S1, EP 25: Collaboration

How do we effectively collaborate with others in the teaching profession?

Collaboration between teachers is an immensely powerful professional learning opportunity that strongly correlates with improvement in student learning outcomes. 

In episode 25, the Teacher Takeaway team discuss a range of key components and practices that support collaboration, including:

• what is collaboration? (1:44)
• why does collaboration matter? (6:20)
• examples of collaboration in practice (31:17)

What is Collaboration?

Collaboration is about working together with colleagues, being on the same page and having a shared vision and shared goals. It is a practice that allows all to collectively contribute to the end goal which is improved outcomes for our students. 

When engaging in collaborative practice with colleagues, it is important to know that our roles may look different and change as the collaborative process unfolds and different expertise is drawn upon. What is important to realise is that each of us is important and valued in the process. 

Working together to achieve a common goal.
-Teacher Takeaway Podcast, 2021

When engaging in collaborative practices with colleagues, it is important to:
-have a common goal
-share practice
-share knowledge
-or share problems of practice
​-engage in an action inquiry process

Why does Collaboration Matter?

Building strong collaborative practices within a team of teachers and/or across the school has numerous benefits if implemented effectively. Some of the benefits include:

• giving everyone a voice in the process. It doesn't matter if you are a beginning teacher or experienced teacher, everyone has equal footing.
• collegial dialogue focused on student learning supported by data.
• drawing on the collective expertise of the group to build an action plan
• learning from colleagues which is a really powerful form of professional learning.
• utilising an action inquiry cycle, spiral of inquiry or teaching sprint. 

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What Works Best 2020 update - Chapter 8: Collaboration (p.40)

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In order to build a strong culture of collaborative practice across a team or school there are some key elements that need to be put in place, including:

• structures
  • collectively developing agreed norms - this is how we do things and these are our expectations for all
  • developing an agreed understanding of what collaboration is and looks like for your context
  • teaching sprints, quality teaching rounds or collaborative observations
  • agendas for stage meetings and staff meetings - ensure admin items are sent in an email not taking up valuable meeting time. 
  • prioritise collaborative practices across the school
• protocols
  • data analysis protocols
  • reflection protocols 
• professional learning
  • formal - external PL opportunities (e.g. NSW DoE MyPL - Collaborative Teaching Practice or Leading Collaborative Teaching Practice) or whole school professional learning sessions
  • informal - learning from colleagues through dialogue, observations, co-planning, co-teaching, co-evaluating 
• strong relational trust between all colleagues
• actively modelling the collaborative practices we want to see goes a long way in building a collaborative culture

Don't expect something from others that you aren't prepared to do yourself.
-Teacher Takeaway Podcast, 2021

Examples of Collaboration in Practice

• ​​Rebecca West: sitting in a shared space with colleagues to identify:
  • learning intention(s)
  • success criteria
  • different pedagogies that would be effective 
  • agreed practices around team-teaching of unit
  • development of a shared document for co-planning, adjustments and evaluations, e.g. using One Note

Credit: Rebecca West

• James Gray: low budget approach to collaborative practice through:​
  • identified collective understanding of guided reading practices to support students learning to read with an emphasis on comprehension
  • strategically planning groups so some teachers would take a group of students for fitness whilst the other teachers taught and watched a guided reading session
  • rotating through so teachers could observe each other around guided reading practice
  • unpack observations in stage meetings and provide feedback around those
• Aaron Johnston: quality differentiation in Mathematics
  • utilising stage meeting time to collectively discuss what  practice works best in supporting students needs
    
  • using the collegial discussions to design consistent practices that all teachers implement to improve pedagogy and student outcomes
  • working alongside colleagues to observe, team-teach and model
  • co-evaluating the collaborative process 
    • what isn't working
    • what works but we don't have enough time for
    • what do we want to do more of
    • how do we make it work so it is meaningful and relevant
• Alice Vigors: examining Spelling data to drive improvement as a stage team
  • examining the Spelling data that had been gathered over current reporting period
  • triangulating the data to build a bigger picture
  • collectively identified a trend in the data around the area of Morphology
  • collegial discussions around our Spelling program and how we were teaching spelling - were we giving morphology as much time as we were phonology and orthography?
  • identified a need and collectively discussed and designed ways to adress the need 
    • what approach would we take
    • what professional learning did we need to undertake - sourced a best practice video example from AITSL
      
    • developed agreed practices and actions
  • teachers went away and implemented changes 
  • feedback and evaluation of practice at a stage meeting
    • what did we notice in our practice? in the students?
    • how did we feel about the change?
    • what is the data telling us now?

Further Reading:

​Want to read further on collaboration? Perhaps start with these papers and books.