Educational Partnerships and the Challenge of Educational Reform

This chapter considers the concept of a partnership or shared journey in education from two perspectives:

• 1. Is the partnership or shared journey a context of productive learning?

• 2. How well are the partners listening to each other as they work together?

The perspective of a context of productive learning is drawn from the work of Sarason (1996, 2004), while the significance of listening is drawn from the work of Cook-Sather (2002). As I build on the preceding four chapters, I also extend those chapters by introducing issues and experiences from preservice teacher education, the educational context that I know best. The central focus is on Sarason’s claim that education must involve contexts for productive learning. The chapter begins by revisiting the examples of shared journey and partnership provided in the preceding four chapters. Then the perspectives of Sarason and Cook-Sather are introduced briefly prior to their illustration in an account of a personal journey shared with a teacher education colleague over the last 8 years. The chapter concludes with consideration of several issues relevant to judging the quality of a shared journey or partnership.