Collaborative teacher learning in different primary school settings

During the last two decades there has been a growing awareness of the potentially strong role teacher collaboration can play in relation to teacher and team learning. Teachers collaborate with their colleagues in different formal and informal settings. Because most studies have focused on teacher learning in one collaborative setting or are related to a specific innovation, little is known about how teachers learn within the different collaborative settings that emerge out of their teaching work. The aim of this exploratory study was to gain deeper insight into collaborative teacher learning during regular work at primary schools. Collaborative teacher learning was investigated within multiple settings, taking into account both the undertaken learning activities by teachers and the learning outcomes. Teacher and principal perceptions were collected through semi-structured interviews that were conducted with two teachers and one principal per school, including seven primary schools. Results show that teacher learning occurred within different collaborative settings in schools, however, with different degrees of intensity and outcomes across these various settings. Thus, depending on the collaborative setting, more or less different learning activities and learning outcomes were reported by teachers and principals. The results suggest that high quality team meetings can be a powerful context for teacher learning. © 2012 Taylor & Francis.