Teacher teams – A support or a barrier to practising cooperative learning?

Abstract

The pedagogical model cooperative learning (CL) has generated extensive research documenting its benefits for students' learning. Nevertheless, studies indicate that teachers face challenges practising the method. This paper presents a narrative of one teacher's experience with CL from a longitudinal perspective. It shows that the teacher's participation in a professional development programme with a teacher team supported his use of CL. The team cultivated a community of practice. However, changing team after training negatively affected his use of CL. The study reveals the potential of a teacher team for practising CL and illuminates certain challenges faced when implementing the method.