Barriers to collaborative work

Creese (2010)i and Bell and Baecher (2012)i showed that collaboration was less effective if teachers did not plan their lessons together, but only when students were having difficulty, on an ad hoc basis.
Creese’s research also shows that non-language teachers tend to see themselves as having to teach students who are not in difficulty, while the language teacher is there to deal with the refugee students. He points out the danger of this posture, which we consider to be “falsely alteritarian” (cf. Meunier, 2020)i, as it does not promote partnership but rather reinforces the compartmentalisation of categories of students.

Another difficulty identified by Creese is the alteration of subject content by the language teacher, who is necessarily not competent in the subject; whereas teachers of non-language subjects tend not to want to alter the subject to be taught.

Finally, lack of time to plan lessons (Friend, 2008)i, or lack of support and understanding from management (Theoharis & O’Tool, 2011)i have been observed by researchers. According to Hargreaves (1994)i, school administration often imposes a mechanistic and technical approach that stifles teachers’ agency and fosters ‘contrived collegiality’ (p. 208). Teachers need space and time to express, analyse and communicate (Letor, 2010)i. It is therefore important to make time for meetings and exchanges between colleagues.