Table 2 Sustainability-by-design levers...

Table 2

Sustainability-by-design levers and dimensions of research-practice partnership (RPP) effectiveness

Dimensions of RPP effectiveness
Design lever	Building trust	Rigorous research	Supporting partners' goals	Relevant, useful knowledge	Building capacity
Reciprocal value	Visible value return builds relational trust	–	Each actor's goals are structurally addressed	Usable products tied to practitioner cases	Student teachers gain research competence; in-service teachers gain scientific mindsets
Support infrastructure	Low transaction costs sustain willingness to collaborate	Method scaffolds support rigour at scale	Onboarding and templates reduce barriers to entry	Standardised outputs ensure usability	Codified knowledge base enables self-directed learning
Governance and role clarity	Named contacts and check-ins maintain relational quality	Clear deliverable expectations support methodological discipline	Accountability structures prevent coordination drift	–
Adaptive modularity	–	–	Local adaptation ensures contextual fit to partners' needs	–	Enables cross-national scaling without diluting core mechanism
Recruitment pipeline	Alumni pathways signal that past partners valued the work	–	–	Dissemination artefacts demonstrate practical relevance to prospective partners	Secures renewable participation across cycles
Trust and legitimacy	Norm that setbacks are tolerable deepens relational trust	–	Partners return because they know the model absorbs disruption	–	Builds institutional reputation that outlasts individual champions

Dimensions of RPP effectiveness
Design lever	Building trust	Rigorous research	Supporting partners' goals	Relevant, useful knowledge	Building capacity
Reciprocal value	Visible value return builds relational trust	–	Each actor's goals are structurally addressed	Usable products tied to practitioner cases	Student teachers gain research competence; in-service teachers gain scientific mindsets
Support infrastructure	Low transaction costs sustain willingness to collaborate	Method scaffolds support rigour at scale	Onboarding and templates reduce barriers to entry	Standardised outputs ensure usability	Codified knowledge base enables self-directed learning
Governance and role clarity	Named contacts and check-ins maintain relational quality	Clear deliverable expectations support methodological discipline	Accountability structures prevent coordination drift	–
Adaptive modularity	–	–	Local adaptation ensures contextual fit to partners' needs	–	Enables cross-national scaling without diluting core mechanism
Recruitment pipeline	Alumni pathways signal that past partners valued the work	–	–	Dissemination artefacts demonstrate practical relevance to prospective partners	Secures renewable participation across cycles
Trust and legitimacy	Norm that setbacks are tolerable deepens relational trust	–	Partners return because they know the model absorbs disruption	–	Builds institutional reputation that outlasts individual champions

Note(s): Cells indicate how each design lever supports the corresponding effectiveness dimension. Empty cells mark areas where the lever operates outside the RPP effectiveness framework, addressing sustainability concerns (scaling, renewal, disruption tolerance) that the evaluative lens does not foreground

Source(s): Henrick et al. (2017)

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