Teacher Collaboration

There is an expectation that teachers at Churton Park School work collaboratively, modelling this process for our students.

Key competencies - Relating to others, participating and contributing, managing self.

What is it?

Collaboration is defined as the action of working with someone to produce something. At CPS this involves working with other teachers to produce better quality teaching experiences. Part of teacher collaboration will mean student collaboration.

Everyone contributes to make it easier for everyone else using shared physical spaces, needs, interests and strengths.

Motive: Why do we do this?

Benefits for teachers:

• Utilises teacher strengths.
• Shared teacher workload.
• Shared responsibilities for staff.
• Sharing children, the idea of seeing not your children but our children.
• Helping a child achieve with two or three teachers and sharing ideas that will help that particular child shine.
• More ideas, experiences and resources available than when planning on your own.
• Observing and learning from our colleagues.

Benefits for learners:

• Key competencies are well developed with different teachers and spaces.
• Increased responsibility for their choices and learning.
• Children are offered a greater choice of learning experiences (Art Rotations, Inquiry, etc.) and learner agency is well supported.
• Children form relationships with a wider range of teaching staff.
• Children are able to form friendships with a wider range of children.
• In some cases, allows more physical spaces for the children to learn in, e.g. more room to offer different activities.
• Children can be grouped appropriately for their learning needs (may be leveled, mixed ability, social groups).

Method: What does this look like at CPS?

Our ways of collaborating are always changing, evolving and adapting - so this may look different between collaborative groups and year to year - see drawings/models below for some examples. However there is an agreed way of working which is developed by staff, which allows for a shared understanding of how “things work”.

Our collaborative teams are based on our school structure, so that teachers of Year 1 classes, teachers of Year 2/3 classes, teachers of Year 4/5 classes and teachers of Year 6 classes form collaborative teams within these year groups.

Each teacher within a collaborative team has their “own” class and this teacher is the “key” person for your child and for you as a parent. This group of children start and end the day with their teacher so that there is a chance to start the day well, and also check in at the end of the day. Your child’s “teacher” is the person you would speak to if there is something you needed to know or wanted to discuss about your child. As we all have strengths and different experiences to contribute, there is no team leader. Collaborative teams meet regularly to plan and discuss the needs of the children.

Resources for teacher collaboration

What is teacher collaboration?

Some models of what collaboration might look like: