Teacher collaboration: A study of topics in planning sessions between a science and a bilingual teacher

Abstract

The education of recently-arrived language minority pupils involves subject teachers, second language teachers and bilingual teachers. Even though these teachers collaborate in one or other way, these relationships have largely been under-researched. In this article, I explore planning sessions between a science teacher and a bilingual teacher at a lower secondary school in a Norwegian context collaborating about a recently-arrived pupil from Poland. Hereby, I show that collaboration between two teachers with different foci and pedagogical knowledge is not straightforward. Using a discursive approach and studying the notion of topics in planning sessions, I explore the dynamics of the teacher–teacher interaction. Topic initiatives indicate the teachers’ foci and areas of responsibility and the analysis highlights factors which influence the extent to which the teachers are able to discuss these foci, including the relations of domination between them. I will argue that despite the institutional discourse which favours science over bilingual subject teaching, it is interesting to explore how these teachers negotiate their relationship locally. An important finding is that in order to gain deeper insight into the collaboration, further field work is needed, i.e., observing the teachers in informal conversation, classroom sessions and interviewing them about their experiences with regard to the collaboration.