Professional learning and development in team teaching schemes

Abstract

Along with rapid globalisation and the emergence of English as an international language, there has been an ever-increasing demand for competent teachers of English and native English-speaking teachers (henceforth NESTs) in public schools of Asian countries, resulting in the establishment of NEST schemes. This trend has had a clear influence on countries in other regions of the world such as South America and the Middle East, where schemes have been recently introduced and NESTs are being recruited (Copland et al., 2016a). Within NEST schemes, team teaching practices in which local English teachers (henceforth LETs) and NESTs work together have also become widespread in classrooms. A number of studies have focused not only on the challenging issues of collaboration between team teachers but also on a wide-ranging discussion on how to improve current schemes and team teaching practices (Carless & Walker, 2006; Copland et al., 2016c; Heo, 2013; Jang et al., 2010; Liu, 2008). However, relatively little attention has been given to practical support for team teachers. If such schemes are to be run, we must find constructive ways to support teachers and make their experience collaborative and positive. This chapter aims to consider this issue primarily from a teacher training and development perspective by seeking to understand the complicated dynamic nature of team teaching and key factors contributing to successful team teaching practices and relationships.