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- Title:
-
Setting the Stage for Collaboration: An Essential Skill for Professional Growth.
- Authors:
- Morel, Nina J.1,2 [email protected]
- Source:
- Delta Kappa Gamma Bulletin. Fall2014, Vol. 81 Issue 1, p36-39. 4p.
- Document Type:
- Article
- Subject Terms:
- * COOPERATION * JOB skills * CAREER development * TWENTY-first century * LEARNING
- NAICS/Industry Codes:
- 611430 Professional and Management Development Training 624310 Vocational Rehabilitation Services
- Abstract:
- Collaboration is identified as an essential twenty-first-century skill, and research supports that professional learning is enhanced by collaboration among teachers. Nevertheless, many American schools have little time built into the day for collaborative professional interactions such as coaching, peer observation, modeling, or professional-learning-community work. Administrators and teacher leaders can take a few essential steps to promote and enhance their own collaboration among colleagues and promote the collaborative practices of professionals in their schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Copyright of Delta Kappa Gamma Bulletin is the property of Delta Kappa Gamma Society International and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
- Author Affiliations:
- 1Associate A dean of the College of Professional Studies, Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee 2Member and officer of Beta Chapter, Xi State Organization (TN)
- Full Text Word Count:
- 1842
- ISSN:
- 0011-8044
- Accession Number:
- 98474485
- Database:
- Academic Search Complete
Setting the Stage for Collaboration: An Essential Skill for Professional Growth
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Full Text
ListenCollaboration is identified as an essential twenty-first-century skill, and research supports that professional learning is enhanced by collaboration among teachers. Nevertheless, many American schools have little time built into the day for collaborative professional interactions such as coaching, peer observation, modeling, or professional-learning-community work. Administrators and teacher leaders can take a few essential steps to promote and enhance their own collaboration among colleagues and promote the collaborative practices of professionals in their schools.
A few years ago, I met Kum Fong, an administrator from the Singapore Ministry of Education, who was visiting Nashville, Tennessee, as a Fulbright Scholar to share her research on professional collaboration among teachers. At the time, I was working to develop collaborative professional-learning practices in my school district, and I asked her to comment on her impressions of American teachers and their collaborative professional learning. Without hesitation, she answered, "Teachers are so lonely here." Her observation backed up my own sense that the professional isolation of the American teacher must be addressed in order to improve teaching and learning in the twenty-first century. In this article, I explore why collaboration is so important at this juncture in education.
Why is Collaboration So Important Now?
Collaboration, according to Rubin (2009), is a "means of aligning people's actions to get something done" (p. 16). Collaboration leverages diverse perspectives and skills and can promote creativity and productivity. In addition, collaboration is a skill that is valued by employers as well as civic and social organizations. It is tied to greater job satisfaction, and it is an effective learning practice, especially for adult learners. Practicing collaboration models its importance for the students who will be called upon to collaborate in an increasingly complex economy and society.
Collaboration is necessary in a complex, global society. One hundred years ago, a teacher might live her whole life collaborating with only a few hundred people whom she knew and developed relationships with over a lifetime. Today, through technology, educators come in contact with hundreds of people from around the globe every day. Fifty years ago, teaching required an individual to get along in his or her geographic community; today, teachers are expected to communicate instantaneously with parents, leaders, and colleagues at home and around the globe. Information about best practices in the classroom is instantly available to all stakeholders, and community members expect their teachers to stay up to date with current research and to implement innovations in their own classrooms almost immediately. The increasing complexity of teaching students to develop skills for a future society that one can barely imagine requires teachers to be learners every day--not just in the summer when professional learning opportunities have been traditionally offered.
Collaboration increases teachers' job satisfaction. The MetLife Foundation has conducted an annual Survey of the American Teacher every year since 1984. In 2012, the survey indicated that teachers' job satisfaction had dropped to the lowest level in 25 years. Only 39% of the 1000 public school teachers surveyed reported job satisfaction--a drop of 23% since 2008, when 62% of teachers reported being satisfied with their jobs. Compared to the most-satisfied teachers, the least-satisfied teachers in the 2012 survey were more likely to work in schools that, during the previous 12 months, had experienced cuts in professional development and decreases in time for professional collaboration. Satisfied teachers tended to work in places with adequate professional development and time for collaboration with peers. The 2012 survey indicated that teacher stress was also much greater than it had been in the past, with 51% reporting significant stress in their jobs--up from 36% of teachers reporting job stress in 1985. Not surprisingly, teachers who experienced more stress also reported lower job satisfaction. These data suggest greater teacher satisfaction exists when teachers are free to reflect, collaborate, and create their own professional growth. In a time when attracting and retaining excellent teachers is becoming more and more difficult, providing collaborative professional learning can go far to increase teacher satisfaction.
Collaboration is an effective learning practice. Working with others to share ideas, take a point of view, defend a position, give and accept feedback, achieve consensus, and apply knowledge to a common goal leads to improved teaching and learning. Working with others can enhance creativity, improve reflection, increase respect for others, promote team celebration, and enhance self-efficacy. Just as children are no longer expected to learn information passively, teachers cannot be expected to depend entirely on workshops and lectures to develop their practice. According to Materna (2007), "Group collaboration especially is essential in adult education, since adults want to share their experiences and interact with others both academically and professionally" (p. 42).
