Co-Teaching in Northern Rural Finnish Schools

Focusing on a rural municipality in northern Finland, the aim of this study is to investigate educators’ thoughts and experiences with co-teaching. The data from 40 teachers were collected via an electronic questionnaire, and a mixed-methods approach was used. In the quantitative responses, the teac...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Riikka Sirkko, Marjatta Takala, Kim Wickman
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: University of Aberdeen, School of Education 2018
Subjects:
edu
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.26203/hxx9-kr24
https://doaj.org/article/b802327a178d4f94aeb06cac3450b501
Description
Summary:Focusing on a rural municipality in northern Finland, the aim of this study is to investigate educators’ thoughts and experiences with co-teaching. The data from 40 teachers were collected via an electronic questionnaire, and a mixed-methods approach was used. In the quantitative responses, the teachers positioned themselves as spokespeople for co-teaching, even though they had little experience with this teaching method. The written responses were condensed into four main themes: requirements, interpretations, inclusion and joy. Various requirements, such as more time for planning, better facilities to teach in and more training, were required before co-teaching could be executed. However, those who had co-taught expressed joy and improved wellbeing at work compared with their time teaching alone. Finally, the various themes of teachers’ experiences in relation to co-teaching are discussed.