Sarah Scherwitzl

The EFL teacher’s role(s) within the teaching concept of CoOperative Open Learning

D I P L O M A R B E I T

zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades

Magistra der Philosophie

Studium: Lehramtsstudium UF Englisch UF Geographie und Wirtschaftskunde

Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt

Begutachterin

Dipl.-Päd. Dr. Carmen Monika Amerstorfer MEd TESOL

Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt

Institut für Anglistik und Amerikanistik

Klagenfurt, April 2017

I

Eidesstattliche Erklärung

Ich versichere an Eides statt, dass ich

- die eingereichte wissenschaftliche Arbeit selbstständig verfasst und andere

als die angegebenen Hilfsmittel nicht benutzt habe,

- die während des Arbeitsvorganges von dritter Seite erfahrene Unterstützung,

einschließlich signifikanter Betreuungshinweise, vollständig offengelegt habe,

- die Inhalte, die ich aus Werken Dritter oder eigenen Werken wortwörtlich oder

sinn- gemäß übernommen habe, in geeigneter Form gekennzeichnet und den

Ursprung der Information durch möglichst exakte Quellenangaben (z.B. in Fuß-

noten) ersichtlich gemacht habe,

- die Arbeit bisher weder im Inland noch im Ausland einer Prüfungsbehörde

vorgelegt habe und

- zur Plagiatskontrolle eine digitale Version der Arbeit eingereicht habe, die mit

der gedruckten Version übereinstimmt.

Ich bin mir bewusst, dass eine tatsachenwidrige Erklärung rechtliche Folgen haben

wird.

(Sarah Scherwitzl) (Klagenfurt, 10. April 2017)

II

Affidavit

I hereby declare in lieu of an oath that

- the submitted academic paper is entirely my own work and that no auxiliary

materials have been used other than those indicated, �

- I have fully disclosed all assistance received from third parties during the pro-

cess of writing the paper, including any significant advice from supervisors, �

- any contents taken from the works of third parties or my own works that have

been included either literally or in spirit have been appropriately marked and the

respective source of the information has been clearly identified with precise bib-

liographical references (e.g. in footnotes), �

- to date, I have not submitted this paper to an examining authority either in

Austria or abroad and that �

- the digital version of the paper submitted for the purpose of plagiarism as-

sessment is fully consistent with the printed version.

I am aware that a declaration contrary to the facts will have legal consequences.

(Sarah Scherwitzl) (Klagenfurt, April 10, 2017)�

III

Acknowledgements

This diploma thesis was performed under the supervision of Dipl.-Päd. Dr.

Carmen Monika Amerstorfer MEd TESOL, who primarily inspired me during my studies

because of her outstanding passion for teaching. Without her help and passionate sup-

port from the outset, this paper would not have been possible. Whenever I had a ques-

tion regarding the conduction of the research project, Carmen generously offered help-

ful advice. While providing constructive suggestions as well as interesting inputs, she

allowed this paper to be my own work at every stage. For this, I am deeply thankful.

Also, I gratefully thank the experienced EFL teachers Mag. Elisabeth Spöcker

and Mag. Isabella Übermasser, who kindly offered their support as interview partners

during the excursion to BBS Rohrbach. Without their active participation and input, the

research project could not have been successfully conducted.

Furthermore, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my parents for

providing me with generous support from the beginning of my studies onwards, includ-

ing the process of writing this diploma thesis. Without their constant support, I would

have never made it to this point.

Finally, I would especially like to thank my partner Jan, who provided over-

whelming support and continuous encouragement throughout my years at university.

Besides offering his professional competence at every stage, he is the one I can always

rely on.

IV

Abbreviations

COOL - CoOperative Open Learning

EFL - English as a Foreign Language

BBS - Berufsbildende Schulen

For reasons of readability and space in both the transcript of the interviews and

the thesis itself, the abbreviations COOL for ‘CoOperative Open Learning’, EFL for

‘English as a Foreign Language’ and BBS for ‘Berufsbildende Schulen’, which stands

for ‘vocational schools’, are used.

