Implementing-Cooperative-Learning--Teacher-Collabo

CONTEMPORARYEDUCATIONALPSYCHOLOGY22,53–72(1997)ARTICLENO.EP970924ImplementingCooperativeLearning,TeacherCollaborationandTeachers’SenseofEfficacyinHeterogeneousJuniorHighSchoolsHANNASHACHARANDHADDASSHMUELEVITZSchoolofEducation,BarIlanUniversity,RamatGan,IsraelFourscaleswereemployedtoassesstheeffectsonteachers’senseofefficacyofayear-longinserviceteachertrainingprogramoncooperativelearningmethods.Onehundredtwenty-oneteachersfromninejuniorhighschoolsinonetowninIsraelrespondedtotheteacherefficacyquestionnaire,aswellastoaquestionnaireassessingtheextenttowhichteacherscollaboratedwithoneanother.Thedatawereanalyzedasafunctionofthreedifferentfrequencieswithwhichteachersimplementedcooperativelearningintheirclassrooms.Resultsindicatedthatteacherswhoimplementedcoopera-tivelearningmostfrequentlyalsoexpressedahigherlevelofefficacyinpromotingthelearningofslowstudentsthandidotherteachers.Teacherswhoreportedahigherlevelofcollaborationwithcolleaguesalsoexpressedahigherlevelofgeneralteachingefficacyandofefficacyinenhancingstudents’socialrelations,thandidteacherswhoreportedalowlevelofcollaborationwithcolleagues.Regressionanalysesdemonstratedthatfrequencyofimplementingcooperativelearningandcollaborationwithcolleaguesexplainedthelargestportionofthevarianceinteachers’senseofefficacy,whileteachers’backgroundvariablesaccountedforonlynegligibleamountsofvarianceinteachers’senseofefficacy.q1997AcademicPressResearchhasfoundthatteachers’senseofefficacyisrelatedtotheirsatis-factionwiththeirchoiceofprofessionandtheircompetenceasratedbysuperintendents(Trentham,Silvern,&Brogdon,1985),withtheiradoptionofinnovations(Guskey,1988;Smylie,1988)andwiththeirbeliefsaboutcontrolofstudents(WoolfolkandHoy,1990).Bandura(1977,1982)showedthatteachers’expectationsregardingtheirefficacyalsoaffectstheirmotiva-tion.Teachers’efficacyasafunctionoftheconditionsprevailingintheirschoolorclassroomsthusfarhasreceivedlittleattentionfrominvestigatorsdespitethefactthatitisacknowledgedtobeavariableofconsiderableimportanceintheteachingprofession.Thestudyreportedhereexaminedtherelationshipamongthreecentralcomponentsoftheprofessionalworkofteachersinheterogeneoussecondaryschools.Thethreecomponentsareteachers’methodsofinstruction,theircollaborationwithoneanotherasmembersoftheschoolstaff,andtheirsenseAddressreprintrequeststoHannaShachar,SchoolofEducation,BarIlanUniversity,RamatGan55900,Israel.530361-476X/97$25.00Copyrightq1997byAcademicPressAllrightsofreproductioninanyformreserved.ab04$$092401-09-9700:59:27cepaAP:CEP54SHACHARANDSHMUELEVITZofefficacy.Abasicassumptionofthisstudyisthattheimplementationofcooperativelearningmethodsthatactivelyandimmediatelyinvolvestudents,includingslowlearners,intheprocessoflearningontheonehandandcooperativestaffworkamongteachersontheotherhand,constituteasetoffactorsthataffectteachers’senseofefficacy,aboveandbeyondtheirpersonalbeliefsorcharacteristics.COOPERATIVELEARNINGResearchoverthepasttwodecadeshasdemonstrated,innumerousschool-basedexperimentsatalllevelsofpubliceducation,therelativeeffectivenessofcooperativelearning(CL)methodsinpromotingstudents’learningandsocialrelationscomparedtomoretraditionalwhole-classmethodsofteaching(Johnson&Johnson,1981,1987;Shachar&Sharan,1994;Sharan,1980,1990;Slavin,1983,1990).Thereisconsiderableevidenceavailableregardingthepositiveeffectsofcooperativelearningontheacademicandsocialbehav-iorofstudentsinheterogeneousclassrooms,whicharethefocusofthepresentstudy(Cohen,1994;Sharan,Kussell,Hertz-Lazarowitz,Bejarano,Raviv,&Sharan,1984;Slavin,1983,1990).HenceitisreasonabletoexpectthattheteacherswhohaveacquiredconfidenceinusingCLmethods,withtheanticipationthatitwillexertpositiveeffectsontheirstudents’academiclearningandsocialrelations,shouldexpressanenhancedsenseofefficacyintheirinstructionalwork.Howevertheacquisitionofsuchconfidencedependsuponwhetherteachershadasufficientdegreeofpracticalexperiencewiththesemethodsofteaching(Ross,1994).Thisisparticularlytrueforteachersofethnicallyorsocioeco-nomicallyheterogeneousclassroomsinsecondaryschools.Thelatteraregen-erallyperceivedaspresentingadistinctlygreaterpedagogicalandsocialchallengetoteachersthantherelativelyhomogeneousclassroominelemen-taryschools(Cohen,1994;Miller&Harrington,1990;Shachar&Sharan,1995).Secondaryschoolteachersreceiverelativelylittleornoprofessionaltrainingforpromotingpositivesocialrelationsamongstudentsfromdiversebackgrounds(Shachar&Amir,1996).Yet,teachersareexpectedbyvariousauthoritiesandbythepublictoachievehighlevelaswellasbroadeducationalgoals.Thesegoalsoftenseemtohavebeenformulatedinapartialvacuum,ignoringthesocialandorganizationalrealitiesinwhichteachersfrequentlyfunction(NationalEducationCommissiononTimeandLearning,1994,p.14).Theseconditionsleaveteachersvulnerableandexceedinglydependentontheirstudents’cooperationandachievement(Metz,1993),asituationwhichmayverywellimpingenegativelyonteachers’senseofefficacy.Thein-servicetrainingprojectconductedaspartofthisstudyaimedatprovidingteacherswithinstructionalcompetenciesthatcouldassistthemincopingwiththesituationaldemandsoftheschoolsa