The challenges of school practitioners’ expectations of school-university and school-institute cooperation

Abstract

The present forms of school-university/institute partnership are largely based on the interests of experts in this field. The aim of this study is to research teachers’ and school counsellors’ perceptions of both the existing and desired forms of the partnership. Based on the qualitative content analysis of the materials from the interviews, four dimensions of partnership were mapped: systematicity, practicality, equality and initiative. The study has shown that the current partnership is somewhat sporadic and initiated more by the research needs of experts rather than the practical needs of teachers. The desired partnership would imply the creation of an organised and continuous relationship, whereby the experts would take on the role of a mentor, thus proposing practical solutions and initiating forms of cooperation. Such expectations lead to controversy, and these issues are discussed in the study.