School-university partnerships to support professional learning

The University of Hertfordshire has a long tradition of working with schools and other education settings. Much of this work has been through accredited undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. Since 2012, changes to the delivery of initial teacher training across the sector have impacted on how universities work with schools (Universities UK, 2014). The movement towards school-led training has shifted the balance of power between schools and universities; partnership models between schools and universities are being re-shaped (Brown et al., 2015: 19). While partnerships between schools and universities remain around the broad areas of initial teacher education, continuing professional development, and research and consultancy, the emphasis has moved away from paternal, university-led partnerships towards those based on collaboration, mutuality, and reciprocity (Handscomb et al., 2014). It was with these underpinnings that the partnership between the School of Education at the University of Hertfordshire and Canons High School was developed.