The Value Of Educator Collaboration (And What It Means for Students)

Photo by Max Fischer: https://www.pexels.com/photo/woman-in-brown-blazer-wearing-sunglasses-5212325/

When we're in any kind of learning environment, we all assume that the teachers in charge of the specific course we're taking know it all. Of course, they do likely know more than you at the present moment, which is why they're assigned to teach. However, it's also true that anyone, irrespective of standard in the industry, is still on the learning journey alongside you. Your highly skilled music teacher is likely still in awe of the classical composers, and even they had an ongoing dialogue and appreciation for their contemporaries as they were literally inventing theory.

In short, you're never too good nor too old to learn. For schooling institutions, be they private adult courses or government-sponsored public schools, it's important to make sure all educators are assisting one another where it counts, that investment in their capabilities and knowledge updates are ongoing, and that you take a healthy approach to their development.

If you do this, you can ensure a much better result for all taking the course. That sounds good on the surface, but it's a little too close to the world of lip service without action right now. Let's alleviate that tendency by considering some of the following advice:

Letting Teachers Learn
A classroom might look like a space with one expert and many beginners, but the truth is more layered. Teachers have the advantage of experience as they've studied longer, and they've been tested in ways students haven't yet. But they're not fixed in place, immune from change. A science teacher who once studied decades ago still has to update their knowledge to keep pace with new understanding even if it's slow, and even a history lecturer will keep seeing new angles on old events. A music teacher who respects Mozart might also be fascinated by what a modern producer is doing with software today and needs that to understand how their students are likely inspired as a younger generation.

If you help to continually develop that in your staff, it makes the relationship between student and teacher more grounded. No one is pretending knowledge is finished, so both sides can share in the energy of curiosity and growth. Moreover, if a teacher is passionate, even the least interested student is going to be slightly curious.

Peer Collaboration
Teachers sometimes get caught up in their own classrooms and it's no wonder, as marking, planning, trying to stay on top of their workload takes a huge amount of time, and can be isolating. This is why the best schools encourage their staff to share ideas and resources, and reflect together on what works. 

Often, you'll find that this where professional learning communities education can shine, because it takes the natural desire teachers have to support each other and gives it a framework. If done right it should help learning communities becomes part of the culture, a practice that everyone expects and values and can rely on. It raises the standard yes, but also makes the workplace much more comfortable to be part of.

Investing In Professional Training
What is training? A box to tick or something to reinspire your educators? You likely know the answer without us giving it to you, and that's why best institutions treat them as a genuine investment. You coud begin sending teachers to conferences, giving them access to online courses, or inviting guest speakers to help them feel more focused and attentive, or at least consider another point of view.

To use some examples, a teacher who picks up a new digital scheduling tool can bring that into the classroom and see it change the pace right away, or someone who takes time to earn an extra qualification in special needs support can open doors for students who might otherwise feel left behind. Updates like this spread through daily teaching in ways you can't always measure, but they matter, and they build momentum, provided you allow the backdrop for that understanding to be learned.

Encouraging Mentorship Relationships
Pairing newer staff with those who've been around longer is usually a great idea, because it helps you curate a mentor system that helps teachers know there's someone they can call for advice or swap stories with, and that should help take the pressure off in the first few years. This can run the gamut from lesson planning tips, ways to keep order in a tricky class, or having someone to listen when the day has been rough, but that's hardly the limit.

There's value for the mentor too, because they're reminded of the energy they once had, they reflect on their own routines, and they sharpen up because they're passing knowledge on. In the end, both sides walk away with more than they started.

Normalising Feedback
Feedback can be useful, but only if it's handled with care and you're not hanging this over the heads of your staff. After all, teachers spend plenty of time giving feedback, yet don't always find it easy to be on the receiving end. 

Don't worry, most people are like this.  However, if you structure it well, and if a teacher walks away from feedback with something useful to try, that's the point, and it can help with confidence, with the classroom becoming stronger for it.

How might you implement this? One-on-one feedback sessions with the heads of department are a good starting point, as can reviews and reporting systems so they can contribute feedback both confidentially and publicly. You could even incentivize this by giving staff a free period to really think through their impressions and try to raise this with you, as it's hard to give an honest assessment when we have a trillion other things going on, as many teachers do.

With this advice, we hope you can more easily understand and perhaps integrate a system of educator collaboration. You may be surprised by how effective the results can be if you let them speak for themselves.