Coteaching preservice psychology teachers within the psychology method units: Secondary teacher and teacher educators’ learnings from critical events in their initial year of coteaching together

Strong partnerships between schools and universities provide important support for the preparation of preservice teachers, especially during professional placement. At Monash University, these partnerships extend to coteaching between secondary teachers and teacher educations within the Science Teacher Education Program, including psychology method units. In a coteaching partnership, teachers are positioned as collaborative equals, with their own set of expertise to drawn upon to coplan, coteach, coreflect and coevaluate for the benefit of their students (Scantlebury, Gallo-Fox, & Wassell, 2008). In this context, coteachers are practicing teachers who work with the teacher educators, bringing their practical expertise and classroom currency to coteach in the science method units. This paper presents a narrative account of the professional learning the coteachers (first two authors) gained during their initial year teaching psychology education method units together. The context and structure of the academic unit and aims for this coteaching partnership are outlined. Regular coteaching meetings were documented and each coteacher kept a personal journal throughout the year, with the third author acting as a critical friend, probing insights when undergoing data analyses of critical events during the year. Critical events that triggered deep reflection about what it means to facilitate innovative learning experiences for preservice psychology teachers are explored. While establishing coteaching relationships has its challenges, the authors argue that these challenges are outweighed by potential reciprocal and multifaceted benefits for coteachers, psychology preservice teachers, secondary students and school-university partnerships.