Presence or Absence of Cognitive Partnership in Early School Education: Research Report

Abstract

The main aim of the article is to present the results of preliminary qualitative research on the ways in which teachers of grades 1–3 of primary school understand cognitive partnership and the meanings they assign to it in their own school practice. The method of individual open-ended interview was used in the research.
 On the basis of the obtained research results, it can be concluded that, in the opinion of the respondents, cognitive partnership is possible and even necessary in early school education. The teachers’ declarations show that cognitive partnership is present in their educational activities, but it is impossible to fully implement it due to the cognitive developmental features of children at the early school age. The vast majority of the respondents, when explaining the discussed concept, focused in their statements primarily on the intellectual aspect of cognitive partnership, but the importance of social relations between the teacher and the student/students in the process of gaining knowledge was emphasized less frequently. When explaining the concept of cognitive partnership, the surveyed teachers most often focused unilaterally either on the teacher’s actions or on the child’s activities that indicate cognitive partnership. The understanding of the discussed concept as a system of relations between the subjects of education, who co-decide about the course and effects of the education process, occurred much less frequently. The obtained results are a contribution to conducting further in-depth research, especially with regard to the place and manner of implementing the idea of ​​cognitive partnership in the practice of early school education.