Learning & Teaching

Title of case study	Cooperative learning strategies in educational leadership
School/Subject:	CoSS/Education
Lecturer(s):	Dr Julie Harvie
Course:	Developing as a strategic leader (EDUC51081)
Student Level:	Masters SCQF level 11
Class size:	Approx. 30
Location:	On campus/in person

 

Brief summary

Julie began her teaching in the primary education context but went on to have experience working in the early years and secondary sectors where she developed her knowledge and understanding of learning and teaching. Julie’s MEd focused on the use of cooperative learning strategies in the classroom and her EdD was on the use of interdisciplinary learning so when she began working in higher education, she was able to apply her knowledge and skills from these to her university teaching.

Strategies include group work, creating and presenting posters, peer coaching, jigsaw classroom, and carousel/ world cafe, as well as using online resources such as Mentimeter to crowdsource opinion in class. Underpinning these strategies is a commitment to creating a safe learning environment for adult educators (mainly aspiring head teachers), enabling them to share knowledge and experience in an interactive way to reflect on and discuss practice based and real-world issues.

 

Objectives

I have engaged with active learning techniques when teaching classes from primary school upwards, and therefore, I am committed to interactive approaches, which have been informed by my masters and doctoral studies on cooperative and interdisciplinary learning. Most of my students are heads or deputy heads of schools; and this course provides a network to students who might otherwise feel isolated in practice. Getting people engaged is key.

 

What is done?

Strategic Change Initiative

As part of the Into Headship programme, students are required to participate in a Strategic Change Initiative (SCI), applying relevant theories to practice. Having written individual assignments in the first semester outlining an area in their school in need of change, tutors become familiar with the priorities of the professional learners and are able to group students by interest for the SCI – this could relate to inclusion, gifted learners, school culture, or curriculum, for example. Students work together for the year’s duration of the programme, essentially ‘peer coaching’ each other, with support and guidance from the tutors. Each participant of the course is assigned a mentor, usually the head teacher at their school, who is also provided with training to assist the participant’s needs.

On certain days, tables are labelled with priorities from the SCIs and students decide which table to work at according to their own particular focus. This allows them to share their experiences and explore challenges and opportunities with students facing similar issues. They can also discuss academic research pertinent to their area of interest. At other times, students are asked to contribute to a group poster exploring themes like ‘the purpose of education’ and ‘the vision they have for the future of education’ which they present to the class. This year visiting students from the United States participated in one of the classes and this led to a number of Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) activities, supporting an exchange of dialogue about practice between the UK and US. The face-to-face cooperative session was followed up with a Zoom meeting once the US educators were back in their teaching context, to further reflect on and discuss the issues.

Milestone activities are provided on Moodle which encourage students to engage in their own independent learning. These are not formally monitored unless they are formative tasks which require to be submitted and for which students will receive feedback to inform their summative assessments.

It is important to establish a safe space for frank dialogue and exchange; Chatham House rules are specified at the start of each course, alongside specific activities designed to promote group cohesion; for example, icebreakers such as: ‘Tell us something you learned this week‘ or ‘What has gone well at school recently?’.

There are different ways of grouping students; they will naturally fall into friendship groups so you can employ cooperative learning techniques to mix things up and facilitate students working with different people. This might involve numbering them 1..2..3.. etc. then putting all the 1s together, etc., or you can organise them by month of birth.

Visuals

Practical activities using visual aids are useful to encourage interaction and participation during class. One example of visual aids used to promote cooperation is a magnetic board with different values (based on the Schwartz theory of values); students use the red-amber-green traffic light system to highlight the values they most relate to – at the end, students can see an overview of their class’s values, e.g. a preference for social justice or benevolence.

Mentimeter

In the interactive classroom, Mentimeter is used as a resource in class to gather input from all students; this works particularly well for those who might be reluctant to speak out in front of the class. Students can input their responses to questions through their digital device and this can be displayed on the big screen in the form of written texts, word clouds, graphs or charts. It is also a good way of gaining truthful responses as it provides anonymity.

Jigsaw classroom

For the jigsaw classroom, students are at times given a selection of academic article or policy to read before they come to class and make notes on the main points. In class they are given the chance to discuss their notes with others who have read the same section as they are split into jigsaw groups with people who have read other parts of the article or policy. When this activity is over the students should get an in-depth overview of the whole piece of text by working in collaboration with their peers.

