Theorising the Thirdspace Collaborative Practice co-constructed professional-learning program

Schools in Australia are increasingly using flexible, open-planned, inno-vative learning environments (ILEs) that necessitate that teachers not only plan collaboratively but deliver their syllabi in an integrated, and sometimes cross-disciplinary, manner. Pre-service teachers need training to equip them to engage in this type of collaborative practice. However, as a review of the literature shows, there is minimal training provided to in-or pre-service teachers to assist them to make the shift from siloed delivery of their syllabi to collaborative delivery. The purpose of this chapter is to theorise and describe the first phase of devel-opment of a school-university partnership professional-learning program. We draw on Soja’s (Thirdspace: Journeys to Los Angeles and other real-and-imagined places. Blackwell, 1996) conceptualisation of the third space, an adaptation of Lefebvre’s (The production of space. Blackwell, 1991) trialectics of spatiality, to frame our collaborative-practice professional-learning program. Our Thirdspace Collabora-tive Practice project is disrupting the traditional hierarchical model by positioning teachers and academics as equal bearers of educational knowledge and skill. Our project is collaborative in all regards: from the conceptualisation of the program to the development of the project parameters, to the design, creation, and planned delivery of the professional-learning activity. ILEs open the possibility for an educational site that is both physically and metaphorically an educational place for innovation and collaboration. Our project is a response to the need to upskill pre-service and new and beginning teachers to work collaboratively in shared, flexible learning spaces.