“What does this university actually want?” educators' perspectives on collaboration and boundary experiences in a Swiss research–practice partnership

Purpose Research–practice partnerships (RPPs) are widely promoted as a means of bridging the gap between educational practice and research, making research more relevant and actionable for schools. However, to bridge this gap in practice, participants face numerous challenges stemming from sociocultural differences, also called boundaries. Drawing on the conceptualization of RPPs as joint work at the boundaries, this study examines how educators make sense of collaboration in an RPP in Switzerland, how differences become constructed as boundaries and how educators engage with these boundaries in joint work. Design/methodology/approach Using reflexive thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2022), the study analyses qualitative interview data from teachers and principals (N = 12) involved in an RPP focused on students' participation and school–university collaboration. Findings Educators' experiences are reflected in three main perspectives: (1) school–university collaboration as correcting, supporting or complementing the schools' own development goals, with research mobilized instrumentally; (2) engaging with differences as productive sites of mutual learning or knowledge hierarchies and (3) navigating between the systems, with boundary crossing enabled by school teams and school leadership. Practical implications The findings highlight the importance of making visible how research initiatives connect to schools' local development efforts, while also pointing to the value of structurally supporting educator-enacted boundary-spanning roles as a central actor navigating sustained collaboration across boundaries. Originality/value By foregrounding educators' perspectives, this study contributes to research on RPPs as a nascent approach to school–university collaboration and shows how RPPs as joint work at the boundaries is experienced and enacted in practice.