Collaboration - what do we want it to look like?

In our recent round of interviews for our teaching staff, we asked only a few, but quite in-depth, questions.  One of them was on how applicants viewed successful collaboration between teachers in an ILE and how it enhanced student learning - because it needs to, otherwise there is little point in doing it.

Most of the responses spoke about collaboration in the way it was currently done in traditional schools settings - what Farjana Ferdous (Jazan University, K.S.A.) describes as Grade Level Collaboration "Teachers working with other teachers to develop and implement instruction" We think that in our environment where 3 teachers will be working together on a curriculum module that covers 2 learning areas of the curriculum, collaboration must be much deeper than this.  Their responses were understandably a product of their environment, as most are coming from traditional schools. Ferdous goes on to describe Co-Teaching/Collaboration Teaching and Cross-Curricular Collaboration - a blend of these is our aim.  "Co-teaching/Collaborative Teaching is when 2 or more professionals jointly deliver substantive instruction to a diverse and blended group of students in a single physical space". She goes on to separate Co-teaching into 5 scenarios:

• Lead and support - one teacher plans and instructs, while the other assists students with work, monitors behaviour, and corrects assignments
• Station teaching - curricular content is divided into two parts. One teacher teaches the first part to half the students and the other professional presents the second part to the other half.  The two student groups then switch.
• Parallel Teaching - students are divided into heterogenous groups in which each student has more opportunity to participate in discussions. Different types of presentations are structure to the various student learning styles.
• Alternative Teaching - students are divided into two groups, and one teacher instructs one group while the other person pre-teaches the other group for the lesson to follow or re-teaches material using alternative methods

I think there will be times when the 4 types of teaching will be appropriate to groups within the learning commons, but my hope is that we aim for team teaching as the norm:

• Team Teaching - both professionals share leadership and are equally engaged in instructional activities.  They might use role play, stage debates or model note-taking strategies.

Blended with team teaching will also be Cross-Curricular Collaboration. "Cross-curricular learning helps develop meta-cognitive learners able to adapt their learning to new situations. Interdisciplinary teaching provides a meaningful way in which students can use knowledge they have learned in one context as a knowledge base in other contexts in and out of school"

So how do we encourage, expect and enable this to happen?

Every applicant commented on the time teachers will need to collaborate, but they will also need the skills and support to do it effectively, in most of us, these skills are not innate. With that thought in mind we embark on our journey of fostering a collaborative culture.

Cheryl Doig's July 15, 2014 blog post "Collaboration Matters" she talks about 5 things that stand out for effective collaboration in an education setting.

• Relationships matter every step of the way - time must be spent at the beginning to develop shared norms, values and vision.
• Technology enhances - collaboration can exist without technology but the ripples will be smaller
• Conflict - no conflict = no collaboration.  Allow for it, deal with it openly and respectfully.  Diverse groups bring a richness of perspectives and naturally create tensions.
• Know when to collaborate - if there are few gains or a hostile environment, or no relationships, collaboration will waste times.  Grow relationships first.
• Leadership - collaboration still requires leadership, but from a position of influence rather than position.  Leaders must navigate complexity, explore multiple perspectives and be okay with not having all the answers.

Having open and honest conversations about these points - how to make them happen, which parts we are comfortable and which we will find challenging and need help to overcome, will be the first step. Designing professional learning workshops, and having visible reminders of how and why we collaborate will be vital.

In a 2015 post "Collaboration in Schools" Cheryl describes the Russian dolls of collaboration.  From the individual "me" to day to day collaboration, organisational collaboration, associate industry collaboration and outer collaboration.  The organisational collaboration quote resonated with us the most as we think about how we can enable the type of collaboration we want to see happen.  "Organisational collaboration connects to the overall vision and values of the school. Everyone needs to understand their role in supporting and challenging every learner.  This learning connectedness intentionally supports teams to develop flow in learning, with specialist teachers still having a deep understanding of their subjects, but also connecting to different lenses of other specialists and generalist teachers and growing transversal skills in themselves and their students."

She also describes 3 mindsets requires for good collaboration

• Growth mindset - deeply believe that everyone can learn.  Talents and abilities can be developed through effort, good teaching and persistence. Start with self. "Made not born"
• Inquiring mindset - ask questions about your own practice rather than looking for answers.  Deeply engage with your own context. Explore collective wisdom. "Continuous, collaborative curiosity for better"
• Outwards mindset - seek new networks and connections beyond your comfort zone. Explore trends, signals & multiple possibilities. 

I believe our CLOAK will be the place we start to develop this culture, with both staff and students.

• Challenge our mindset
• Learning is connected
• Ourselves as learners
• Ako, always
• Kindness and respect

We need to be always developing our growth, inquiring and outward mindsets.  Be okay with a culture of open communication where ideas are valued.  One of our applicants used the analogy of hui - when someone offers an idea, it is a gift to the collective, that idea then belongs to the group, not the person anymore, and in that mindset any responses to the idea are about the idea and not the person who offered them.  I see real value for this thinking and mindset in our team.  We want our teachers working as a team, connecting their own learning as professionals with others on their team, and appreciating the value of collaboration in students' learning.  We also want them valuing interdisciplinary collaboration as a way to enhance student learning.  Our physical learning spaces and timetable will also support and encourage this. And continually, we are learners, and can learning from everyone around us.  Finally we need to realise we will always be on a journey to our edutopia with those around us, and to keep enjoying and reflecting on the ride there.