ICME international survey on teachers working and learning through collaboration : June 2016

• Published in: ZDM Vol. 48; no. 5; pp. 651 - 690
• Main Authors: Robutti, Ornella, Cusi, Annalisa, Clark-Wilson, Alison, Jaworski, Barbara, Chapman, Olive, Esteley, Cristina, Goos, Merrilyn, Isoda, Masami, Joubert, Marie
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.08.2016; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Collaboration; Comparative analysis; Cooperation; Education; Educational Research; England; Faculty Development; Foreign Countries; Frame design; International Congress on Mathematical Education (13th 2016 Hamburg); Interpersonal Relationship; Japan; Learning; Learning communities; Lesson study; Literature Reviews; Mathematical analysis; Mathematics; Mathematics Education; Mathematics Teachers; Mathematics teaching; Norway; Primary secondary education; Professional continuing education; Professional development; Professional Education; R&D; Research & development; Research Methodology; Students; Survey Paper; Surveys; Teacher Collaboration; Teacher cooperation; Teacher education programs; Teacher Educators; Teacher effectiveness; Teacher improvement; Teacher Researchers; Teacher Role; Teachers; Teaching; Australia; Norway; United Kingdom (England); Japan; Teacher collaboration; Teacher learning; Community of inquiry; Teacher professional development; Lesson study; Mathematics teaching; Community of practice; Mathematics teaching development
• ISSN: 1863-9690; 1863-9704
• DOI: 10.1007/s11858-016-0797-5

This article presents preliminary results from a survey commissioned for ICME 13 (2016) focusing on 'Teachers Working and Learning Through Collaboration'. It takes as a starting point a previous survey, commissioned for ICME 10 in 2004 that focused on Mathematics Teacher Education. The current survey focuses centrally on teachers involved in collaborations, sometimes in formal settings of professional development, but also in a more diverse range of collaborative settings including research initiatives. The roles of teachers involved in the collaboration, survey methods, decisions and limitations are described. While some of the findings to date resonate with those of the earlier survey, other findings highlight characteristics and issues relating to the differing ways in which teachers collaborate, either with other teachers or the various 'others', most notably mathematics teacher educator researchers. The roles and relationships that contribute to learning in such collaborations, as well as theories and methodologies found in survey sources, are a focus of the findings presented here. Studies rarely theorised collaboration, and few of those that did so reported explicitly on how their theoretical frame shaped the design of research methodologies/approaches guiding activities with teachers. One significant outcome has been the difficulty of relating teachers' learning to collaboration within a project, although many initiatives report developments in teaching, teacher learning and students' learning. [Author abstract]