Browsing by Author "Tuominen, Riku"

Collaboration is an important theme in today’s teacher education and the daily work of teachers in schools. Teaching has strong individualistic traditions and the work of teachers is as yet partially characterized by individuality and the individual’s responsibilities, which constitutes challenges for collaborative work. Collaboration is often limited to planning lessons together or giving tips, and the possibility for deeper reflection and the true benefits of working together are often left out. Teachers’ own attitudes toward collaboration are seen as a key factor in reinforcing collaboration. Modern perceptions of collaboration emphasize the role of the novices’ input alongside the contribution of the more experienced members of a profession. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate the meanings novice teachers attach to teacher collaboration and what it looks like from the perspective of developing collaboration. The research material consisted of semi-structured interviews with seven novice teachers and the data was qualitatively analysed using discursive methods. In this study graduate teachers who had work experience of less than five years were defined as novice. All the selected teachers worked in different schools in the Helsinki metropolitan area and in Western Finland. Six repertoires were found in this study: practical, student-centered, individual-critical, caring, formal and individualistic. Teachers interpreted collaboration from a practical point of view and they focused on working for the benefits of students. Some of the teachers wanted to relinquish the individualistic traditions associated with teaching and others reinforced and repeated them. Other teachers were perceived as supporting, and the novices considered collaboration as a well-structured activity. Collaboration appeared to occupy a firm role in teachers’ working environments. Through the student-centered and caring repertoires, collaboration was also given a deeper meaning in addition to practicality. Altogether these findings can be seen as positive for developing teacher collaboration further. On the other hand, perceptions of the form and depth of collaboration left room for further investigation of the topic in order to avoid regarding collaboration in an unduly limited way. The talk about collaboration took on critical tones as well - particularly through an individualistic repertoire, which moved the reality of being a teacher far from the ideals of collaboration.