Is the whole really more than the sum of its parts? The complexities of working across professional boundaries in education and training

Researchers, civil society representatives and policy makers mixing their expertise together to improve policy and practice in education and training. It sounds like a logical and straightforward recipe with clear benefits for learners and society as a whole. But is it really that simple? It might not appear so as a whole list of challenges starts to pile up when putting the ingredients together. However, taking the first step towards crossing these professional boundaries can also open up a whole new list of opportunities.

We have all heard about the importance of working together to achieve our common goals in education and training. However, realising the mantra of ‘the whole is a lot more than the sum of its parts’ means that we have to go outside our professional comfort zones. The BRiDGE consortium boldly stepped outside this zone in 2023, with a desire to support the EU’s aim to bridge the gap between research and policy.

The lessons learned from this experience were condensed into a practical guide to the challenges but also the opportunities of inter-professional collaboration on better education and training policies that are informed by research and practice. To ‘guide’ the professionals crossing borders, five domains of inter-professional work were proposed combining the researcher and policymaking competence frameworks constructed by the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission: Engaging citizens, Communication, Generating and working with evidence, Collaboration and (Working Within) Policymaking processes.

Generating spaces for inter-professional and cross-sectoral collaboration  

With the common goal of bridging the gap between research, practice and policy to improve education policies in mind, the topic of Global Citizenship Education was jointly tackled in a series of events and collected in two working papers connecting practical experiences from the ground, theoretical perspectives and the different policy directions through which the topic has been addressed across Europe.

Challenges in this area were discussed by the different stakeholder communities such as how to navigate the different interpretations of GCE, the various approaches to the topic (i.e. from education or international cooperation), and other common struggles such as generating and sharing evidence, dealing with the unstable funding sources, navigating a layered policy landscape or connecting formal and non-formal learning.

Representatives with different professional (i.e. researcher or CSO representative) and sectorial (i.e. formal or non-formal learning) backgrounds had the chance to improve their understanding of each other, shedding light into potential ways for mutual support and better collaboration in the future.

The peer learning that took place by discussing and looking for solutions to various challenges together was not only analysed through the lenses of each stakeholder community but was also reflected upon through systems thinking. This approach showed the potential of inter-professional collaboration for creating change and how change processes are enabled, constrained, and negotiated across multiple contexts. This analysis was key to propose possible avenues for collaborations amongst the different communities brought together by the project, building bridges among them.

Is inter-professional collaboration the way forward for bridging research, practice and policy?

While taking the crucial ‘boundary-crossing’ first step towards inter-professional collaboration holds enormous potential, it will be key to pay attention not only to interdependencies but also to the structural differences and contextual specificities within education and training systems. As societies are facing increased political turmoil and constraint in resources, crossing borders may feel more challenging than ever but the BRiDGE experience shows that overcoming differences and uniting under overarching common goals can chart a new way forward towards an intertwined research, practice and policy landscape in education and training.

Where can you learn more about the experiences of the BRiDGE consortium?

The working papers on GCE and a previous one on International mobility as well as the Guide will be presented and discussed in a hybrid format hosted by the Lithuanian Parliament on September 19 from 10:00 to 14:30 EEST (09:00 to 13:30 CEST). Register in this link and explore the publications on the project’s website!