| This is a qualitative, exploratory research paper about the experiences of teachers from three suburban schools who participated in programs in which they conducted "peer observations" of each other's classes, and met regularly to discuss their teaching. The schools are a K-8 school, a junior high school, and a high school, all located in suburbs of Boston, MA. The programs were similarly structured, and the intent of each was the same: to encourage and enable teachers to grow through collaboration, rather than remain in isolation. In the parlance of the day, the programs were intended to promote a deeper and more durable sense of "collegiality" among teachers.; The research question was: What personal and professional benefits and constraints do teachers report as they engage in efforts to share with, and learn from, each other in formal, structured programs? The primary means of data collection was through intensive interviewing of twenty-two participants from across the sites.; The findings suggest that the pursuit of more mutually productive professional relationships is a worthwhile undertaking, yet one that is far more complex and taxing than most of the teachers had anticipated. Somewhat unexpectedly, it turns out to be a more radical than conventional approach to school improvement, for it involves challenges to long-established and comfortable work relationships, and to deep-rooted norms of independence and isolation which exist in most schools. All of the teachers interviewed reported significant personal and professional benefits which resulted from their efforts; and all reported that there were many constraints which prevented or inhibited them from achieving the levels of collegiality to which they had aspired.; This paper is an effort to explore what was revealed about teachers and teaching during these experiments, rather than to evaluate what worked and didn't work. Its focus is on the paradoxes and tensions which seem to be inherent in teaching, and which stood out clearly when teachers tried to alter their normal practices and patterns of interaction. |
