An illustrative case study of researcher roles and challenges in a Dutch school-level research-practice partnership

Researchers at research-intensive universities may participate in research-practice partnerships (RPPs) to make their research activities more relevant and impacting. RPPs center equity as a goal, which means researchers and other stakeholders participate in defining and enacting equity through the partnership. Researchers must discern how to address equity goals while enacting the roles of knowledge broker, knowledge use facilitator, and knowledge development facilitator. Role enactment occurs as researchers face the challenges related to the content focus of the RPP and time demands. In this study, we examined artifacts ( n = 50) from an RPP between a team of researchers and nine educators between 2021 and 2024 to understand how we, as researchers, enacted these roles and negotiated these challenges. Findings show how surface level consensus about the meaning and importance of equity work bought us time to develop the relational capital necessary to lead more authentic discussions about inequitable practices. We co-constructed a research focus to prioritize equity-in-process but thereby curtailed the full engagement of our research expertise. Findings imply that more robust focus on school- and classroom-level RPPs reveal additional dynamics and mechanisms that allow for sustained changes in classroom teaching that support equity. • RPPs can be at the classroom, school, district, or state/national/international levels. • RPP researchers are knowledge brokers, knowledge use facilitators, and knowledge development facilitators. • RPP researchers face challenges related to the content focus of the RPP and time demands. • Surface level consensus about equity allows for development of relational capital. • Relational capital enables a looping of researcher roles that enhances RPP activities.