ERIC Number: EJ1031584
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2013
Pages: 20
Abstractor: As Provided
Reference Count: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0002-4805
Didactical Positions and Teacher Collaboration: Teamwork between Possibilities and Frustrations
Frederiksen, Lars Frode; Beck, Steen
Alberta Journal of Educational Research, v59 n3 p442-461 Fall 2013
The context of this study is the Danish upper secondary school, which has undergone remarkable changes during the past ten years. Cross-disciplinary activities have been introduced as a teaching principle in order to create new skills for future generations in the knowledge society, while team organization among teachers has become obligatory in order to ensure collaboration regarding a new era of student learning. The reform has been widely discussed among teachers and in the public media as well. Our research shows that the majority of teachers support the idea of teamwork, but also that there are differences in teachers' attitudes due to the diversity of interpretations of what constitutes good teaching and learning or what we call didactical values. We consider this an important discovery because it reveals that there is much resistance towards teamwork in the heterogeneous ways teachers understand their role as teacher. In this paper, we use data from a longitudinal study carried out in 2006-2009 to show that, in times of radical reforms such as the present, conflicts may be intensified exactly because of different didactical positions among teachers and between teachers and leaders in terms of how to create a viable connection between new structures and new teacher culture with the didactical values and practices that go along with them.
Descriptors: Teacher Collaboration, Teamwork, Teacher Attitudes, Longitudinal Studies, Educational Practices, Educational Change, Teaching Methods, Individual Differences, Conflict, Data Analysis, Secondary School Teachers, Organizational Culture, Ambiguity (Context), Foreign Countries, Instructional Innovation
University of Alberta, Faculty of Education. 845 Education Centre South, Edmonton, AB T6G 2G5, Canada. Tel: 780-492-7941; Fax: 780-492-0236; Web site: http://ajer.synergiesprairies.ca
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers: Denmark

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