Research and development (R&D) circles as collaborative spaces for shared epistemic agency in teacher education

Connecting knowledge across the research-practice nexus remains a “black box” in teacher education. This article explores how meaningful connections can be made through collaboration between researchers, teachers, and students in a research and development (R&D) circle. The R&D circle, organized around the topic of power and sustainability, unfolded in three phases: reading, design, and implementation. Drawing on theories of shared epistemic agency and knowledge translation and a collective qualitative analysis of interviews, field notes, discussion agendas and meeting protocols, we show how participants co-created knowledge and translated research-based knowledge into teaching practice. We argue that translation involved not only reproduction and modification, but also selection. Teachers emerged as key translation actors, using their dual familiarity with academic and professional contexts to select and implement new ideas. We conclude that R&D circles can serve as collaborative spaces for developing practice-relevant knowledge and bridging epistemic boundaries in teacher education. • Research and development circles support collaboration across research and practice. • Knowledge translation is key to how shared epistemic agency is exercised. • Teachers act as key translators of academic knowledge into classroom practice. • Knowledge translation involves selection, not just reproduction or modification. • Ideas that travel well between contexts might be small-scale, incremental changes.