Becoming activist teacher educators: The learning journeys of two physical education cooperating teachers in a school–university partnership

Since the late 20th century, school–university partnerships have been promoted as collaborative efforts in teacher education. Traditionally, in such partnerships, university teacher educators oversaw cooperating teachers who supervised pre-service teachers (PSTs) in a hierarchical structure. In parallel with a growing movement for teacher educators to adopt activist roles challenging societal oppressions, recent shifts have recognised cooperating teachers as co-educators who collaborate and share knowledge. This paper explores this school–university partnership by questioning: (a) What were the learning journeys experienced by the cooperating teachers in a school–university partnership? and (b) To what extent did their learning journeys align with the concept of activist teacher educators? Designed as participatory action research (PAR), this project was established between public schools and one university engaged in the Institutional Programme of Teaching Initiation (PIBID) in Brazil. Participants included a university lecturer and two cooperating teachers. Throughout the 18-month duration of the project, data were collected from various sources, including weekly meetings, participants’ diaries, final interviews, and artefacts produced by the group. Through thematic analysis, three themes were developed: (a) creating democratic spaces with PSTs, (b) practitioner inquiry as a means to transform teaching practice, and (c) micro-social changes to improve the profession, demonstrated through activism in new PIBID projects or initiatives with education administration. This study underscores the role of cooperating teachers as activist educators in fostering collaborative and social justice-oriented teacher education processes, contributing to ongoing discourse on reflective practice and collaborative partnerships.