Synergies in subject parallels: Coteaching “music-drama”

• Published in: Hungarian educational research journal Vol. 11; no. 1; pp. 1 - 13
• Main Authors: Zimmerman Nilsson, Marie-Helene, Murphy, Colette
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: AK Journals 2021
• Subjects: Active Learning; aesthetic subjects; Barn- och ungdomsvetenskap; Case Studies; case study; Child and Youth studies; coteaching; Creativity; Drama; Educational Needs; Experienced Teachers; Interdisciplinary Approach; Learning Processes; Learning Theories; Music; Preschool Teachers; Sociocultural Patterns; Student Attitudes; synergies; teacher education; Teacher Education Programs; Teacher Educators; Teaching Methods; Team Teaching; Trust (Psychology)
• ISSN: 2064-2199; 2064-2199
• DOI: 10.1556/063.2021.00019

This case study contributes with a new coteaching design, in which experienced teachers from two different aesthetic subjects are planning, teaching and evaluating together in higher education, more specifically in general preschool teacher education. The aim of the study is to analyse how two drama teachers and a music teacher reflect on their coteaching. Coteaching, when teachers teach together with shared responsibility to meet their students’ learning needs, is a pedagogical approach to enable an active learning process. Research and practice in coteaching have emerged, mostly designed with coteachers within the same subject. However, more research is needed about teachers from different subjects coteaching together. The theoretical framework is sociocultural, with special emphasis on aspects of learning from ‘the other’ in praxis by working in a zone of proximal development (ZPD). Analysed data consist of field notes and audio-recorded teacher group conversations. Main findings show synergies in subject parallels, based on the analysis of coteachers’ reflections as learning processes within their ZPD. In conclusion, a major contribution in terms of synergy in coteaching appears in subject parallels related to specific subject matter concepts, where music and drama are intertwined in the classroom as “music-drama”, as a new dimension.