Colleagues

Rogers, W. A. (2002). I get by with a little help … colleague support in schools. Camberwell, Victoria: Australian Council for Educational Research.

In this book, Bill Rogers (2002) draws on his experience as a teacher, researcher and educational consultant to emphasise that colleague support can and does make a difference to individual teachers and whole school cultures. He highlights the personal and relational aspects of colleague support, including moral support, structural support and professional support. In particular, he calls upon the voices of teachers and case studies to illustrate the moral, structural and professional dimensions of colleague support.

Rogers argues that colleague support can affect wellbeing, professional esteem and professional coping. He explores the following questions.

'What makes colleague support effective and why?'
'Who initiates support and how?'
'How does such support affect personal coping and the ability to manage the day-to-day grind of teaching?'
'How does colleague support affect longer term issues such as professional feedback, appraisal of teaching, curriculum planning, lesson planning, as well as ongoing concerns such as classroom discipline and behaviour management?'
'How does colleague support affect the impact and management of change?'

(Rogers, 2002, pp. 2-3)

Rogers refers to the isolationist culture of teaching, and the difficulties that such a culture causes for beginning and experienced teachers alike. Tied up with notions of 'being a good teacher' are cultural imperatives such as not talking about one's difficulties (especially difficulties with classroom behaviour management). He refers to teaching as the 'lonely profession' - one of the last professions where it is still legitimate to work alone (Fullan and Hargreaves, 1991; Rudduck, 1991; both cited in Rogers, 2002, p. 18).

He quotes a colleague:

There is this ludicrous idea that when someone is really struggling we have this 'hands off mentality' - just in case we do, or say, the wrong things. It's stupid especially when we know they need help. (Senior secondary teacher, cited in Rogers, 2002, p. 19)

Rogers also refers to issues such as:

professional etiquette, where advice, especially unsolicited advice, is not always well-received
teachers accepting isolation and loneliness because it lets them have their own way without interference or hindrance
a lack of professional recognition
isolation and lack of support.

Roger's position is that colleague support at moral, structural and professional levels is essential for personal wellbeing and effective school functioning: 'I believe that colleague support is an underrated aspect of a school's existence and mission' (p. 218).

Rogers (p. 217) discusses the various influences upon collegial support in schools, including:

the degree of consciousness within a school culture about colleague support
characteristic expressions, forms and structures of support across the school organisation and practice
the espoused values and protocols that undergird colleague support
how the values of school leadership can model, engage and encourage ownership of more formal expressions of support.

He provides a model for adaptive change in schoolwide colleague support, which includes the following steps.

Acknowledge the basic and common need for colleague support in structural dependency (such as discipline plans) and professional interdependency (such as purposeful teaming), with shared values and practices of mutual respect and mutual regard.
Identify needs (eg ask 'How open, effective and responsive is our decision making?')
Appraise the needs-provision gap.
Decide the focus for change.
Develop action options and plans.
Undertake an ongoing review.

Rogers quotes Tim Costello:

There is a fable that when God was asked to tell what Hell was like the answer came back that it is a huge table with a large and delicious-smelling bowl of soup in the middle, but the spoons that are set in the table have such very long handles that no guest can spoon any of the soup into their mouth. When asked what heaven was like, the answer was that it is the same room with the same soup and the same spoons, but it is where the people have learned to use the spoons to feed each other. (The Age, 18 October 1998, p. 25, cited in Rogers, 2002, p. 244)