ABSTRACT

Background

The ability to collaborate is a central competence that students need to be taught in school, in order to prepare them for the social and work realities that they will face in the 21st century. Research shows that students often study in educational settings that do not promote collaboration with peers. Based on a renewed focus on the ability to collaborate as an educational outcome in itself, this paper explores how teachers think about and use student collaboration in the classroom.

Purpose

This study, conducted in Norway, aimed to better understand teachers’ pedagogical reasons for using collaboration. Such insight can offer valuable knowledge about how collaboration is understood and might influence classroom practice.

Methods

A small scale, detailed qualitative study was undertaken. The participants comprised a teacher team of four lower secondary school teachers, and data were collected through individual, semi-structured interviews. Data were analysed in depth, using content analysis methods.

Findings

Five main themes were identified that illuminated the teachers’ conceptions of collaboration: (1) collaborative activities as a valued ingredient in teaching, (2) collaboration as organising, (3) collaboration as a tool, (4) collaboration as demanding and (5) collaboration skills ‘taken for granted’. The findings indicated that collaboration was regarded as a valued ingredient in teaching practice, despite sometimes being challenging to use. Further, it appeared that that the dual potential that lies in using collaborative activities – i.e. as a way to work with, and develop, the ability to collaborate – can be overshadowed by an academic focus. Interestingly, learning how to collaborate was rarely regarded as being an educational outcome in itself.

Conclusion

This paper highlights the need to accentuate the social pedagogy of collaborative activities, in order to prepare students for the social and work realities that lie before them. Opportunities for teachers to develop their understanding of student collaboration and learn about how best to structure teaching and learning to capture the dual potential that lies within should be embedded in teacher education and on-going professional learning.

中文翻译：

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教师在课堂中学生协作的概念和使用

摘要

背景

合作能力是学生在学校需要教授的一项核心能力，以便为他们在 21 世纪将面临的社会和工作现实做好准备。研究表明，学生经常在不促进与同龄人合作的教育环境中学习。基于对协作能力本身作为教育成果的重新关注，本文探讨了教师如何在课堂上思考和使用学生协作。

目的

这项在挪威进行的研究旨在更好地了解教师使用协作的教学原因。这种洞察力可以提供关于如何理解协作并可能影响课堂实践的宝贵知识。

方法

进行了一项小规模、详细的定性研究。参与者由四名初中教师组成的教师团队组成，数据是通过个人、半结构化访谈收集的。使用内容分析方法对数据进行了深入分析。

发现

确定了五个主要主题来阐明教师的协作概念：(1) 协作活动是教学中的重要组成部分，(2) 协作是组织，(3) 协作是一种工具，(4) 协作是需要的，(5) ) 协作技能“理所当然”。研究结果表明，尽管有时使用起来具有挑战性，但协作仍被视为教学实践中的一个重要组成部分。此外，似乎使用协作活动的双重潜力——即作为一种合作和发展合作能力的方式——可能被学术重点所掩盖。有趣的是，学习如何合作很少被视为教育成果本身。

结论

本文强调了强调协作活动的社会教学法的必要性，以便让学生为摆在他们面前的社会和工作现实做好准备。教师有机会发展他们对学生合作的理解，并了解如何最好地构建教学和学习以捕捉其中的双重潜力，这应该嵌入教师教育和持续的专业学习中。