Teacher collaboration as a core objective of school development

ABSTRACT

The fact that benefits related to teacher collaboration are associated with characteristics of successful schools makes collaboration particularly relevant for school development processes. The goal of the present study was to identify patterns in perceptions of collaboration and compare them with regard to its perceived benefits, such as professional development, reduced workload, and improved student focus. Results based on cluster analysis, discriminant analysis, and analyses of variance revealed four collaboration patterns that also differed with regard to the benefits of collaboration perceived by teachers. Findings indicate that teachers apply forms of collaboration that are connected to a relatively small decrease in their own autonomy. Teachers who collaborate also perceive benefits, and teachers who feel pressurised by the principal to collaborate neither collaborate more nor perceive more benefits to collaboration. All findings are reviewed with a focus on school development processes, and recommendations for practice are offered.

KEYWORDS:

• Teacher collaboration
• perceived benefit
• school development
• cluster analysis

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Magdalena Muckenthaler is a research assistant for School Education at the Department of Education and Rehabilitation at Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich in Germany. Her main research interests are teacher collaboration, inclusion, and teacher professionalisation.

Teresa Tillmann was a research assistant for School Education at the Department of Education and Rehabilitation at Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich in Germany; currently, she works as a child and adolescent psychotherapist.

Sabine Weiß is an associate professor for School Education at the Department of Education and Rehabilitation at Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich in Germany. Her main research interests are inclusion, career motivation, and teachers’ health.

Ewald Kiel is chair for School Education at Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich in Germany. His main research interests are teacher professionalisation, inclusion, career-choice motives, and intercultural education.