In Sweden it is now recognized that while teaching should be based on research and proven experience, research-based practice is limited in scope, and classroom teaching is not always informed by findings from educational research. To address this problem, and to develop and test sustainable models of researcher- practitioner collaboration, the Swedish Government has introduced a national system of partnership between schools and universities. Here, research projects are initiated not just by academics, but also by teachers. In each school-university partnership, the aim is to develop and test a model that can support sustainable, research- based practice. The project reported on here addresses one of the major challenges currently facing teachers of English in Sweden, namely the need to create activities that go beyond the textbook, and which students can experience as relevant and meaningful. While the design of activities that enable students to connect content targeted by the curriculum with experiences from informal domains is a challenge for teachers of any subject, for teachers of English the demands multiply. This is because activities need to be modelled in ways that promote the development of linguistic competence. The authors - two language teacher educators, and an upper secondary teacher of English - carried out a project aimed at enabling primary, secondary, and upper secondary teachers of English in a rural municipality to develop design skills encompassing language awareness. Carried out during a single academic year, the project enabled teachers to work collegially, and in collaboration with the teacher educators. Drawing on experiences from the project, the chapter examines the conditions under which the collaboration took place, the challenges faced, beneficial influences on teachers’ practice, and the potential for sustainability