This volume looks at school-university partnerships from sociocultural perspectives of learning that view participation in social practice as fundamental to the process of learning. Its two major themes – school-university partnership and sociocultural and social theories of learning – have both been treated extensively in the literature. It is the bringing together of these two themes that makes this book unique.

In this examination of an evolving model of school-university partnership, the Unified Professional Development Project in Hong Kong, the authors analyze the learning that takes place as the participants (student-teachers, mentor teachers, and university supervisors) mutually engage in the enterprise of improving teaching and learning in schools, developing shared practices, and creating new communities of practice. Although it describes one specific context, the book is not just about this locale. Rather, the Unified Professional Development Project is used as a context for theorizing more generally a social theory of learning for school-university partnerships that is relevant to any other similar context.

This book will interest teacher educators, researchers in teacher education and teacher development, policy makers, and school practitioners who are involved in school-university partnerships.