Teacher learning through collaborative teaching: a case study in a secondary school in Pietermaritzburg.
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Date
2019
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Abstract
Over the past few years there have been changes in the South African education system. This has
necessitated the retraining of teachers to enhance their professional knowledge and skills. Teachers
acquire and develop these professional skills through personal effort or learn these from others.
However, focus has been placed on formal development initiatives, such as professional
development workshops and seminars. There has been a great concern that these formal
professional development initiatives fail to recognise that teacher learning is situated in particular
contexts and has a social dimension. Therefore, more effective school-based teacher development
initiatives are a necessity.
This study examined collaborative teaching as a model of teacher learning and development. The
main aim was to explore the ways in which teachers engage in collaborative teaching and to what
extent does collaborative teaching contribute to teacher learning. The study was located within the
interpretive paradigm and adopted a qualitative case study approach. The conceptual frameworks
that underpinned this study were Hord‟s (2004) five principles of teacher collaboration and
Hargreaves‟ (2003) collaborative cultures as prerequisites for teacher collaboration. Purposive
sampling was used to obtain the five participants (teachers) to participate in this research study. The
study was based in a semi-urban secondary school in the Pietermaritzburg area, KwaZulu Natal.
Semi-structured interviews and observations were used as data collection methods. Thematic
analysis was used to analyse data.
The findings of this research study revealed that participants had diverse views on collaborative
teaching. Their views emanated from their varied teaching experiences. Findings also revealed that
lesson observations, reflection and mentoring were key collaborative teaching activities that took
place in the school. Furthermore, it was discovered that constraints were more prevalent than
factors supporting teachers‟ engagement in collaborative teaching in the school. Some of the
barriers were: time constraints, heavy workload, limited access to resources, teachers themselves
and lack of support from the school leadership. Teachers learnt through collaborative teaching as
they shared different teaching tips and ideas, worked jointly with each other as they planned lessons
together and by experimenting with what they have learnt from each other. Collaborative teaching
activities did not demonstrate all the five principles by Hord (2004) and features of collaborative
cultures by Hargreaves (2003). Supportive conditions, shared personal practice and shared and
supportive leadership were not present as teachers engaged in collaborative teaching activities. It
was also discovered that these collaborative teaching activities were not pervasive across space and
time.Therefore, it is imperative that more in-depth research on collaborative teaching as a model for
teacher learning should be conducted. Secondly, teachers should be exposed to a variety of
activities that constitute collaborative teaching. Thirdly, the School Management Team should
provide more time and resources for teachers to engage in authentic collaborative teaching
activities. Lastly, school leadership should support collaborative teaching activities.
Description
Masters Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg.