Policy, practice and process in team teaching: a pilot project with co-operating teachers and student teachers on school placement

Abstract

In Ireland, at present, the roles and responsibilities of the educational partners regarding initial teacher education (ITE) are in transition. ITE routes have been extended allowing for additional focus to be placed on the central component of school placement. This material change, as well as policies promoting collaborative practice, teachers as researchers and professional learning communities (PLCs), prompted us to reflect on our practice and to challenge assumptions in relation to teaching and learning. Among the outcomes of the work was a reassessment and reorientation of current approaches on the Professional Master of Education (PME) programme to better prepare student teachers for their future careers in post-primary schools.

This article reports on the development of and findings from a team teaching pilot project in the Department of Education of Maynooth University for student teachers and their co-operating teachers. The project was undertaken to provide space for the participants, including the authors, to reappraise the approach to teacher education, to explore the team teaching process, to focus on its affective dimension and foster collaborative practices in education.

Keywords:

• initial teacher education (ITE)
• team teaching
• collaboration
• school placement
• university-school partnership
• post-primary education
• professional learning communities (PLCs)

Notes on contributors

Angela Rickard is a lecturer in the Maynooth University Department of Education. She teaches on a number of undergraduate and Masters programmes. She is concerned with ways that emerging technologies can be used to support creative approaches to teaching and learning. She undertaken a number of research initiatives on themes including Educational Technology (especially the use of digital video in initial teacher education), Development Education and Teacher Professional Development.

Thomas Walsh is a lecturer in the Maynooth University Department of Education. His main teaching and research interests include history of education, early childhood education, school-university partnerships, school inspection and evaluation, and curriculum development and implementation. Prior to joining Maynooth University, he worked as a primary school teacher, as a researcher in the field of early childhood education and as an inspector with the Department of Education and Skills.