Research-Practice Partnerships in Education - A Literature Review on their Mechanisms for Educational Improvement

This study reviews and synthesizes research on Research-Practice Partnerships (RPPs) to advance theory on the mechanisms through which these partnerships operate and achieve their goals. We analyzed peer-reviewed RPP literature using PRISMA and EPPI guidelines. An initial sample of 3,444 publications was narrowed systematically according to review criteria. From 87 conceptual articles, we developed a coding scheme for RPP outcomes and influential components, which we applied to 144 empirical studies. This analysis identified 510 distinct outcome goals across 11 categories and 985 entity properties across 6 categories, illustrating the heterogeneity and structural complexity of RPPs. Research most frequently addresses the entity “partnership organization and administration” (n = 94), followed by “relationships between individual partners” (n = 47), “partnership context” (n = 40), and “characteristics of individual partners” (n = 36). Less attention is given to “characteristics of partnership institutions” (n = 17) and “relationships between partnering institutions” (n = 11). Findings on “partnership organization and administration” highlight strategic planning for brokering roles, boundary-crossing infrastructure, stakeholder involvement, and shared goals. For the “relationship between individual partnership members”, studies emphasize trust and collaboration but remain unclear about their operationalization and processes. “Partnership context” properties include limited funding opportunities, hierarchical policy environments, ethics approval requirements, and inconsistent policy commitment to RPPs. These results reveal both the complexity of RPPs and the uneven attention given to different partnership components, offering pathways for future research to better understand how RPPs function.