Collaboration Skills


How can collaboration skills be developed in primary education?



Collaboration is the means of interdependent problem solving. Fagin (1992) stated that collaboration ‘requires the recognition of complementary roles.’ This is supported by Johnson and Johnson (1999) as they defined collaboration as ‘a set of teaching and learning strategies that help promote student partnership in small groups,’ this helps to enhance other children’s and their own personal learning.  Children need to begin to learn life skills from the primary school setting as they move through life, as then they can apply them to situations they come across in daily life as they grow older. The Inter-Agency Network for Education (INEE, 2015) stated that to get children working together by suggesting the following:
·     Hold open sessions/lessons in and across schools
·     Designate teachers to work as pairs so that children can plan and work together 
·     Designate homework to the teachers, they can research a topic and then return to teach their group what they have found out. (INEE, 2015)

Theorists such as Vygotsky (1962) defined collaborative learning by his ‘zone of proximal development.’ The aim was to understand the child’s abilities and if when the child was supported by a peer/adult or alone, if their level of abilities had increased or decreased. By teaching children that are being born into the nowadays, the learning they have received can be developed throughout their life. Vygotsky (1962) found ways of how to incorporate collaborative learning in the classroom by establishing clear goals; keeping the groups at a good working size; establish the group norms and acknowledging strategies that can be implemented if needed. By them being able to implement the skills that children need for them being able to have all of the skills they need as they move throughout life.  Similar findings come from Donaldson (2015) as in his research he stated to create ‘ethically informed citizens’ that can contribute to the Welsh society, of which these children are going to grow up in being well skilled and informed. 

A widely used strategy that involves collaborative learning for children is the Jigsaw technique. This learning technique is used to ‘promote better learning, improving student motivation, and increase enjoyment of the learning experience.’ (Jigsaw Classroom, 2019) This following video goes into detail of the Jigsaw 1 strategy that can be used to develop collaboration skills.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euhtXUgBEts

This video went into detail that the strategy is a research-based technique, that was created in the 1970’s by Elliot Aronson. The technique uses a guide of 10 steps of how to introduce collaborative learning into the classroom. The strategy begins at: 1. Putting students into groups of 5-6. 2. Choose one of the students as the leader of the group, 3. Give each of the students one of the divided segments, 4. Help each student with their individual part of the segment, 5. Give the student plenty of time to read over the segment at least twice, 6. Create temporary expert groups by taking each of the other children that have the same segment as them, 7. Take the children back to their original groups, 8. Each child can be asked to present their own segment, 9. The peer can observe between groups, 10. Once the session has ended a quiz can be given on the material. (Jigsaw Classroom, 2019) This strategy has been found to engage children as they teach each other during the task, whilst also leading their own learning. By taking this approach when students can create their own solutions to how they learn, they are really beginning to think critically and be more knowledgeable on their learning. (Davies et al, 1990) However, as the groups will be a mixture of children that will be mixed ability, students who are low-achieving will be passive and not want to talk or work on the task.

NUITEQ (2017) stated that there are lots of benefits when children work together.
1.    Children can develop their social skills by communicating with one another, and listening to other ideas from students
2.    The children can begin to learn from their peers and learn about other people’s perspectives
3.    The children can learn to build trust with one another by using collaboration effectively, to reach the goals they aim to achieve 
4.    Children can engage in their own learning and express their ideas, this gives them the feeling of being important and value
5.    Children can gain confidence especially students who may have more of a shy personality, they can express themselves

Additionally, Johnsons (1989) and Pantiz (1999) believe that collaborative learning has many different benefits from social, psychological and academic. The social benefits are that it is a support system for learners, they can also build diversification between the student and the staff and that there is a positive attitude for all. Furthermore, the psychological benefits are that there is student centred teaching which helps with their self-esteem, can also help reduce anxiety and conduct a healthy attitude towards their peers. Lastly with the academic benefits it promotes the students to think critically about learning, meaning that their classroom results see a better improvement, as they know how to effectively use their skills.

In conclusion, by introducing collaboration skills in the primary setting they learn from a young age that they know how to effectively communicate and become socially ready for the world of work. By having these skills, it also looks good as they are a big employability positive, as you can have more knowledge about others when going for a job later on in life.
Skills can be incorporated thought out the cross-curricular within schools meaning that skills such as problem solving, can be regularly practised and used in the teaching and learning techniques. 

References

Davis, R.B., C.A. Mahler and Nodding’s, (1990).Constructivist views on the teaching and learning of mathematics. National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.Available at http://home.capecod.net/~tpanitz/tedsarticles/coopbenefits.htm. (Accessed: 22nd March 2019)

Donaldson, G. (2015). Successful Futures: Independent Review of Curriculum and Assessment Arrangements in Wales. Welsh Assembly Government Crown

Cult of Pedagogy (2015) The Jigsaw method. (Online Video).15th April 2015. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euhtXUgBEts (Accessed: 22nd March 2019)

Fagin, CM. (1992). Collaboration between nurses and physicians: No longer a choice. Academic Medicine, 67, 295-303.

Inter-Agency Network for Education (INEE, 2015) An International network for education in emergencies. Available at: https://www.ineesite.org/en/(Accessed: 22nd March 2019)
Jigsaw Classroom (2019) Jigsaw in 10 easy steps. Available at: https://www.jigsaw.org/(Accessed: 22nd March 2019)

Johnson, D.W. & Johnson, R.T. (1989). Cooperation and Competition Theory and Research. Edina, Minnesota; USA. Interaction Book Co. Publishing.

Johnson, D. W., & Johnson, R. T. (1999). Making cooperative learning work. Theory into Practice, 38, 67–73

Panitz, T. (1999). Benefits of Cooperative Learning in Relation to Student Motivation", in Theall, M. (Ed.) Motivation from within: Approaches for encouraging faculty and students to excel, New directions for teaching and learning. San Francisco, CA; USA. 

NUITEG (2017) Why is collaborative learning important? Available at: https://www.nuiteq.com/company/blog/why-is-collaborative-learning-important(Accessed: 22nd March 2019)

Vygotsky, L. S (1962) Thought and language. Cambridge MA: MIT Press




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