Group Members Fung Hiu Yuet 11061645 Cheung Ho Pok 11061956 Cheung Wing Sze 11066198 Lui Po Yi 11065639 Lai Hok Ying 11061712 Yu Ching Wan 11061750

Group Members

Cheung Hong Pok 11061956Cheung Wing Sze 11066198Fung Hiu Yuet 11061645Lai Hok Ying 11061712Lui Po Yi 11065639Yu Ching Wan 11061750Collaboration with TeachersOverviewIntroductionBackgroundDefinitionMethodologyDemographic information

2. Result and analysis Difficulties when collaboratingi. Lack of timeii. School cultureiii. Hierarchy

3. Suggestion

4. Reflection

5. Conclusion

6. ReferenceBackgroundProfessional Learning Communities (PLC)Teachers joining together to study student work, instruction and achievement leads to improvement strategies. (Fullan, 2001)

What is Collaboration? Collaboration is a style for direct interaction between at least two coequal parties voluntarily engaged in shared decision making as they work towards a common goal. (Friend and Cook, 2003)

Not everything people do together in schools is collaboration!PurposeResearch QuestionWhat are the difficulties when collaborating with teachers in Hong Kong?

PurposeIdentify difficulties of collaborationRecognize underlying reason(s) of those difficultiesHow to tackle those difficultiesMethodologyCase study: Semi-structured interview with 3 teachers

Teacher 2Teacher 3Teacher 1Demographic Information

Interview questions

Result and analysisMain FindingsLack of Time

2. School Culture Role of Principal School teaching culture Collaboration is just a formality

3. HierarchyPerception towards collaborationPerceptionEnough or notEffectivenessTeacher 1Positive

X

X

Teacher 2Positive

X

Teacher 3Neutral

I think collaboration is good. We can brainstorm..there may be new ideas pop up during discussion.I think collaboration can provide a chance for teachers to exchange their ideas and it is good for the teaching qualityAs a new members, you will always feel uncomfortable or angry with collaboration But as times goes by after 20 years you will become one of the community. It is rare. We have annual dinner with colleagues. And I don't think it is enough because we are all very busy.Q: So to conclude, school may seem to provide less chances for teachers to enhance their collaboration.A :Yes. It is less collaboration for teachers.We will have a collaborative lesson planning once a year on each subject, choose a specific topic and the level of student to teach, And the teachers can through the discussion, share their skills or technic.Our school really does not promote collaboration between teachers..For Professional Development Day, it may not be really useful effective ... But for the preparation meeting, I think it is effective...I do think that the Collaborative lesson planning is good for our teaching. It can help us to improve our teaching skills and even thinking skills.Difficulties when collaboratingLack of timebusyheavy workloadno time to build up relationship then collaboration

Teacher 1 : However when all the teachers are very busywith a lot of class duties there will be no time for teachers to collaborate...Yet, everyone is busy and there is no time to build up friendship honestly. But, they wont offer some advanced help to you like prepare some materials to you. It is because everyone is too busy actually.Teacher 2 : ...maybe time is the most important elements to strengthen the collaboration with colleagues since everyone has different workload. And I believe that most teachers are busy so it may reduce the opportunity of collaboration. Teacher 3: ...We do have sufficient of time focus on our teaching, as there are 4 teaching assistants in schools, which can share ours non-teaching duties. So the chance of collaborate will be increase.Literature review

(Chiu, 2001)

TAN(n.d)

Heslop & Devlin (2011)X time

X Good working relationship X Collaboration Reflecting the educational systemNon-teaching dutiesPaperwork, conferences, guidanceextra-curricular activity

Average working hoursAverage working hours/week 49.6 hrs.Over 80% of interviewee work 51-71 hrs.

