Abstract
Professional development seeks to improve teachers’ performance. To this end we suggest that the building of collaborative relations amongst those engaged professionally on a daily basis has much to offer. The article attempts to elaborate a conceptual framework for teachers’ collaboration and to identify potential benefits for their professional development.
In particular, it explores primary school teachers’ perceptions of school-based collaborative relations with their colleagues as well as the professional development of each one of them. The survey was conducted between April and May 2020, the sample consisted of a small number of teachers and data we obtained by means of a questionnaire.
Teachers acknowledged a series of benefits that accrued from collaborative relations with their colleagues such as lack of isolation feelings, professional satisfaction, security, decrease of workload, renewal of ideas, adoption of new teaching approaches and reflexivity. Thus, the research corroborates previous studies that highlight collaboration as catalyst for teachers’ professional development and education improvement.
Full text: The contribution of collaboration in teachers’ professional development 918 KB