Teachers' Perceptions and Practices regarding Co-teaching: A Case Study in a Chinese-English International Kindergarten

• Author / Creator

  Fu, Hongliang

• This study investigated teachers’ perceptions and practices of co-teaching in a Chinese-English international kindergarten in China that serves children who are not Chinese citizens. The kindergarten employs teachers who work side by side in the same classrooms, in an arrangement known as co-teaching. In each classroom, two fully qualified teachers, one Western and one Chinese, work as partners and share responsibilities.
  Co-teaching has been researched mainly in the context of special education (Cook & Friend, 2004), English as a Second Language (ESL) (Feng, 2012; Carless & Walker, 2006), and national early childhood education (Gibson & Pelletier, 2012). However, limited research has investigated co-teaching in an international early childhood education context. Moreover, few studies of co-teaching have focused on both co- teachers’ individual experiences (Kim, 2010; Shim, Hestenes, & Cassidy, 2004; Lai, Li, & Gong, 2016). Thus, this inquiry examined both Chinese and Western teachers’ perspectives on co-teaching perceptions and pedagogies in an international kindergarten context.
  This qualitative case study drew on sociocultural historical theory, ecological systems theory, and culture and third space theory and used methods such as classroom observations, field notes, and interviews with teachers and school administrators. Six teachers and two coordinators at an international kindergarten in China participated in the study. The investigation was guided by four questions: How do culturally diverse teachers perceive co-teaching in the international school context? How does co-teaching influence teachers’ pedagogical practices? How do culturally diverse teachers experience
  ii
  cross-cultural teaching in co-teaching? What factors do teachers identify as determining the quality of their co-teaching experience?
  The results of this study indicate that teachers perceived co-teaching as a process of learning. The co-teaching relationships developed into friendly, collegial relationships through inside and outside school interactions. Co-teachers collaboratively supported each other and eventually reached a high level of mutual understanding. To ensure workplace harmony, co-teachers were guided by three Cs: communication, collaboration, and compromise. They perceived some aspects of their co-teaching relationships as equal and other aspects as unequal. In terms of co-teaching practices, flexible ways of planning, as well as bilingual and monolingual circles were examined. The study found there were cultural differences and conflicts among three co-teaching teams. The quality of the co-teaching experience was influenced by various internal and external factors.
  The cultural differences had both negative and positive effects on the co-teaching quality. Co-teaching proposes high professional requirements. A professional identity shared between co-teachers requires co-learning and co-assessment. Suggestions for teachers, administrators, schools, and teacher education are presented.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • international kindergarten
  • co-teaching

• Graduation date

  Fall 2020

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Doctor of Philosophy

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/r3-a2nk-rt64

• License

  Permission is hereby granted to the University of Alberta Libraries to reproduce single copies of this thesis and to lend or sell such copies for private, scholarly or scientific research purposes only. Where the thesis is converted to, or otherwise made available in digital form, the University of Alberta will advise potential users of the thesis of these terms. The author reserves all other publication and other rights in association with the copyright in the thesis and, except as herein before provided, neither the thesis nor any substantial portion thereof may be printed or otherwise reproduced in any material form whatsoever without the author's prior written permission.