School bandings School closures

Difficulties when collaborating2. School cultureRole of principal Leadership style

Good collaboration requires principal to be neutral and show understanding when teachers have arguments

Collaboration needs support from principal

Teacher2 :...if principal can show his understanding for that teacher, have a reflection of the failure and make improvements rather than criticize, the collaboration between teacher can be more effective in this atmosphere....If the principal criticize that teacher, which have the same attitude with the unsatisfied teachers, the teacher may tend to have less collaboration and work individually. Teacher 3 : . the role of the principal is also important. If the principal do not support teachers to collaborate, it will be difficult for teachers to implement it. Lucky we have a open-minded principal, which supporting us to collaborate. It is good for teachers and also to the students.Literature review

principal (Fung, 1997)

Literature review

(Fung, 1997)

Literature review

Vice versaX Interdependence and Opportunity X possible and effective collaborationSchool culture3. Schools collaborative cultureSchool-oriented: have a collaborative culture

b.School-oriented: dont have a collaborative culture

c. Teacher-oriented: tendency of teachers voluntary/active collaboration

Teacher 1 : It depends on the subject. Maybe three times a month to share the teaching progress and the situation. However, we would not share how to teach or other teaching strategies. Therefore, it still wants to make effort and explore more by my own selves.Teacher 2 : It means the working style of the teachers, such as the ways of working or the ideas on working together. If teachers want to have more collaboration during teaching, then teachers will voluntary to have more collaboration; if teachers do not prefer work together and like to work individually, then they may have less collaboration.Teacher 3: such kind of collaboration we have carry out about 10 years.We will have a collaborative lesson planning once a year on each subject. is good for our teaching. It can help us to improve our teaching skills and even thinking skills.School culture - Literature review

Fallon, G., & Barnett, J. (2009)Organizational structure can be defined as the way a school is patterned or arranged

Fallon, G., & Barnett, J. (2009) Culture of the schools will directly affect teachers attitude towards collaboration.Teaching style - Literature reviewAccording to Hargreaves(1992), 2 types of teaching culture can be applied:individualism - tend to work individually

2. Collaborative culture - positively willing to work together

Tsui, A. B., Wu, K., & Sengupta, S. (1996) Teachers teaching culture brings significant effect towards collaboration Tsui, A. B., Wu, K., & Sengupta, S. (1996)culture of isolation

Efficiency of school supportCollaboration just a formality Professional Development Day : only guest talk and not involved in collaboration

b. Lesson preparation meeting: reporting instead of collaboratingTeacher 1 : Q: So those activities are not about how to solve problems or enhance collaboration?A: Nonot many of them. I cannot find some activities with these features.Teacher 2 : Some guests will be invited to hold some talks in the a. Professional Development Day. In the past experience, it had some talks about reducing pressure, health, and just that, no collaboration.Teacher 1 : Sometimes we do have meeting, maybe discussing what is the learning day is about.. but one teacher will design all the learning materials..We only discuss which one do which part but seldom discuss with each other.Teacher 2 : It will only talk about each class what is going to teach, how to teach, when will give the students homework or test in following weeks and share the teaching progress.Reflecting The difficulties of collaboration may due to the school culture, which related to

The leadership style of principalThe collaboration culture of schoolThe culture of teaching at schoolThe efficiency of school supportDifficulties when collaborating3. HierarchyUnequal power relationship

Teacher 1 : But, some seniority and some fresh teacher like us would not have much interaction ...Sometimes it is hard to have collaboration because I think in our school, you can hardly express your opinion to other teachers who are senior than you .Maybe it is because I am a new teacher and all other teachers are much experienced than me. They may be teaching for more than ten years, twenty years and even prepared to retired and I am zero.Teacher 2 : Teacher 2: WellI think it depends on seniority of a teacher. For new teachers, collaboration skill is super important for helping them achieving a professional level. On the other hand, collaboration skill may become less useful for some experienced teachers since they have already built up teaching philosophy and usually work individually successfully. Teacher 3: In other words, I dont have any advantages or power because I am only average power position (GM only but not SGM) so in official state I dont have any bargaining power to fight for something I want but they just promise something or give me something based on the personal interpersonal relationship stuff.Literature review

(Fung, 1997) Definition of collaborationCollaboration is a style for direct interaction between at least two coequal parties voluntarily engaged in shared decision making as they work towards a common goal.