V

Table of Contents

1 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 1

2 Design and Methods ............................................................................................ 2

3 Theoretical framework ......................................................................................... 5

3.1 COOL .................................................................................................... 5

3.1.1 Helen Parkhurst and the Dalton Plan ............................................. 6

3.1.2 The Development of COOL .......................................................... 18

3.1.3 What is Cooperative and Open Learning? ................................... 21

3.1.4 Features of COOL ........................................................................ 23

3.1.5 The implementation of COOL at BBS Rohrbach .......................... 27

3.2 Role(s) of the EFL teacher ................................................................ 30

3.2.1 What are the role(s) of the EFL teacher in COOL? ...................... 33

4 Data and Results ................................................................................................ 36

4.1 Interviews with EFL teachers ........................................................... 37

Question 1: How do you perceive your role as a teacher in COOL

lessons? .................................................................................................. 39

Question 2: Which roles do you take when pupils are completing

English assignments during a COOL lesson? ......................................... 42

Question 3: How far do your roles as an English language teacher

differ in COOL and in regular English lessons? ....................................... 45

Question 4: How do you decide which role to take? Do you actually

decide? .................................................................................................... 47

VI

Question 5: In how far do you get actively involved when pupils are

working on English assignments during COOL lessons? ........................ 49

Question 6: Please describe the different roles you take before,

during and after COOL lessons. .............................................................. 51

Question 7: How do you think that students perceive your role as a

teacher when they are completing English assignments during a

COOL lesson? ......................................................................................... 54

4.2 Interviews with students .................................................................. 55

4.3 Additional Observations ................................................................... 57

5 Discussion .......................................................................................................... 58

6 Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 71

7 References .......................................................................................................... 73

8 Appendix ............................................................................................................. 76

8.1 Interview Protocol I ........................................................................... 76

8.2 Transcript Interview I ........................................................................ 78

8.3 Interview Protocol II .......................................................................... 86

8.4 Transcript Interview II ....................................................................... 88

1

1 Introduction

Although the teaching concept of COOL, which is short for CoOperative Open

Learning, is based on a student-centred approach, the importance of the teacher’s role

within the COOL classroom environment must not be underrated. COOL provides free-

dom to students while at the same time enhancing the teacher’s freedom, which posi-

tively affects the various roles that teachers take on within COOL classrooms. The

diploma thesis will therefore cover the topic of elaborating on the EFL teacher’s role(s)

within the teaching concept of CoOperative Open Learning. Therefore, the purpose of

this thesis is to closely examine the teacher’s roles before, during and after COOL

lessons, in which students work on English language assignments. According to the-

ory, COOL teachers serve as a facilitator, helper, guide, coach, coordinator, advisor

and consultant in order to support and encourage students in their learning process.

Empirical data collected in expert interviews will prove, whether the theoretical depic-

tion of the COOL teachers’ roles correlates with the everyday school life of two expe-

rienced ones in Upper Austria. As a result, the underlying objective of the present di-

ploma thesis is to answer the following grand tour research questions:

• How do EFL teachers perceive their role in COOL lessons?

• Which roles do EFL teachers take before, during and after COOL les-

sons, in which pupils are working on English assignments?

The aims of the diploma thesis are furthermore to find out whether the theory

on that topic differs from the practical implementation in COOL classrooms. This in-

cludes analysing the perception of English language teachers in COOL from the teach-

ers’ point of view.

Research literature provides good insight about how students may profit from a

variation of teaching methods and how these may work for the pupils. Also, my per-

sonal experiences as a student and as a teacher trainee supported my initial impres-

sion that the teacher’s role does not get as much attention as issues related to the

students. Various literature on the teaching concept of COOL in general but also on

the students’ perspectives in that context has already been published. Therefore, this

paper will strongly emphasise the significance of the teacher within this teaching ap-

proach.

2

2 Design and Methods

This diploma thesis will be divided into three main parts. The theory will make

up the first part, followed by the practical part and concluded by the evaluation part. In

the theoretical part of the thesis, the teaching concept of COOL will be described in

detail, including its development, aims, features and the practical implementation in

class. Also, a description of the underlying principles of ‘Cooperative Learning’ as well

as ‘Open Learning’ in the context of COOL will be provided. Furthermore, a description

of the implementation of the teaching approach of COOL at BBS Rohrbach will be

given. The theoretical framework of the thesis will also discuss Helen Parkhurst’s ‘Dal-

ton Laboratory Plan’ and its impact on the development of COOL, including a compar-

ison between the Dalton Plan and COOL. Another main aspect regarding the theoret-

ical analysis of the topic will be the representation of the various roles of EFL teachers,

while maintaining a specific focus on the roles that EFL teachers take before, during

and after COOL lessons, during which students are working on their assignments.