Carousel

For the carousel (world café), the classroom is set up to encourage students to discuss a specific topic at a table for five minutes, before moving round the room, spending five minutes at each table brainstorming and writing on the flipchart sheet. On moving to the next table, students can tick if they agree with a point, add a dot if they don’t agree, or a question mark if they have a question. They then go back to their original table to present/discuss the student input.

 

What works well?

Feedback from students has always been positive about getting the chance to network and discuss educational issues with their peers. This is something – as professional full time practitioners – they don’t always get the chance to do. Cooperative learning strategies give them the time and space to be with other learners who are grappling with the same issues, based on a constructivist view of learning.

In order to facilitate effective groupwork – as staff, a lot of work goes into preparing it. It needs to be highly organised (room setup, posters, pens) but the reward is that when students are on task, you get to go round the room, provide feedback, have the luxury of listening in, and assessing students’ understanding in a formative way.

 

Benefits

Students

Staff

Students scaffold and support learning for each other; in line with Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development, students can take their learning to a higher level, often commenting ‘I didn’t think of that‘, and sharing readings. This allows students to work their ideas into real life context as they discuss areas of interest to them within their specific school contexts.

Tutors learn from the students as they discuss what they have been reading and reflect on their own experiences. The jigsaw classroom approach provides a richer understanding of critical perspectives and allows tutors to keep up to date with what’s happening on the ground in practice. Much of the work for the class is done in advance by the teacher, which allows class time to be dedicated to listening to students as they engage in active group work and assessing and planning what needs to be addressed in future settings.

 

Challenges            

Students

Staff

Students have different preferences; some may prefer to work on their own and there can be personality clashes when people are asked to engage in group activities. Professional learners will generally work together well but there can be people who dominate the conversations; tutors need to be mindful and take steps to ensure that all student voices are heard and that everyone gets the chance to participate; for example, by providing feedback and reporting after tasks. Learners need to be concious of students around them and their need to feel valued and included.

Resource issues often relate to timetabling; you need a space that will support this constructivist approach. Sometimes you will be allocated a lecture theatre and while there are ways to work around this (for example, asking students to speak with the people sitting next to or in front/behind), this can be challenging if practical activities have been planned such as carouselling around the room. Getting access to the room to set it up beforehand can be challenging if there is another class before you. This can make you feel as if you are on the back foot. In such circumstances it is prudent to have an activity prepared for the students to engage with, while resources are organised in the first five or ten minutes. There can also be technical issues in classrooms, but the ICT technicians are generally on hand and supportive.

 

What did you learn?

I have learned to be organised and plan ahead, and when students are engaging in activities, use this as a chance to listen and plan next steps. No two cohorts are the same; they have different strengths and needs. It’s important to constantly reflect and be flexible; for example, maybe five minutes might be too long at a carousel table if students have finished their discussions quickly or an activity asking students to feedback individually could take longer than anticipated – it’s good to reflect in- and on-action. I try to stress the value of reflection to students and get their feedback regularly to ensure that they feel the teaching techniques are adding value to what they are learning.

 

What advice would you give to others?

Having observed these cooperative learning methods and strategies used across different disciplines as a teacher, head teacher and school experience tutor, I see how they are useful and can be implemented across diverse disciplines and contexts.

 

Engaging in research and training in cooperative learning helped me to understand the process better, reading around techniques and finding what I was comfortable with. Cooperative learning activities need to be properly focused on meaningful content with a clear purpose and adequate challenges for students. As a teacher, you need to know what you want your students to be able to do by the end of the session, what knowledge you want them to use or apply. I would encourage other educators to read about these methods and try out such interactive activities and get feedback from students.

  

References

Harvie, J. , Robertson, Z. and Brack, K. (2024). Enhancing the agency of senior school leaders through professional learning: a qualitative study of Into Headship, the national headteacher preparation programme in Scotland. Professional Development in Education. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/19415257.2024.2366336

Harvie, J. (2020). Interdisciplinary learning: addressing the implementation gap. Scottish Educational Review, 52(2), 48-70. https://doi.org/10.1163/27730840-05202011

Harvie, J. (2020). Interdisciplinary education: memorialising learning experiences. EducA: International Catholic Journal of Education, 6, 111-126.

Harvie, J. (2012). Interdisciplinary education and co-operative learning: Perfect shipmates to sail against the rising tide of ‘learnification? Stirling International Journal of Postgraduate Research, 1(1).