Session Information
01 SES 11 C, Research on Collaborative Practices
Paper Session
Contribution
Participation in professional development (PD) activities is a pivotal approach to stimulating school improvement and promoting continuous teacher learning. It is to ensure that teachers have the required competencies to deliver quality teaching and learning activities to support students in achieving better outcomes (Darling-Hammond, 2013; Dogan & Adams, 2020; OECD, 2020). However, the quality of PD programs has a long-standing critique because in-service training, workshop and seminar are perceived to be ineffective because they are not situated within the school context and not embedded in the daily teaching practices (Darling-Hammond, 2013; Forte & Flores, 2014). A school-based PD in the form of teacher collaboration is found to be more effective in improving teaching practices (Weddle, 2022; De Jong et al., 2022).
Studies have demonstrated that teacher collaboration is the key to creating an effective teacher PD program. For example, a report by OECD (2019) recognises teacher collaboration as one of the most impactful models of PD to improve teacher practices since it fosters continuous teacher learning within the school context and enables more flexibility and efficiency in teacher learning experiences. This evidence is consistent with Darling-Hammond's (2013) study that effective professional development requires strong collaboration among teachers. This research evidence supports teacher collaboration adoption in many schools worldwide (Shavard, 2022; Weddle, 2022)
Given its widely recognised importance, the discourse on teacher collaboration has attracted scholars in the last decades to study it further (e.g., de Jong et al., 2019; Hargreaves, 2019). Although teacher collaboration is a frequently used concept in the literature on professional development (Hargreaves, 2019), this concept is also not well understood. There are apparent issues related to understanding practices of teacher collaboration. First, teacher collaboration has been used in different ways, pointing to different types of interactions among teachers. For example, some scholars view teacher collaboration as an informal, spontaneous, and flexible activity built upon teachers' circumstances (e.g., Brodie, 2021; Hargreaves, 2019) while some view it as a formal and mandatory activity built on teachers' commitment (e.g., Schuster et al., 2021; Webs & Holtappels, 2018). Second, the term is poorly delineated because people conflate teacher collaboration with other professional development terminologies such as Community of Practices (e.g. Hjerto et al., 2014), and Professional Learning Community (e.g.Chua et al., 2020). Third, The existing literature paid little attention to examining the contextual differences in other educational contexts, most of which were conducted in non-western contexts. If teacher collaboration is a product of a particular educational setting, the practices of teacher collaboration in a system as diverse as Indonesia would be a distinctive practice. Hence, it is important to examine how this construct is perceived and practised in Indonesia because cultural dimension elements such as the power distance, the culture of individualism, and the culture of collectivism may influence it.
This issue, as mentioned previously, shows a greater need to grasp the clarity of the teacher collaboration concept so that it will stimulate teachers' engagement in collaboration and guide the principals to promote teachers' engagement in teacher collaboration in the school context. The theoretical perspective of Activity Theory was used since it provides an analytical tool for providing greater clarity for tackling theoretical questions underpinning teacher collaboration practices. In this study, Activity theory was used to examine teachers' experience in collaboration by examining the teachers' activity system and its development, the setting, and the issues that cut across multiple activities within the setting. Thus, we aim to provide greater clarity to these three issues in this paper by answering the following research questions:
How do teachers in Indonesia conceptualise teacher collaboration? What factors influence teachers’ engagement in collaboration?
Method
This study employed a multiple case study design to address the research inquiry. The participants of this study included 12 teachers and three principals from three schools in Indonesia recruited using a criterion sampling strategy to ensure the selected participants meet the identified criteria. Data collection The data collection phase integrated case study research and activity theory as its research framework. Data collection consisted of semi-structured interviews, field observation and document analysis. At the same time, the activity theory framework was integrated into data collection instruments comprising six components: subject, object, tools, rule, community and division of labour. The interview questions were adopted from previous studies on teacher collaboration (e.g., Datnow, 2018; Vangrieken et al., 2015), and developed using the Activity Theory framework (Engeström, 1999; Vygotsky, 1978; Yamagata-Lynch, 2010). The interviews included open-ended questions integrating the six components of activity theory and the purpose of the research around these aspects: the understanding of teacher collaboration, the engagement of teachers in collaborative practices, and the factors that influence teacher collaboration practices. After interviewing the participants, the observation of teachers' interactions and collaborative practices was employed. The observation protocol was developed by integrating the activity theory component to record information consisting of participants' profiles, activities, and reflective notes, such as the observer's thoughts, ideas, and challenges. Data Analysis Case study research as the study design and activity theory as the theoretical framework were incorporated into the data analysis. This study undertook a theoretical thematic analysis by Braun and Clarke (2006) comprising of familiarisation with the data, generating initial codes, searching for themes, reviewing themes, defining and naming themes, and connecting thematic analysis to theoretical analysis. The activity theory was used to generate initial codes for a data set to determine coding relevance concerning the subject, object, tools, community, rule, and division of labour. It also includes classifying themes into relevant activity system components to determine which themes belong to specific components. The data analysis from each activity system and the joint activity system also explored contradictions within and across activity systems to produce a valuable theoretical lens for this study. It strives to examine the inconsistency between and within the activity systems of teachers and principals.
