Job‐sharing in the Primary Classroom: a case study of a process of negotiation

Abstract

The paper describes a one‐year job‐sharing teaching experience which took place in a third‐year classroom of an inner‐city middle school. Both teachers worked for half of a job on a one‐week‐on, one‐week‐off basis, sharing the teaching of the children completely. The experience involved a great deal of negotiation since the teachers favoured very different teaching strategies ‐‐ one being competitively oriented towards goal and reward structures, the other favouring a more co‐operative, humanistic approach. The process of negotiation and the responses of both teachers and children, including the problems and benefits of the experience, are comprehensively described. Some suggestions to aid the implementation of a job‐sharing programme are made.