DEVELOPING PARTNERSHIP
THROUGH THIRD SPACE
ACTIVITY
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Research project
James Burch, Dr Alison Jackson –
University of Cumbria 2012
TEAN conference 2013
RESEARCH AIMS
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To explore and evaluate the strategies employed
to develop collaborative provision of teacher
training between schools and HEIs in teacher
education.
To investigate the notion of the use of ‘Third
Space’ to bring about effective collaborative
provision.
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THIRD SPACE
Somewhere in which:
 everything comes together… subjectivity and
objectivity, the abstract and the concrete , the
real and the imagined, the knowable and the
unimaginable, the repetitive and the differential,
structure and agency, mind and body,
consciousness and the unconscious, the
disciplined and the transdisciplinary, everyday
life and unending history.
Soja (1996:57)
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Looking beyond the binary categories of first
[physical] and second [social] spaces’ and
conclude that in a Third Space, these seemingly
opposite binaries can actually work together to
generate ‘new knowledges’.
Moje et al.(2004:42)
 ‘Third Space’ suggests coming out of our normal
working environment (school or university) and
into a neutral ‘third space’ to design, develop and
deliver teacher education with jointly shared
understanding and vision.
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METHODOLOGY AND METHODS
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Small-scale case study, concentrating on a
specific situation in depth within a limited time
scale.
Illuminative Evaluation – to show how existing
knowledge is used to inform and guide practical
action.
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WHAT IS THE SPECIFIC SITUATION?
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The programme and philosophy of the PGCE
secondary programme in one HEI in England.
How to get to a position of ‘enactment’ using a
different form of collaboration (working together,
not with) between HEI tutors and school
mentors.
Using the ‘Third Space’ to enable this
collaboration.
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WHAT WE DID
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Timing – January – December 2012.
Observation of meeting between HEI tutors and
school mentors.
Strand meetings – SEN, literacy, behaviour
management, EAL, coaching and mentoring,
noticing as a disciplined enquiry.
Interviews of members of these groups.
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TERMINOLOGY – INTERVIEW FINDINGS
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Boundary crossing

Third space
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Expansive learning
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Enactment
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FINDINGS FROM THE INTERVIEWS
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An ambitious undertaking
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A scary undertaking
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Getting everybody on board
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Working together or working with?
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Difficulties/drawbacks (and solutions)
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Reflection
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SUMMARY OF MAIN FINDINGS
Hints rather than conclusions and statements for
reflection rather than absolutes.
 Developing partnership through Third Space activity
requires vision.
 That vision requires an enhanced and ‘deeper’
interpretation of ‘working together’ rather than
‘working with’.
 Working together through Third Space activity
requires participants: to embrace change; to challenge
their own assumptions; time.
 Working together through Third Space activity is
complex despite the appearance of simplicity.
 Working together through Third Space activity needs
to be founded upon a common moral purpose.
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SUMMARY OF MAIN FINDINGS
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Effective partnership between schools and
universities has been evolving over time, suggesting
that working together through Third Space is
potentially the next part of that evolution.
Working together through Third Space activity is an
ambitious ideal.
Some drawbacks/difficulties are: getting everybody on
board; time; finance; quality control; logistics; conflict.
Benefits outweigh difficulties. All concerned benefit:
school staff, university staff, student teachers, pupils.
Slow, measured process is key.
Developing partnership through Third Space activity
is worth the effort; it can be transformative to all
concerned.
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RECOMMENDATIONS
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Developing partnership through Third Space activity is ambitious,
but it is possible. It creates a passion within those participating
which brings rewards: rejuvenation, personal reward, excitement,
fulfilment, challenge, enrichment.
The philosophy behind the concept of developing partnership suggests
that generalisability is possible to other HEIs and schools, accepting
that different circumstances would allow the project to evolve in
different ways, relevant to those circumstances.
As teacher education in England undergoes yet more change with the
introduction of School Direct it is recommended that the philosophy
within ‘working together’ through Third Space activity continues to
be embraced and researched as a fundamental way of achieving
excellent teacher education and training of student teachers, and
hence excellent teachers of children and young people.
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DEVELOPING PARTNERSHIP
THIRD SPACE ACTIVITY
THROUGH
The full report of the research can be found at:
http://www.cumbria.ac.uk/Courses/SubjectAreas/E
ducation/Research/TEAN/TeacherEducatorsStoreh
ouse/Partnership/Home.aspx
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DEVELOPING PARTNERSHIP
THIRD SPACE ACTIVITY
THROUGH
Questions for discussion
 Do you work together or with?
 Do you seek a ‘Third Space’?
 Do you feel that this notion, however ambitious
could be extended?
 How does School Direct affect this?
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Moje, E. B., McIntosh Ciechanowski, K., Kramer,
K., Ellis, L., Carrillo, R., & Collazo, T. (2004).
Working toward third space in content area
literacy: An examination of everyday funds of
knowledge and discourse. Reading Research
Quarterly, 39(1), 38-71.
 Soja, E. (1996). Third space: Journeys to Los
Angeles and other real and imagined places
(Malden, MA, Blackwell)
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