There's a word that came into popularity in education a few years ago - the years that I was ready to pack it in as a teacher and let administration figure out what to do with the kids. The top-down leadership was really a dictatorship, and any dissention was unwelcome. We were literally being told what our facial expressions should be. I was scolded by the principal that I had to put the toilet seat down - in the men's room! - because it wasn't "aesthetically pleasing".
But I digress...
Collaboration is back. At a recent "professional development", teachers were asked the same question four different ways: "How does collaboration benefit teachers?" The ideas being presented (and the ideas our administrators predetermined they wanted) indicated that it was beneficial for everyone to be on the same page. Someone said it was negative for teachers to have different personalities, and I had to speak up. No, I said. Differences are a positive! People agreed. They weren't going to say it until they knew someone else believe the same way.
You see, when distrust is in the room, collaboration is dishonest. The district will never get fresh ideas and true collaboration when this is true. When teachers are not vulnerable, they will not advance, and if teachers do not trust their administrators, they will rarely put themselves at risk. We could be heading right back to the place we were when I was ready to walk out.
It seems that one common thread is this collaboration thing. It sounds great, and it should be great, but it has become a smokescreen word for something else. The problem is in the presentation of the wrong kind of question to the group. True collaboration is more open-ended and oriented toward problem-solving, but here's how it's presented instead: "Here is how we've determined you must teach, what you must teach, how you must teach, and when to teach it. Now collaborate about it."
What's that?
The so-called collaboration is merely a dissemination of information and proclamations with which teachers are expected to agree. "Collaboratively." There is no room for disagreement. There is no call for innovative ideas. There is no openness for honest answers or true problem-solving.
In other words, I don't think collaboration means what you think it means.