Politics at the Boundary: Exploring Politics in Education Research-Practice Partnerships

Abstract

The challenges of transforming our educational systems to fulfill enduring needs for equity, justice, and responsiveness will take a multitude of partners. Research-practice partnerships (RPPs) arrange collaboration and engagement with research to bring about shared commitments and resources to tackle these challenges. Just as sociocultural and political dynamics can shape educational politics generally, without close and intentional attention to the politics of starting, operating, and sustaining RPPs, those political dynamics can potentially derail a partnership. In this article, we consider the emerging research on the politics in and around RPPs pursuing educational transformation and propose a framework to reflect these dynamics. To introduce this special issue, we also deconstruct RPP politics into four major phases of RPP work, and describe the articles addressing each phase. This compilation of articles contributes a wealth of expertise and evidence illuminating how politics can shape both RPPs and their goals of equity and transformation.

Closing Research-Practice Gaps in the Delivery of Online Teaching and Learning

“…35-45 ISSN 1916-3460 © 2023 University of Alberta http://ejournals.library.ualberta.ca/index.php/cpi/index challenges (e.g., anxiety and isolation; Curelaru et al, 2022), and magnified racial injustices (e.g., greater risk of severe illness and lifestyle disruption; Henry et al, 2021). Yamashiro et al (2023) add, "we have seen tensions inflamed into outright conflict and even threats of violence over pandemic-related school closures or mandates, book bans, or bans on the teaching of critical race theory or topics related to race or racism; gender, transgender, or LGBTQ+ topics; or school violence and school policing" (p. 5). Even with the most trying period of ERT presumably behind us, the role of online learning environments in addressing and redressing these systemic inequities remains to be seen.…”

“…To be sure, educators and researchers are making inroads in online spaces, but evidence from studies of research-practice partnerships underscores that systemic change is the domain of partnered efforts (Potter et al, 2021). A recent special issue of Educational Policy (see Yamashiro et al, 2023) explored precisely this topic of how partnerships between educators and researchers can address equity issues. In brief, the picture painted by the various authors is that organizing under the "partnership" label is not enough to generate systemic change; progress requires deliberate attention to both how researchers and educators engage equity in their joint work (process/structural equity) as well as the equity impacts of that work (outcome equity; Yamashiro et al, 2023).…”

“…A recent special issue of Educational Policy (see Yamashiro et al, 2023) explored precisely this topic of how partnerships between educators and researchers can address equity issues. In brief, the picture painted by the various authors is that organizing under the "partnership" label is not enough to generate systemic change; progress requires deliberate attention to both how researchers and educators engage equity in their joint work (process/structural equity) as well as the equity impacts of that work (outcome equity; Yamashiro et al, 2023). We echo Potter et al (2021) and contend that for in-person and online environments alike, research-practice collaborations and partnerships are necessary for the work of educational equity and inclusion.…”

“…35-45 ISSN 1916-3460 © 2023 University of Alberta http://ejournals.library.ualberta.ca/index.php/cpi/index strengthen research-practice connections in support of online learning. Naturally, there will also be challenges, such as ensuring that research-practice partnerships do not reproduce ineffective systems (see Villavicencio et al, 2023) and navigating the internal politics of partnered work (e.g., Yamashiro et al, 2023). However, with the prevalence and complexity of online learning only growing with time (e.g., relating to OpenAI's ChatGPT), there is little doubt that the opportunities of stronger connections between education research and practice outweigh any challenges.…”

Political Considerations for Establishing Research-Practice Partnerships in Pursuit of Equity: Organizations, Projects, and Relationships

“…Different definitions of politics in education foreground and background different features of a political analysis (and indeed hold their own explicit and implicit political implications). For example, in the introduction to this volume, Yamashiro et al (2022) cite Wirt and Kirst, who define politics as “a form of social conflict rooted in group differences over values about using public resources for private needs,” and governance as “the process of publicly resolving that group conflict by means of creating and administering public policy” (Wirt & Kirst, 2005, p. 4). In their book on teaching young people about political issues, Hess and McAvoy define political, “as it applies to the role of citizens within a democracy: We are being political when we are democratically making decisions about questions that ask, ‘How should we live together?’” (Hess & McAvoy, 2014, p. 4).…”