Working with Teacher-Educators to Mobilize Policy and Practice Relevant Evidence

Education research too often treats teachers and classrooms as data sources rather than as active partners in knowledge mobilization. This approach means that while evidence on effective teaching may be well documented in journals, it rarely reaches the stage of shaping lessons — in other words, the theory is never translated into practice. This is a particular problem in Initial Teacher Education (ITE), which is often critiqued for being predominantly theoretical with inadequate support provided to pre-service teachers to be innovative in their classroom practices and responsive to new challenges. 

Through our GPE KIX project, Delivering Equitable, Responsive and Empowering Initial Teacher Education through Design Thinking, we are aiming to close this research-practice gap by working directly with teacher-educators at three ITE institutions in Kenya, Pakistan and Tanzania to co-develop and test new approaches to pre-service teacher education. These new approaches build on Schools2030’s human-centred design (HCD) model, which has been developed, tested and implemented as a method of in-service teacher professional development for five years in more than 1,000 schools across 10 countries. 

In June 2025, we launched the first phase of action research at Thogoto Teachers College in Kenya. The research team from the Aga Khan University and facilitators from the Aga Khan Foundation held a day-long orientation on HCD in education for all 53 teacher-educators and leaders at the college. Following this initial orientation, twenty-two teacher-educators (six male and 16 female) stepped forward to become the “focal group” who will carry the action research forward with the project consortium. Later that month, the research team and focal group of teacher-educators came together for a week-long set of workshops to integrate HCD tools, approaches and mindsets into core ITE courses, curricula, lesson plans and pedagogy.    

In this blog, partners from Aga Khan Foundation and Aga Khan University share some initial lessons learned on cultivating strong teacher–researcher partnerships. We believe such partnerships are crucial to ensuring that education research and innovation align with classroom realities, and that pedagogical practices benefit meaningfully from the latest evidence on effective teaching.

At Thogoto Teachers College, these partnerships are already making a difference. Working alongside researchers, teacher-educators have begun redesigning lesson plans, assessment tasks, and course activities using human-centred design (HCD). By co-developing these approaches rather than adopting external models, teacher-educators are creating methods that directly respond to the demands of Kenya’s Competency-Based Education and to the realities of their own classrooms. Because the new tools are developed with teacher-educators, they are more relevant, practical, and likely to be sustained in everyday practice. In this way, partnerships do not just strengthen pre-service teacher professional development — they give teacher-educators ownership of innovations that can shape how future teachers are prepared in Kenya and, through GPE KIX, in other teacher education institutions globally.

1. Strong institutional support and engagement is essential 

Research partnerships in teacher education are most successful when institutional leaders actively participate in the process, not only by endorsing it but also by modelling engagement throughout. Their visible presence signals legitimacy, motivates teacher-educators, and ensures alignment between research activities and institutional priorities.

At Thogoto Teachers College, this was evident from the outset. The Chief Principal opened the Day 1 workshop and stayed involved over the course of the project, contributing to discussions and affirming the value of human-centred design for strengthening the college’s approach to competency-based education. Other members of the leadership team joined group tasks and shared their perspectives, showing teacher-educators that their work was central to the college’s strategy for pre-service teacher education.

This level of engagement bridged the broader GPE KIX project Delivering Equitable, Responsive and Empowering Initial Teacher Education through Design Thinking with the college’s day-to-day realities. It reassured teacher-educators that the time they devoted to the workshops was not an “add-on” but an investment aligned with institutional goals. This trust and visible support laid the foundation for a stronger, more equitable research partnership between teacher-educators and researchers.

2. Aligning research with education policy encourages and validates partnerships 

For research partnerships in teacher education to be meaningful, the design of workshop activities, co-created materials, and pedagogical approaches must be explicitly aligned with national education policies. This ensures that innovations are not perceived as external add-ons but as practical strategies to help educators implement existing reforms.

