As part of the project supported by the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic (TAČR) "New method of education for the 21st century: Virtual-Co-Teaching" (project no. TL03000133), the first phase of research activities implemented in 2020–2021 was concluded.

The goal of the project is to create and apply a virtual component as a new part of the educational method of co-teaching. Based on the results of the experiment and data obtained from interviews and focus groups with involved teachers and students, a methodology will be created within the project to help effectively apply virtual co-teaching to school education (primary and secondary). The project really expands the co-teaching method into a virtual environment, creating a new tool that can be applied to solving current teaching problems - the unavailability of experts in the school location, the issue of sharing the pedagogical process and cooperation of teachers, and others.

Classic co-teaching is a specific method of teaching, where the teaching is led by two or more teachers, in order to increase the effectiveness of the educational process and study results. For example it is possible to divide students into groups according to their abilities and use the opportunity to teach students using different methods, apply different methods, and individualize teaching (Veteška et al., 2020; Svobodová et al., 2021; Kursch, 2021; Svobodová, 2021).

As part of the experimental verification, a virtual component was applied to the teaching. To ensure the quality and fulfillment of the principle of applied research, cooperation was established with application guarantors, with whom experimental lessons led by co-teaching with the physical and virtual presence of the teacher were implemented. Application guarantors are three different schools, which guarantee the application of research results in pedagogical practice. This is the Secondary Vocational School for the Administration of the European Union, Prague 9; Basic school of German-Czech understanding and Thomas Mann Gymnasium, o.p.s. and Přemyslovů Elementary School 2209 in Louny.

The specific course of the experiment in schools

  1. At the Secondary Vocational School for the Administration of the European Union, a co-teaching lesson was implemented in the teaching of history in the 1st year, the standard teacher of this class was physically present in the class, the other virtually via computer.
  2. At the Basic School of German-Czech Understanding and the Thomas Mann Gymnasium, the experiment was carried out in the teaching of the German language in the 5th grade in the combination of a Czech teacher and a native speaker, while the native speaker was involved virtually.
  3. At the Přemyslovců Elementary School 2209 in Louny, a co-teaching lesson was implemented in the teaching of mathematics in the 6th grade again with the cooperation of two teachers of the given subject, one teacher was physically present in the class, the other virtually via computer.

The results of the experiment are continuously evaluated and were presented at the international scientific conference - Innovation, cooperation and digitalization in the educational process on November 3, 2021. The essential didactic and philosophical aspects of the individual experiments were presented by dr. Svobodová and dr. Cursch. As part of the conducted scoping review (Veteška et al., 2020), the overall effectiveness of co-teaching as a teaching method was proven, and now the scientific team is focusing on whether it is possible to achieve similar effectiveness in a virtual environment. It monitors the necessary conditions for effective virtual co-teaching and identifies problems, obstacles and limitations that could threaten this effectiveness. Specific outputs from the experiment will be the subject of further publications by the research team of the Department of Andragogy and Educational Management of the Faculty of Pedagogy of Charles University.

Author: Mgr. Danuše Dvořáková Department of andragogy and educational management Faculty of Pedagogy, Charles University

SVOBODOVÁ, Zuzana, KURSCH, Martin and Jaroslav VETEŠKA, 2021. Problems and obstacles of distance learning in the point of view of primary school teachers in the "Covid period". In Proceedings of the International Conferences Mobile Learning 2021 (ML 2021) and Educational Technologies 2021 (ICEduTech 2021), virtual 3-5 March 2021. Lisboa: IADIS, 2021, p. 83-90. ISBN 978-989-8704-28-3.

VETEŠKA, Jaroslav, KURSCH, Martin, SVOBODOVÁ, Zuzana, TURECKIOVÁ, Michaela and Lucie PAULOVČÁKOVÁ, 2020. Longitudinal co-teaching projects – scoping review. 17th International Conference On Cognition And Exploratory Learning In Digital Age. pp. 115-123. ISBN 978-989-8704-22-1.

KURSCH, Martin, 2021. The hidden potential of virtual co-teaching. Prohuman [online]. [cit. 2021-10-6]. ISSN 1338-1415. Available from: https://www.prohuman.sk/pedagogika/skryty-potencial-virtualniho-co-teachingu

SVOBODOVÁ, Zuzana, 2021. The use of the co-teaching method in the education of pupils with special educational needs in the German federal state of Baden-Württembeg. Prohuman [online]. Bratislava: Business Intelligence Club, o.z. [cit. 2021-10-13]. ISSN 1338-1415. Available from: https://www.prohuman.sk/andragogika/vyuziti-metody-co-teaching-pri-vzdelavani-zaku-se-specialnimi-vzdelavacimi-potrebami