Blurring the boundaries: connecting research, practice and professional learning

Educational researchers can incorporate benefits for themselves and teacher participants by planning for interactions between research, practice and teachers’ professional learning from the outset of a project. However, the dual role of a researcher as a professional learning partner has rarely been explicated and theorised in studies of teacher–researcher relationships. The study described in this paper occurred in the context of early childhood education. The notion of a critical friend was extended and validated as a useful theorisation of the relationship. Four ways that I acted as a critical friend are described. The expertise, roles, boundaries and hybridity of a co‐constructed approach to research are discussed. The importance of a researcher as critical friend having research and theoretical knowledge to shift teacher knowledge and practice is argued. Implications for teacher–researcher partnerships in terms of strengthening coherence between research, practice and professional learning are suggested.