(Friend & Cook, 2003)ReflectingCultural problemIn HK, juniors always obey seniorsrespect for seniorityless common in western countries

( Hofstede, 2015 )

Power distance

The extent to which the less powerful members of institutions and organisations within a country expect and accept that power is distributed unequally (Hofstede, 2015)HONG KONG has a high score on Power Distance:new teachers may feel uncomfortable to express their own views or challenge senior teachers (teacher 1) collaboration become less effective

high power distance may affect senior teachers collaborate with new teachers inactively (teacher 2)reduce collaboration

SuggestionsReality: No!Can we change this dilemma...?

Lack of time Education system School culture Principal/ Teaching culture/ FormalityHierarchy Cultural problem

Change ourselves!Hard to change!SuggestionsLack of time-> Effective collaboration can enhance efficiency -> Sharing of resources-> Reduce time

(Long, Zang and Chen, 2014)

(Chiu, 2001)SuggestionsSchool Culture-> From changing ourselves to affect othersOpen communication - open, honest communication

2. Mutual respect- respect colleagues, value their ideasthey value yours

3. Welcoming diverse ideas- accept different opinionsBuild up a harmonious relationship with colleagues

->Collaboration become easier

ReflectionAbility to collaborate ProfessionalismGrowing importance of collaboration

Fifty years ago, teaching required an individual to get along in his or her geographic community; today, teachers are expected to communicate instantaneously with leaders, and colleagues at home and around the globe. (Morel, 2014)In a time when attracting and retaining excellent teachers is becoming more and more difficult, providing collaborative professional learning can go far to increase teacher satisfaction. (Morel, 2014)ConclusionPurposeIdentify difficulties of collaborationLack of time, School culture, Hierarchy2. Recognize underlying reason(s) of those difficultiesEducation system, culture3. How to tackle those difficultiesChange ourselves ReferencesChiu, C. H. (2001) Teachers' perceptions of collaboration between guidance and discipline: a case study , retrieved from http://hub.hku.hk/bitstream/10722/28615/1/FullText.pdf

Fallon, G., & Barnett, J. (2009). Impacts of School Organizational Restructuring into a Collaborative Setting on the Nature of Emerging Forms of Collegiality. International Journal of Education Policy and Leadership, 4(9), 1-14.

Friend, M. & Cook, L. (2003). Interactions : Collaboration Skills for School Professionals (Fourth Edition). United States of America : Pearson Education

Fung, K. C. (1997) Teacher collaboration in Hong Kong secondary schools , retrieved from http://hub.hku.hk/bitstream/10722/28615/1/FullText.pdf

Hargreaves, A. (1992). Cultures of teaching: A focus for change. In A. Hargreaves & M. G. Fullan (Eds.), Understanding teacher development (pp. 216-240). Cassell: Teachers College Press.

Heslop, D., & Devlin, L. A. (2011). Identifying and mapping your complementary support systems: Who are your partners in reflection? In D. McGregor & L. Cartwright (Eds.),Developing reflective practice: A guide for beginning teachers (pp. 91-106). Berkshire: Open University Press. (practical advice and strategies)

ReferencesHofstede (2015). Cultural tools. Retrieved from http://geert-hofstede.com/hong-kong.html

Long, J.,Zang, Z.. M. & Chen, C. M. (2014) The benefits of repeated collaboration for team performance in a chinese context. Social Behavior and Personality: an international journal ,2014, 42(9), 1507-1520

Moral, N. J. (2014). Setting the Stage for Collaboration : An Essential Skill for Professional Growth. Teaching Performances.

Strategic Planning Office (2011) Report on the Workload of Teachers in Hong Kong Primary and Secondary Schools, retrieved from http://www.ied.edu.hk/spo/publications/Digest/issue3.pdf

TAN.J.N(n.d.).Social Interaction In Implementation Of The Primary School Science Curriculum

Tsui, A. B., Wu, K., & Sengupta, S. (1996). Enhancing teacher development through TeleNexA computer network for English language teachers. System, 24(4), 461-476.

, , & . (2009). -. , 9(2), 33-51.