Effective, sustainable and equitable interprofessional learning? Lessons from the implementation of a community of practice for teachers and speech and language therapists in the Republic of Ireland

This study documents learning from the implementation of a virtual, interprofessional Community of Practice (CoP) for Irish teachers and speech and language therapists (SLTs) focused on structured literacy. Six online exit interviews were conducted with CoP participants and analysed using framework analysis, an approach that draws on existing theory to inform the coding process. Using Proctor’s (2011) Taxonomy of Implementation Outcomes as an analytical framework, the study evaluates the CoP’s success across eight outcomes: acceptability, adoption, appropriateness, costs, feasibility, fidelity, penetration, and sustainability. Findings indicate that the CoP provided a valuable platform for interprofessional collaboration, with participants highlighting features that supported implementation, including its topic-focused design, the development of shared resources that are sustainable beyond the project duration, and, critically, the role of expert facilitation in curating and contextualising evidence-based literacy research. The study contributes to the limited global research on interprofessional learning and development while advancing the literature on the evaluation, replication, and refinement of collaborative professional development models. To our knowledge, this is the first study in Ireland to propose literacy as a domain of equitable interprofessional practice between teachers and SLTs. The findings underscore the need for greater integration of interprofessional education within undergraduate programmes in Ireland.