Collaborative learning (CL) is a teaching strategy in which two or more learners work together towards a common learning result. In this collaborative process, they depend on and are accountable for their own and their teammates’ active learning process (Dillenbourg, 1999). Following Dillenbourg (1999), we use the term ‘collaborative learning’ in the present study as a broad concept covering multiple approaches on peer collaboration, amongst which for example cooperative learning, peer tutoring, etcetera.

During the last decades, there has been growing interest in the study of CL. A first wave of research has focused on the effectiveness of this teaching strategy for students’ learning process. Findings show that CL can promote cognitive learning processes, social-emotional functioning, and psychological development (e.g. Johnson & Johnson, 1999; Marzano, Pickering, & Pollock, 2001). A second, more recent, wave of studies has been particularly interested in the use, competences, pedagogical behaviour and beliefs of teachers with regard to CL (e.g. Abrami, Poulsen, & Chambers, 2004; Webb, 2009). However, most of these studies concern senior teachers that are trained to use CL as a innovation in their traditional teaching strategies’ repertoire (e.g. Krol-Pot, 2005).

Pre-service and beginning teachers’ competency development and teaching experiences are, however, far less studied in relation to CL implementation. To address this gap in the literature, the present study has a two-fold research aim. First, we aim to investigate the perspective of student and novice teachers with regard to CL implementation. Veenman et al. (2002) previously examined CL implementation of pre-service teachers, but the results provide only insight into short-term training effects on perceptions and intended teacher behaviour. Therefore, the present study intends to identify motives of teachers to implement CL in practice, following student teachers from graduation through their first year in the profession. Secondly, we comply with Siegel’s (2005) plea for more research about teachers’ experiences with CL in their authentic teaching context, considering factors that influence the successful implementation without researcher support. In this respect, Gillies and Boyle (2010) already studied the perspective of senior expert teachers on what works in CL and on difficulties they experience. Subsequently, we focus on factors influencing success and failure in CL in real-classrooms from the perspective and experiences of student and novice teachers. As most prior studies on CL adopted a quantitative research approach, we further contribute to the understanding of CL implementation by opting for an in-depth multiple case-studies design.

Building on the theoretical framework, two central research questions are put forward:

(a) What are student and novice teachers’ motives for implementing CL?

(b) Which factors determine success and failure in CL implementation of student and novice teachers?

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