Learning communities today - who benefits?

Abstract

This paper examines the benefits of learning communities today and introspects the risks and dilemmas that confront communities of learners as they embark on school/university partnerships designed to integrate research, theory and excellent teaching practice. Building from case studies of two separate pre-service teacher education programs at Griffith University (Gold Coast Campus) and James Cook University (Cairns Campus), we identify some of the differences that exist between schools and universities. We discuss the conflicts that arise when they attempt to collaborate in the area of teacher preparation (early childhood, primary, middle years of schooling and secondary). We contend that when such conflicts are acknowledged and worked on in a positive manner by the relevant stakeholders, they become crucial to the development of robust partnerships, innovative approaches to teacher preparation and provision of interesting professional learning development to a wide range of recipients in diverse communities.