Understanding the Implication of Co-teaching in a Post-graduate Classroom

Abstract

Co-teaching has evolved rapidly as an innovative and potentially effective teaching strategy. Despite considerable enthusiasm expressed on co-teaching as a teaching strategy, the complexity of conceptualizing and studying collaboration at the post-graduate level is still at its infancy. The purpose of this research is to study the implication of co-teaching upon post-graduate students. Twenty-two full-time secondary school teachers who attended a masters' program and the faculty members who taught them responded to surveys about their knowledge and comfort with co-teaching. Data was collected and analyzed qualitatively. The focus was to understand the perceptions of participants on co-teaching at the post-graduate level. These data was collaborated with video recording of the lessons, classroom observation by the researchers and a report written by a neutral observer for the institution. Findings indicate that co-teaching is a useful strategy for the post-graduate level despite the presence of challenges.

Lessons Learned

“…Among teachers, an improved sense of professional growth, personal support, and community within general education classrooms was reported. Coteaching has been linked to increased student performance on standardized assessments (Noeth, as cited in Dhanapal & Kanapathy, ) and curricular assessments for both regular and special education students. Thousand, Villa, and Nevin () argued that collaborative planning and teaching allow instructors to capitalize on specialized knowledge while modeling cooperative and collaborative skills for students.…”