Towards a network learning system: reflections on a university initial teacher education and school-based collaborative initiative in Chile

Abstract

This article focuses on the development of a network learning system to enhance professional learning in Initial Teacher Education (ITE) through collaboration in a university–school partnership. The Chilean education system, characterised by market-oriented reforms and competition, serves as a unique context where to explore the development of an initiative designed to reframe relationships between ITE staff and school teachers with the purpose of reducing the distance between academic preparation and the day-to-day realities of teaching in schools. The findings of this exploratory study offer optimistic insights on how the initiative becomes a space for building trust and relationships among professionals and disrupts boundaries between institutions enhancing teacher professional learning, which are particularly promising given the policy context.