Professional Learning and Development Partnerships as a Vehicle for Teacher Empowerment in Ireland

Abstract

Directly attributable to national policy directives in initial teacher education in the Republic of Ireland over the past two decades, there has been significant research in the area of schooluniversity partnerships. This chapter explores the partnership between two university lecturers and seven early career teachers engaged in a participatory action learning action research study. As a community of practice, the focus was on the domain of leadership for inclusion. The partnership evolved from a need to bridge the theory-practice gap and to prevent a washout of learning from initial teacher education at the university to subsequent professional practice at the school level. It was partially funded by the Teaching Council of Ireland. Project outcomes point to a very effective partnership, whereby teachers were empowered at the individual, community, organisation, and wider professional levels, whilst also empowering others at each of those levels throughout the wider professional learning and development partnership.