A seminar was held on 22nd February 2016 to mark the culmination of the Maynooth University Department of Education and Professional Development Service for Teachers (PDST) team teaching research project. The event was attended by close to 200 PME student teachers, principals, deputy principals and co-operating teachers from partner schools of Maynooth University, as well as educationalists with an interest in team teaching.
Speakers at the seminar included Professor Sharon Todd (Maynooth University), Ms Ciara O’Donnell (Director of the PDST), Dr Finn Ó Murchú (UCC) and Mr. Tomás Ó Ruairc (Teaching Council). PME student teachers (Charmaine Dowling, David Lee, Jack Colgan and Rachel Dudley McEvoy) who have engaged in team teaching while on school placement and who are undertaking a group thesis on students’ attitudes and perceptions to team teaching also provided an insightful input to participants. The centrepiece of the seminar was poster presentations by close to 40 PME student teachers and their co-operating teachers outlining their experiences of team teaching and the learning they have distilled from these experiences.
The seminar also included the screening of a clip from a recently produced video on team teaching that has been filmed in two post-primary schools, St. Mary’s Academy CBS, Carlow and Curragh Camp Post-primary School, Co. Kildare. This video, with footage of team teaching taking place and commentary from principals, teachers, student teachers and second level students, is part of a larger video project about team teaching that seeks to address the dearth of video footage about team teaching in an Irish context. It will be an excellent resource for schools considering the introduction or development of team teaching in their schools.
There was a fantastic atmosphere of learning, collaboration and sharing evident on the day. Presentations from the seminar, the team teaching video and all of the posters are available at www.pdst.ie/teamteaching.
From left to right: Professor Sharon Todd (Maynooth University), David Lee (PME student teacher), Jack Colgan (PME student teacher), Rachel Dudley McEvoy (PME student teacher), Charmaine Dowling (PME student teacher)and Ciara O’Donnell (PDST).