Peer-reviewed research2017–2026 update
A Collaborative Community Education Model: Developing Effective School-Community Partnerships
An 18-month pilot in Taupō led to a Collaborative Community Education Model that may serve as a starting point for creating or modifying school-community partnerships.
What's new
This study evaluated the 18-month pilot of Kids Greening Taupō, a conservation education programme in Aotearoa New Zealand that was developed through a school-community partnership. It used an ethnographic approach with participant observation, semi-structured interviews and document analysis, and analysed the data thematically. The findings describe stakeholder perspectives on the structures and processes used across planning, implementation and maintenance, and the environmental initiatives that resulted. A Collaborative Community Education Model emerged from the work.
Why it matters in Aotearoa
School-community partnerships can give students authentic, community-based action projects, but the authors note they are under-used because of the structural constraints and pressures teachers face. The model may give schools and community groups in Aotearoa a possible framework to start from.
Putting it into practice
Before starting a conservation partnership with a local group, think through planning, implementation and maintenance with partners, and agree roles and structures for each.
How strong is the evidence
This is a qualitative, ethnographic evaluation of a single pilot. The authors offer the model as a potential framework or starting point.
What to read
The section presenting the Collaborative Community Education Model.