Establishing a democracy classroom: cooperative learning and good teaching

The Melbourne Declaration (2008) established a strong framework for educating the 21st century Australian student - a framework focussed towards collaboration and the ability to work in teams. Collaboration is an essentially democratic skill and in classrooms can be supported by the use of a model of pedagogy such as Cooperative Learning (CL). In this study, Early Career teachers (ECTs) were mentored in the use of this long standing pedagogy because collaborative classrooms need to be seen as the fundamental basis for twenty first century learning skills in a time of increased testing and focus on individualised learning. The case studies of early career teachers evolved, in an action research process, as the researcher monitored the outcomes of professional development in CL and investigated links between CL and early career teachers overall pedagogical strategies and their classroom ambience. Rich cases emerged as a result of intensive and iterative interrogation of multiple sources of types of data. Comprehensive, systematic and exhaustive coding of this data, in phases of research provided evidence of an emerging democracy classroom. The professional development in CL improved the four early career teachers’ understandings and practices in CL; improved aspects of their understandings and practices in overall pedagogy (as measured by the New South Wales Quality Teaching model) and a classroom with a ‘Democracy Stance’ emerged. Professional development in classroom pedagogy is important and does make a difference and democracy classrooms can emerge as a result of a focus on Cooperative Learning. In an environment that increasingly focusses on accountability, this study demonstrated that social and academic learning for both teachers and students is possible and important for a democratic society.