At Thogoto Teachers College, alignment was achieved by connecting the use of human-centred design (HCD) tools to Kenya’s new Competency-Based Education (CBE) framework. During the workshops, many teacher-educators shared that while they understood the policy in theory, they struggled to translate it into daily lesson planning and classroom practice. Facilitators deliberately structured discussions and activities to explore how HCD could support teacher-educators in reinterpreting CBE requirements for example, by redesigning lesson plans using Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) templates, but with a stronger emphasis on learner needs, creativity, and problem-solving.

This process meant that the outputs of the workshops lesson plans, course outlines, and classroom activities were directly aligned with policy expectations. In turn, the partnership was seen as adding immediate value to teacher-educators' professional roles, while also ensuring that the research generated is relevant to ongoing national education priorities.

3. Teacher-educators’ involvement must connect directly to their daily practice

For research partnerships to be sustainable, teacher-educators’ involvement must connect directly to the work they already do in preparing and mentoring pre-service teachers. Workshop activities should therefore build on existing responsibilities rather than add to their workload.

At Thogoto Teachers College, the week-long workshops placed significant demands on participants’ time. To ensure that this investment was worthwhile, facilitators deliberately aligned activities with teacher-educators’ existing practices for example, by having them develop lesson plans using the official Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) templates. These plans were not “extra” tasks, but outputs they could use in their own courses with trainee teachers. This practical focus meant that teacher-educators were simultaneously contributing to the GPE KIX research project while also advancing their own curriculum responsibilities.

By embedding human-centred design methods into tools already mandated by Initial Teacher Education policy, the workshops ensured that co-developed materials were both relevant and usable. This alignment reinforced the value of the partnership, demonstrating that participation in research does not compete with teacher-educators’ daily duties, but rather strengthens their ability to enact policy reforms especially the transition to Competency-Based Education in real classroom contexts.

 4. Careful planning and effective facilitation encourage meaningful engagement 

Thoughtful session design and dynamic facilitation are critical for encouraging meaningful engagement in research partnerships. Workshops should be structured to respect participants’ limited time, while also modelling inclusive and collaborative approaches that can be transferred to their own teaching.

At Thogoto Teachers College, teacher-educators remained highly engaged throughout the week-long workshops. This was not accidental: the facilitation team carefully planned each session to balance clear guidance such as step-by-step instructions on how to apply human-centred design methods to lesson planning with active learning opportunities, group work organised by subject area, and play-based activities that kept energy high. These techniques created a space where teacher-educators could contribute their expertise and test ideas, rather than passively receive information.

By designing sessions in this way, the research team demonstrated respect for the teacher-educators’ time and professional knowledge, reinforcing the principle of equitable partnership. The structured yet interactive approach ensured that the teacher-educators' contributions shaped both the process and the outputs of the GPE KIX research project. In turn, this strengthened the sense of shared ownership between researchers and teacher-educators, laying a foundation for more sustainable collaboration in Initial Teacher Education.

5. Workshops are an opportunity to model responsive, inclusive and equitable facilitation techniques 

Equitable, active partnership between researchers and teacher-educators is essential to ensuring that education innovations and practices are relevant to classroom realities and that evidence-based recommendations are widely adopted into teaching practices. Our experience at Thogoto Teachers College confirmed this: the first series of workshops was well received, with teacher-educators expressing both enthusiasm and confidence in applying human-centred design to their courses. Their reflections highlighted that the partnership is not only feasible but also directly valuable to their professional roles.

Building on this foundation, the next phase of the GPE KIX project will focus on supporting the focal group of 22 teacher-educators as they pilot the HCD approaches within their own courses and mentor trainee teachers to apply these methods during practicum. The research team will provide ongoing accompaniment, coaching, and opportunities for peer exchange, while also documenting lessons learned for cross-country comparison with the partner ITE institutions in Pakistan and Tanzania.

Importantly, the outcome of the workshops has slightly reshaped our plan: rather than introducing HCD as a stand-alone skillset, we are now embedding it directly into existing competency-based education requirements and lesson-planning processes. This shift reflects the co-creation ethos of the project and ensures that the partnership continues to be relevant to national policy as well as to teacher-educators’ daily realities.