Cooperative Learning Effectiveness in the Bureaucratic School: Views of Greek Secondary Education Teachers

Konstantina Koutrouba, Ioannis Christopoulos

Abstract


The present questionnaire-based study examines 491 Greek secondary education teachers’ perceptions about and attitudes towards cooperative learning (CL) four years after the official introduction of CL in almost all teaching/learning procedures, in order to find out whether minor changes in typical bureaucratic educational systems, may produce major beneficial results for students, teachers, and education per se. According to the results, significant educational outcomes are linked to CL in a highly bureaucratic educational system, such as students’ self-understanding and empathy-developing, increasing self-esteem, the attainment of socio-emotional objectives, and providing teachers with incentives to experiment, diversify and individualize the teaching process within mainstream classes. Such positive outcomes, however, seem to be produced only in cases where teachers are provided firstly with clearly defined socio-affective Curricula objectives, teaching guidelines, and educational instructions, and secondly with official authority and entrustment to implement (almost obligatorily) CL in such a way that major academic objectives can be fulfilled and are not downgraded.

Keywords


Greece, cooperative learning, secondary education, teachers’ views

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References


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