Expected Outcomes
Analysis of the data showed the following initial findings: First, formal and mandatory collaboration emerged as Indonesia's main feature of collaboration practices. All participants referred to a school-based teacher collaboration called MGMP, a government program that clustered teachers based on their school subject. While some teachers value the MGMP program since it facilitates their professional development, some teachers voice their concerns for the MGMP as it is merely an obligatory program with a default structure to follow. This kind of collaboration has been mentioned as 'Contrived Collegiality' by Hargreaves (2019), potentially hindering teachers' progress in collaborative practices. Second, teachers value collaboration more as a beneficial practice to enhance personal relations with other teachers. This perception may be influenced by the collective culture of Indonesian people, where they emphasise interrelation as the core value of how a society should operate. It also reflects how cultural contexts influence collaborative practices among teachers. Third, some contradictions are identified within and between the activity system. For example, teachers' participation in collaboration was halted by their teaching workload during school hours. They value collaboration as a beneficial practice personally and professionally, yet, they rarely participate in it. Meanwhile, the principal praised the implementation of the new curriculum as more supportive of collaborative culture among teachers. However, teachers do not share the same perspective due to a lack of support to learn the new curriculum. Conclusion This finding provided empirical support for how teachers in Indonesia conceptualised and practised collaboration. While collaboration is mostly implemented in a formal and a top-down approach, teachers view the practice of collaboration as an instrument to connect with other teachers and build social relations. This study also made a theoretical contribution to the conceptualisation of practice where the social settings of a collaboration influence the practice of teacher collaboration.
References
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative research in psychology, 3(2), 77-101. Brodie, K. (2021). Teacher agency in professional learning communities. Professional Development in Education, 47(4), 560-573. https://doi.org/10.1080/19415257.2019.1689523 Darling-Hammond, L. (2013). Getting teacher evaluation right: What really matters for effectiveness and improvement. Teacher College Press. Datnow, A. (2018). Time for change? The emotions of teacher collaboration and reform. Journal of Professional Capital and Community, 3(3), 157-172. https://doi.org/10.1108/jpcc-12-2017-0028 de Jong, L., Meirink, J., & Admiraal, W. (2019). School-based teacher collaboration: Different learning opportunities across various contexts. Teaching and Teacher Education, 86, 12. https://doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2019.102925 Dogan, S., & Adams, A. (2020). Augmenting the effect of professional development on effective instruction through professional communities. Teachers and Teaching: Theory and practice, 26(3-4), 326-349. https://doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13540602.2020.1832064 Engeström, Y. (1999). Activity theory and individual and social transformation. In Perspectives on activity theory (Vol. 19, pp. 19-30). Cambridge University Press. Forte, A. M., & Flores, M. A. (2014). Teacher collaboration and professional development in the workplace: a study of Portuguese teachers. European Journal of Teacher Education, 37(1), 91-105. https://doi.org/10.1080/02619768.2013.763791 Hargreaves, A. (2019). Teacher collaboration: 30 years of research on its nature, forms, limitations and effects. Teachers and Teaching, 25(5), 603-621. https://doi.org/10.1080/13540602.2019.1639499 OECD. (2019). TALIS 2018 results (volume II): Teachers and school leaders as lifelong learners. O. Publishing. OECD. (2020). Education at a glance 2020: OECD indicators. OECD Publishing. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1787/69096873-en. Schuster, J., Hartmann, U., & Kolleck, N. (2021). Teacher collaboration networks as a function of type of collaboration and schools’ structural environment. Teaching and Teacher Education, 103. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2021.103372 Shavard, G. (2022). From school improvement to student cases: Teacher collaborative work as a context for professional development. https://doi.org/10.1080/19415257.2021.1879216 Vangrieken, K., Dochy, F., Raes, E., & Kyndt, E. (2015). Teacher collaboration: A systematic review. Educational Research Review, 15, 17-40. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2015.04.002 Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: Development of higher psychological processes. Harvard University Press. Webs, T., & Holtappels, H. G. (2018). School conditions of different forms of teacher collaboration and their effects on instructional development in schools facing challenging circumstances [Article]. Journal of Professional Capital and Community, 3(1), 39-58. https://doi.org/10.1108/JPCC-03-2017-0006 Weddle, H. (2022). Approaches to studying teacher collaboration for instructional improvement: A review of literature. Educational Research Review, 35, 100415. Yamagata-Lynch, L. C. (2010). Activity systems analysis methods: Understanding complex learning environments. Springer Science & Business Media.
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