Building a culture of collaboration in schools

• Published in: Phi Delta Kappan 2016-04, Vol.97 (7), p.69-73
• Main Authors: Sutton, Paul S., Shouse, Andrew W.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Collaboration; Collaborative learning; Common Core; Cooperative learning; Cooperative Planning; Cultural factors; Cultural instruction; Culture; Curriculum Design; Educational Improvement; Email; English teachers; Expertise; High schools; Learning; Pacific Northwest; Partnerships in Education; Problem Based Learning; Problem solving; Professional Development; Secondary school curricula; Silts; Teacher Collaboration; Teachers; Teaching Methods; Team Teaching; Teamwork
• ISSN: 0031-7217; 1940-6487
• DOI: 10.1177/0031721716641653

Teaching is complex; teachers and school leaders crave more meaningful collaborative experiences to make sense of that complexity. However, the structural, cultural, and historical factors involved with schooling impede the extent to which teachers can collaborate. Teachers spend five to six periods of the day teaching classes, largely working in isolation from each other; their remaining time is spent tending to administrative tasks, answering emails, or grading. For schools to work around the persistent structural constraints to establish a sincere and thoughtful collaborative culture they must approach collaboration differently. Collaborative cultures emerge from authentic and relevant problem solving. Teachers will see collaboration as an integral feature of their work when the problems they are asked to solve are specific to their practice, are common to a majority of teachers in a particular school, and when solving the problem demands they collaborate with colleagues.