Collaborative teaching can be beneficial to students
THE EDITOR, Madam:
TEAM TEACHING is a group of two or more teachers working together to plan conduct and evaluate the learning activities for the same group of learners. It is widely reported that the team-teaching idea originated in the United States in 1954. It is rather unfortunate that in many instances there is no prior meeting of the team in order to get some synergy going.
It has become common that teachers teamed meet in the classroom for the first time and this is problematic. This approach is both unfair and unprofessional not only to the teachers involved, but also to the students. The practice should be that prior to the teachers beginning their first class teaching together, intensive staff development in the area of team teaching should be conducted.
This training might involve learning the rationale behind team teaching, shared readings and discussions, learning cooperative skills to enable a positive partnership to evolve, as well as learning a variety of time-management skills in order to ensure a smooth operation in the classroom. Team teaching or collaborative teaching should not be forced nor should it used across the board as a method to merely add teaching sessions.
CHAOS
When team teaching is not done successfully, there will be chaos. There will be situations where one teacher bears the brunt of this partnership. This then becomes burdensome on that teacher with an increase in absenteeism and attending problems that will negatively impact the educational institution. There are also mentalhealth issues that can accompany team teaching as the teacher who is burdened might experience anxiety and depression and hopelessness. However, do we care given that mental health is not taken seriously?
Here emotional intelligence comes into question. Obviously, it becomes more challenging to “manage” the emotions of other people. We cannot control how someone else feels or behaves. However, if you can identify the emotions behind their behaviour, you stand a better chance of understanding where they are coming from and how to best interact with them.
Administrators who are tasked with teaming teachers must be more meticulous and conscious of the approach. In many cases the unsuccessful partnership concerning collaborative teaching involves a languid teacher working alongside an industrious teacher.
In the end, the students are always the ones who suffer. Collaborative teaching can useful and beneficial to the students. However, it takes a great effort to put together the workable team.
As educators, we should not discount the positives to collaborative teaching; however, we must also acknowledge the disadvantages to this strategy and make the necessary adjustments accordingly to benefit all the stakeholders.
WAYNE CAMPBELL waykam@yahoo.com