How can team teaching succeed? Exploring team building and its critical characteristics in preschool bilingual education

Abstract

The aim of this study was to explore how team is built and how it works as a type of social interaction in preschool bilingual education. More specifically, we asked how teachers of the societally dominant language (Hebrew) and heritage language (Russian) to 3–4-year-olds make decisions about their teamwork and what makes this work successful in the different domains of classroom environment. This study draws on case study and mini ethnography as a methodological approach and applies triangulation of data collection sources. Interviews with both teachers on three separate occasions during the academic year permitted us to receive qualitatively rich and thick data. Critical reflections allowed the teachers to rethink their personal professional experiences, recognize challenges in their practice, and find solutions. In addition, we conducted 6 video recorded observations of co-teaching meetings throughout the year. Our analysis revealed critical characteristics of teaming such as tuneful communication between the two teachers and the children, promoting openness towards a novel language, inter-cultural negotiations stressing the positive co-existence of two different cultures and languages within a minority/majority context, and a dynamic and docile teaching process. In the process of their teaming development, the teachers acted as collective agents of change.