendez, A. E. and Velazco-Fano, P. (2022) School and University: opening new paths for learning, collaboration, social and political commitment. In D. Madrid Vivar and Mº R. Pascual Lacal (coords.) Good practices in Early Childhood Education. Madrid. Dykinson Ebook. P.811/822. Márquez-García, M.J., Kirsch, W., Leite-Méndez, A.E.(2020) Learning and collaboration in pre-service teacher education: Narrative analysis in a service-learning experience at Andalusian public schools, Teaching and Teacher Education, Volume 96, 2020, 103187, ISSN 0742-051X, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2020.103187. Martagón Vázquez, V., González Triviño, B., Mata Padilla, M. T., Ortiz Gálvez, C., Guerrero-Strachan García, P., Leite Méndez, A. E., & Rivas Flores, J. I. (2024). Educational organisation and management from the community. Openness, participation and shared leadership. Journal of the Institute for Educational Research, 15(22). https://doi.org/10.30972/riie.16228045 Morin, E. (1995). Epistemology of complexity. In D. F. Schitman, New paradigms, culture and subjectivity. Paidós. CEIP Gracia; CEIP María de la O; CEIP Prácticas n.º 1; CEPR San José de Calasanz; EI Zapata; PROCIE-UMA Research Group. (2025) Community networks that support public schools: collaboration and openness as tools for change, In M.J. Márquez, P. Calvo, V. Martagón and P. Fernández (coords) Collaboration, learning and educational co-involvement. Pro-community experiences in higher education. Octaedro. Pp.17-32 Ocaña-Fernández, A., Leite-Méndez, A.E, Del Río-Fernández, J.L. and Martagón-Vázquez, V. (2025) Possibilities and challenges of collaborative teaching networks between university and school: a multi-case study. Latin American Journal of Educational Technology 24 (2) pp.69-85. https://doi.org/10.17398/1695-288X.24.2.69 Rivas Flores, J. I., Márquez García, M. J., Calvo León, P. and Martagón Vázquez, V. (2022). Community and school relations: a counter-hegemonic proposal from the University. Izquierda Journal, 51, 1-12. Zeichner, K. (2010). Rethinking the Connections Between Campus Courses and Field Experiences in College- and University-Based Teacher Education. Journal of Teacher Education, 61(1-2), 89-99. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022487109347671