Association
The literature on teacher learning communities indicates that collaboration between teachers is an important characteristic of a teacher learning community (DaFour, 2004). Thomas (2006) contends that collaborative learning is based on the idea that learning is a natural social act in which participants talk among themselves. In CHAT, collaboration is an important aspect of an activity system. Timmis (2014), one of the CHAT theorists, argues that the object of the activity and also the relationship between goals, are influenced by effective collaboration between actors in the activity system. Timmis (2014) further elaborates by stating that collaboration is essential to construct shared knowledge. However, learning or working together does not always mean collaboration.
In this section I will describe the nature of collaborative relationships in the Commerce Teachers’ Association. The data about the nature of collaborative relationships largely comes from the survey that was administered during the election meeting. I also use interview and observation data to substantiate the findings that emerge from the survey. I describe collaborative relationships under the following classifications, which were derived from the survey: collaboration during workshops, extent of collaboration outside of the workshops, and types of support outside of the workshops.
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6.4.1. Kinds of collaborative activities during the workshops
The term “activities” was used in the survey to refer to the tasks that Commerce teachers were jointly engaged in during the workshops. From a CHAT perspective, the term activity refers to the workshops. Therefore, the term activity was used according to the teachers’
understanding that that is what teachers were doing when they were collaborating during the workshops. The question on the kinds of collaborative activities teachers engage in was classified into five options as shown in the Table 21 below. Respondents were at liberty to tick more than one answer, thus the percentages add up to more than 100%.
Kinds of collaborative activities Number of teachers using this kind of collaborative activity
Percentage
Working with other teachers to solve problems related to the subject content
32 55.2%
Sharing ideas with other teachers about how to teach particular topics
30 51.7%
Sharing teaching resources with other teachers
14 24.1%
Working with other teachers to go through past exam papers
21 36%
Other collaborative activities 2 3%
Table 21: Respondents’ views on kinds of collaboration during workshops
The survey findings indicate that 32 of the 58 Commerce teachers stated that they collaborated with other teachers to solve problems related to subject content and 26 Commerce teachers did not include this option. There were 30 Commerce teachers who stated that during the workshops they collaborated with one another to share ideas about how to teach particular topics. Only 14 Commerce teachers responded that they shared teaching resources with other teachers. This implies that 75. 9% of teachers did not share teaching resources with other teachers. The findings further show that 21 teachers responded that during the workshops they worked with one another to go through past examination papers, tests and memoranda. There were 2 respondents that used other collaborative activities but they did not specify the kinds of collaborative activities.
The literature on teacher learning communities suggests that teachers act on an on-going basis to develop their knowledge of common interest or passion by sharing individual resources and engaging in critical dialogue (Priestley, Miller, Barrett and Wallace, 2011, p.
270). The findings seem to be in line with the literature, although one notices that there are
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very few teachers that responded that they shared teaching resources during the workshops.
Furthermore, the survey findings seem to oppose what was taking place in the Economics workshop which I observed. During the Economics workshop the Economics teachers were mostly interacting with the facilitator by responding to his questions. One of the vital aspects of collaboration is interdependence between people that are collaborating. The observation data suggest that Commerce teachers seemed to depend more upon the facilitator. Priestley et al. (2011) further highlight that the dialogue between teachers strengthens a teacher learning community and allows change which takes account of prior experiences and achievements of teachers. The findings from the observation do not have evidence to support that teachers engaged in critical dialogue with one another. This was shown by the second activity system discussed in this chapter.
6.4.2. Extent of collaboration outside of the workshops
In this section, I look at how often Commerce teachers collaborate with one another outside of the workshop. The findings show that the extent of collaboration between Commerce teachers outside of the workshops differs. The findings the from the survey show that 6.9% of Commerce teachers say they collaborate with one another at least once a week, and 53.4%
collaborate about once a month. In addition, 34.5% of teachers responded by saying that collaboration in the Commerce Teachers’ Association is not very lively as they only meet at workshops. A small 5% of teachers indicated that they do not meet at all outside of the workshops. It would seem that approximately 40% of Commerce teachers are not collaborating outside of the workshops of the Commerce Teachers’ Association which might be because it is seen as only a DBE initiative.
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6.4.3. Types of support outside of workshops
The survey findings suggest that Commerce teachers use various techniques to support one another outside of the workshops. This is shown in Table 22 below:
Type of support outside of the workshops No. of Respondents
Percentage of Respondents Share teaching resources like textbooks, worksheets
and activities.
21 36.2
Share tests and examination papers 16 27.6
Work together to plan different ways in which to teach particular topics
25 43.1
Work together to design tests and examination 13 22.4 Observe one another teaching in order to develop
practice
13 22.4
Moderate each other’s learners’ test and assignments 22 37.9
Other 1 1.7
Table 22: Respondents’ views about the type of support outside of workshops
The findings show that 21 of the 58 participants share teaching resources comprised of textbooks, worksheets and activities, while 16 participants share tests and examination papers. Furthermore, 25 participants support each other by working together to plan different ways in which to teach particular topic. Only 13 of 58 participants work together to design tests and examinations and only 22% (13) of 58 participants observe one another teaching in order to develop their teaching practice. A significant number of 22 participants support each other by moderating each other’s learners’ tests and assignments. Lastly, one participant uses other methods which he specified as team teaching.
To sum up, these findings suggest that (40%) of Commerce teachers work together to plan different ways to teach particular topic. This finding seems to be in line with the second objective of the Commerce Teachers’ Association which is to equip Commerce teachers with content knowledge and methodological skills (skills for how to teach). Furthermore, the findings suggest that 36% of Commerce teachers share different resources. Where the issue of sharing the resources and working together of Commerce teachers is related to teacher learning, the research literature suggests that developing new ways of working is achieved through collaborative acts of meaning making and ways of envisaging something as a mediational tool (Hermansen & Nerland, 2014). There was also a significant number of 22 participants (out of 58) who responded by saying that they support each other by moderating
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each other’s learners’ tests and assignments. This kind of support seems to be line with one of the agendas of DBE clusters that suggests teachers’ collaboration to moderate learners’
school based assessment tasks. In a CHAT context, the subjects (Commerce teachers) use mediating tools to help each other to act on their object (teaching).