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Leadership, Opinion, Pathways, School Community

Innovative Practice: Creating Dynamic Collaborations Involving Schools, Communities and Universities

werklundpartnership

A little over two years ago I was asked to become the Director of Partner Research Schools, a new initiative in our Werklund School of Education. Delighted at the challenge, I immediately said yes and then wondered, what exactly does this mean? As time passed and people asked me what my role was and what were Partner Research Schools, I found myself stumbling for a response.

werklundpartnership

A little over two years ago I was asked to become the Director of Partner Research Schools, a new initiative in our Werklund School of Education. Delighted at the challenge, I immediately said yes and then wondered, what exactly does this mean? As time passed and people asked me what my role was and what were Partner Research Schools, I found myself stumbling for a response.

Shortly after becoming director and during an informal conversation with a friend discussing my new role, she posed a question regarding the idea of community involvement with Partner Research Schools. She went on to say that she was on the board of the Rozsa Foundation and that the president was looking to collaborate on a research project regarding the ‘arts’ in schools. For me, I had at the time only visualized partnerships with school authorities and the idea of working with community partners as well made so much sense and opened up so many more possibilities! That conversation eventually led to a collaborative research project with a number of schools in the Calgary Separate School District. Funding was generously provided by the foundation as well as the Werklund School of Education to support the research. Students in middle schools as well as their teachers were directly impacted by the work of this research project, which involved the principal researcher, Brittany Harker Martin, Director of the Youth Werklund Leadership Centre who examined student engagement, creativity and innovation.

As the idea of a collaborative model evolved, our committee representing senior administration from a number of school jurisdictions worked together to define what the meaning of Partner Research Schools represented. After about four months of meetings, discussions, and debating, we came up with the following definition that reflected our understanding of the term Partner Research Schools:

Partner Research Schools (PRS) are dynamic collaborations among schools, communities, and universities leading innovation through research-active inquiry and practice. The Partner Research Schools initiative is aligned with the Education Research Framework document ratified 2011 by the Education Research Partnership Committee and guided by the Inspiring Education document. 

In addition to developing a definition for Partner Research Schools, we also designed a Letter of Interest, Memorandum of Agreement signed by eight school authorities in April 2013, and a three-year strategic plan.

Our initiative was designed to create opportunities for academic staff and schools to work together around a research project/question. A research project may also include experts from various community agencies (e.g., theatre, museums, and foundations).   The richness of a Partner Research School project is that it fosters collaboration among stakeholders in the school, school jurisdictions, and the larger community. This research might include formalizing a question regarding such ideas as: classroom practice, curriculum areas, examining diversity, technology integration in teaching and learning, universal design and assessment of, for and as learning.

The launching of our website (www.werklund.ucalgary.ca/prs) and our most recent event involving two panel presentations, Research Collaborations and Possibilities to Support Change and Innovation: What Does and Can Collaborative Research Look Like in a Quasi A-Political Environment? has resulted in an increased interest in collaborative partnerships. To put it more bluntly, since this event, I have had four possible collaborative partners connecting with school authorities and our faculty members!

This exciting journey continues with the Partner Research School’s initiative and what I have found most fascinating is the many other benefits that have evolved from our work.   Faculty members have been asked to present at school board’s professional development days for teachers, connections with faculty and their work has been made with particular schools, requests have been made for conference presentations regarding Partner Research Schools, and senior administration and teachers in school are interested in pursuing graduate work with particular faculty members. Many connections and many professional relationships have developed!


This blog post is part of CEA’s focus on The New School Community, which is also connected to Education Canada Magazine’s The New School Community theme issue and a Facts on Education fact sheet How does parent involvement in education affect children’s learning?  Please contact info@cea-ace.ca if you would like to contribute a blog post to this series.

Meet the Expert(s)

Cynthia Prasow

Cynthia Prasow is the Director of Student Experiences and the Director of Partner Research Schools at the University of Calgary’s Werklund School of Education. Cynthia’s work has been focusing on the areas of research initiatives for faculty, schools and the community. Her background is as a Specialist in Early Childhood Education (BEd, MEd) and her work has focused on early education, teacher education, professional development, and supporting pre-service teachers in field experiences. 

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