EdWeekly published a brief found in Teacher Mag. that outlines a survey done by MET Life on the various responses by principals, teachers, and students regarding school culture discussing teacher collaboration and positive school learning communities. The article’s complete document is found at the following URL :
Its basic ideas that relate to our committee work can be broken down to the following:
The 2009 “MetLife Survey of the American Teacher: Collaborating for Student Success,” which will be released in three parts over the next two months, examines the views of teachers, principals, and students about their respective roles, responsibilities, and priorities in schools today. The first part of the survey, released today and titled “Effective Teaching and Leadership,” examines teachers’ and principals’ views on what collaboration looks like in schools and what impact it has. (The MetLife Foundation provides funding to Teacher to support interactive professional community among classroom educators.)
Sixty-seven percent of teachers and 78 percent of principals surveyed said more collaboration among teachers and school leaders would have a “major impact” on student achievement.
The potential benefits of greater collaboration among educators, according to some observers, are a better school climate, greater career satisfaction for educators, and higher retention of qualified teachers and administrators.
The article has a link to the survey results which in turn has 2 particular statements of interest:
… for some educators, collaboration may raise concerns about dilution of individual accountability, infringement on independence in the classroom, or a lack of clear management hierarchies or responsibilities, the report said.
The least frequent type of collaborative activity is teachers observing each other
in the classroom and providing feedback. Less than one-third of teachers or
principals report that this frequently occurs at their school.
The article brings to mind the need for teachers observing one another…perhaps that is something we need to incorporate into our document? It also brings to mind the possibility that some educators see collaborative time as a loss of independence and atomony?
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