Teamwork and Collaboration
IB programmes acknowledge that learning is a social activity. Students and teachers come together, each with unique life experiences, beliefs, ideas, strengths and weaknesses. They then interact with the intention of making progress, ideally on shared objectives, and do so within a specific context. Learning is the result of these complex interactions. Developing an awareness of multiple perspectives is at the heart of global mindedness.
Though many perspectives on political issues can be discovered from literature and explored through individual thinking, an appreciation of the contextual and deeply held nature of political beliefs and positions may be most effectively developed through social learning.
When students practise listening and responding to one another respectfully and critically, they discover a variety of perspectives other than their own. They may also start developing a collaborative spirit, experiencing the benefits that dialogue and negotiation bring in the guise of acceptable compromises and shared understandings.
Teamwork and collaboration model how issues are often solved in the real world and teach students to draw on each other’s strengths. Students can gradually learn to appreciate that different perspectives and ways of being do not necessarily amount to an inability to work together: on the contrary, they are critical for human progress.
Examples
Examples of teamwork and collaboration include:
- establishing clear expectations of mindful behaviour from the start, and discussing this with students if expectations are not being met
- modelling listening and interaction skills
- working in teams (either changing or permanent) involving mixed languages and cultural groups
- establishing formalized peer support as part of teamwork • taking collective responsibility for the team’s final product
- games, simulations, role-plays, debates and other collaborative learning activities: possibly involving different interests, starting points and natural roles, but always with shared goals
- regular, specific and constructive feedback from students to their teachers about learning challenges, and on learning performance and progression from teachers to students
- collaborations with other teachers and political actors outside school, e.g. experts on specific topics in global politics.