Collaboration is an important example to students. If educators expect students to excel in twenty-first-century skills, then teachers must model these skills. Students notice and emulate teachers' use of technology, collaborative practices with colleagues, and development of problem-finding and problem-solving skills. When teachers fail to model collaboration and the other competencies that support higher level thinking and creativity, students may assume that a right answer exists to all problems and that taking an intellectual risk is inappropriate. Teachers who work collaboratively contribute to an environment in which students can grow and learn their own relationship skills. According to Joyce and Calhoun (2010), "When teachers live in healthy schools, they create an elevating environment for their students" (p. 30).
What Skills Do Teachers Need to Collaborate?
Collaboration both builds interpersonal skills and requires certain skills. These skills do not always come naturally, and school leaders and professional developers may need to teach and reinforce the use of such skills explicitly with faculty members to help them collaborate more successfully with their peers. Based on my experience leading collaborative groups, requisite collaboration skills include the ability to
* read the emotional climate of a situation and improve emotional safety for others;
* apologize;
* focus on the project and not on individual personalities;
* listen;
* express and advocate for one's own point of view;
* take the other person's perspective; and
* define mutual goals.
A variety of resources is available to help individuals self-assess their abilities in these areas and then hone them to greater effectiveness. Individual or group coaching can go a long way to help leaders excel in these skills.
What Kind of Environment is Required for Effective Collaboration?
Collaboration thrives in an environment in which the school leader has developed a climate conducive to collaboration. Three essential elements are necessary for that climate: involvement in significant work, trust, and consistent processes.
Involvement in significant work. When pairs or teams work together, the goal must be worthwhile and the expectations must be high. Busy work, work that is not taken seriously by leaders, does not lead to effective collaboration. Rock (2008) explained that when individuals interact with others, their brains are looking for status, certainty, autonomy, relatedness, and fairness. Status is how one thinks others value him or her and is one of the most important needs of human brains. All individuals want to believe that the person with whom they are interacting has respect for them and their work, and humans are very adept at identifying the regard others have for an individual. Being given significant work related to the goals of the organization and being provided a protected time to do this work increases the status and motivation of teachers. In schools, the most significant work is, of course, the achievement of students. Tying organizational goals and collaborative work to student outcomes underscores the significance of any project.
Trust. Trust is the most important component of collaboration (Tschannen-Moran, 2001). High-stakes, highly competitive structures, over-direction or micromanagement, secrecy, and lack of transparency undermine trust among faculty members. Principals must work to create a climate of respect and trust. This does not happen overnight, and it starts with a positive example set by the leadership. Teachers, administrators, and coaches should identify and commit to a communication model that they will follow with fidelity as they work together. Some school personnel agree to an open communication model, where all collaborative professional information is shared among teachers, coaches, and administrators. Others decide on a model where only positive information is shared, and still others agree that communication among teachers and coaches is open, but principals will not ask for or receive information about areas of concern except from an individual teacher about his or her own practice. Whatever the model, the key is that all the professionals in the school agree to and adhere to it consistently (Morel & Cushman, 2012).
Consistent processes. When trust has not yet been developed, a tight process for working together provides a safe emotional environment in which to take risks. Consistent team processes provide identified roles, discussion protocols, and agreed-upon norms that lead to productive dialogue. The use of consistent protocols in meetings supports the needs of the brain identified by Rock (2008). Protocols balance status among participants because they provide a process for everyone's voice to be heard. Effective meeting or learning protocols begin by reviewing norms or agreements for interaction, setting a time to begin and end, and making personal connections. This process shows mutual concern for everyone's needs and emphasizes the importance of the relationship. Specific protocols also provide certainty because everyone knows the rules, and there is a definite outcome for every interaction. Meeting protocols protect autonomy because each participant is invited and not forced or micromanaged to participate. Relatedness and fairness are further enhanced because the norms for safe interaction provide a voice for everyone.
Conclusion
I hope someday to visit Kum Fong in Singapore and witness firsthand the levels of collaboration that teachers there enjoy. I also hope, when I go, that I will be able to take many examples of how teachers in the United States have worked together to decrease isolation and increase professional collaboration for the benefit of our students.
References
Joyce, B., & Calhoun, E. (2010). Models of professional development: A celebration of educators. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Materna, L. (2007). Jump start the adult learner: How to engage and motivate adults using brain-compatible strategies. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
MetLife, Inc. (2012). MetLife survey of the American teacher: Challenges for school leadership. Retrieved from ERIC database (ED542202).
Morel, N., & Cushman, C. (2012). How to develop an instructional coaching program for maximum capacity. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Rock, D. (2008). SCARF: A brain-based model for collaborating with and influencing others. NeuroLeadership Journal, 1, 1-9. Retrieved from www.Neuroleadership.org
Rubin, H. (2009). Collaborative leadership: Developing effective partnerships for communities and schools (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Tsahnnen-Moran, M. (2001). Collaboration and the need for trust. Journal of Educational Administration, 39(4), 308-331. doi:10.1108/EUM0000000005493
~~~~~~~~
By Nina J. Morel
Nina J. Morel, EdD, is associate A dean of the College of Professional Studies at Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee. She is an active member and officer of Beta Chapter in Xi State Organization (TN). [email protected]
Copyright of Delta Kappa Gamma Bulletin is the property of Delta Kappa Gamma Society International and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.
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