Five elements for success
Team teaching is more than just knowing what your colleagues on a course are teaching: it’s being in the same room, teaching it with them.
This has become standard practice for the Social Work course, following a move from the usual lecture-seminar format to more of a workshop style. In a subject with all its inherent complexities, it can only be helpful having someone else to share their thoughts and knowledge, and bounce ideas off.
With a teaching style driven by activities, both members of staff can circulate around the room, guiding students through case studies and other practical tasks that embed the learning in a real-world context.
Thanks to the teams’ diversity in professional and academic experiences, they are able to share valuable tips with each other but also a whole range of perspectives with the students, providing insight into children’s services, adult services, the voluntary sector or statutory requirements in a communal journey of exploration.
The key to success in team teaching involves five elements:
- caring about the programme and each other
- a willingness to help each other out
- participation in peer exchange
- regular team meetings
- consistency in approach across the whole programme
Social work is an emotionally challenging profession. A unified, nurturing team is the best support the students could ask for.