Chapter 1: Allying with School Teachers: Co-Journeying for Creating Positive Impact

This chapter discusses the collaborative relationship between university-affiliated researchers and classroom teachers, focusing on the boundary-spanning activities that facilitate these collaborations. The authors share their experiences in forming alliances with teachers and how these partnerships have facilitated mutual learning and reciprocal support. The research team of four professors, a postdoctoral fellow, and a research assistant worked on a project focused on integrating critical media literacies in plurilingual and pluricultural teacher education, with teachers serving as research partners. The researchers also acted as boundary-spanners, helping to build trust and align their research plans with the educational goals of the school districts. The authors argue that boundary-spanning should be seen as a form of correspondence that helps to sustain research collaborations. The chapter concludes by calling for future research to explore the enduring effects of these partnerships on students’ development of critical media literacies and the diverse roles of different stakeholders in these collaborations.