Teachers in the Curragh Post-Primary School saw some interesting and welcome additions to their timetables this September with the introduction of team teaching across a range of subjects at both Junior and Senior cycles.
The programme sees teachers work collaboratively with their colleagues in planning and teaching lessons together using the various team teaching models. Teachers from various disciplines are working together to help promote teaching and learning in the school in this manner and the benefits for student and teacher alike are already apparent.
The school became involved in the project last year when the then principal, Ms. Louise Kearns, facilitated the PDST to film some team-taught classes and then interview the teachers involved, enabling them to provide feedback.
Students were also given surveys and questionnaires to assess their experience of team teaching and the response was profoundly positive. In June, teachers, Ms Natalie Dalton and Ms Rebecca Jones, along with Ms Kearns, presented at a PDST Team Teaching workshop in Galway on the
school's experience to date and this September, Ms Dalton became the school's team teaching co-ordinator.
Team teaching allows for a greater variety of teaching methods, as well as the opportunity for more active learning. Classroom management and student behaviour also improve and students receive more support during the lesson.
For teachers, team teaching opens the way to wider sharing of resources, with staff members pooling ideas together and enhancing creativity in the classroom. It also facilitates professional development, self assessment and peer assessment.
You can find out more about team teaching and see some clips of our teachers in action on www.pdst.ie/teamteaching
Curragh Post Primary
Leads the Way in Team Teaching