Part two, the research report, will be based on empirical data collected at BBS

Rohrbach, a certified COOL school in Upper Austria. In detail, the findings of two expert

interviews will be presented. Furthermore, the research report will include the out-

comes of informal interviews with students, conducted during COOL lessons at BBS

Rohrbach. Additional observations made within COOL classroom environments and

related to the research project will also be elaborated shortly.

The final part of the thesis will bring together the theoretical information regard-

ing the teaching concept of COOL with the empirical data collected at BBS Rohrbach.

It aims to thoroughly and systematically evaluate the findings during the interviews and

in-class-observations in relation to current literature on that specific topic.

Within the context of an excursion to BBS Rohrbach in Upper Austria from De-

cember 14th to 16th 2016, my fellow colleagues and I had the chance to get a detailed

insight into an Austrian school, which has been successfully implementing the teaching

concept of COOL. In the course of the excursion, the school offered us the possibility

to get in touch with COOL teachers as well as students and to sit in on various COOL

lessons. There, it was possible to get an idea of how these significant lessons are

structured and how they take place, as well as to observe the behaviour of teachers

and students during these lessons. At BBS Rohrbach, two English language teachers,

3

who are experienced COOL teachers, have been interviewed face-to-face. Also, infor-

mal interviews with students have been conducted during COOL lessons, which my

fellow colleagues and I were able to observe in the course of the excursion.

In detail, open questions have not only been asked during the interviews with

two EFL teachers, but also during the short and informal interviews with the COOL

students at BBS Rohrbach. In order to keep the conduction of the interviews manage-

able during COOL lessons, only one open question has been posed to present and

available students. The interview question aimed to get an insight into the COOL stu-

dents’ perception of the (EFL) teacher’s roles during COOL lessons. The English lan-

guage teachers have been faced with the following questions:

• How do you perceive your role as a teacher in COOL lessons?

• Which roles do you take when pupils complete English assignments during a

COOL lesson? • How far do your roles as an English language teacher differ in COOL and reg-

ular English lessons?

• How do you decide which role to take? Do you actually decide? (If yes, at

which stage during the lesson? Which role(s)? How often?) • In how far do you get actively involved when pupils work on English assign-

ments during COOL lessons?

• Please describe the different roles you take before, during and after COOL

lessons. (What other roles do you take? Can you think of anything else?)

• How do you think that students perceive your role as a teacher when they com-

plete English assignments during a COOL lesson?

The two expert interviews with the EFL teachers at BBS Rohrbach have been

recorded for further processing. In the course of the excursion, the interviews have

been transcribed according to common academic transcription rules in order to be able

to present, analyse and evaluate the findings as a next step. The evaluation of the

findings of the interviews, which can be found in the discussion part of the thesis, also

serve as a response to the predefined research questions.

The face-to-face interviews have been conducted with two experienced English

language teachers, who have been working in a COOL environment for twenty and

nine years respectively. The students’ interviews have been carried out with students,

4

who attend a certified COOL school, which means that they are experienced and used

to this concept of teaching. Therefore, the findings of both interview types can be clas-

sified as a reliable source. Nevertheless, due to the limited number of interviews with

teachers as well as students, they may not be part of a representative study but func-

tion as reliable answers to the research questions in the context of this paper.

5

3 Theoretical framework

The following section of the thesis aims to outline the theoretical framework the

research project on the teacher’s roles in a COOL classroom environment is based on.

First, a general overview of the teaching concept of COOL will be provided in order to

lead into the topic. Second, the fundamental principles of Helen Parkhurst’s Dalton

Plan will be explained, including a concise summary of Helen Parkhurst’s life as well

as a description of her reasons and motives for developing a new teaching approach.

Also, the impact of the Dalton Plan on the development of the teaching concept of

COOL will be examined, including a comparison between the two teaching ap-

proaches. Third, this chapter of the thesis will focus on the development of said Aus-

trian teaching concept, including the teachers’ motives for originating COOL in the

1990s. Next, the underlying and at the same time also eponymous principles of Coop-

erative Learning as well as Open Learning will be described before taking a closer look

at the features and aims of COOL. Moreover, this section of the thesis will provide an

insight into the current situation of the teaching concept of COOL in Austria, focusing

on the school where this research project was conducted, namely BBS Rohrbach. Fi-

nally, the theoretical framework of this thesis includes a general description of the var-

ious roles that EFL teachers have to fulfil, including a focus on the additional or different

functions, which have to be taken by English language teachers within a COOL teach-

ing approach.

3.1 COOL

The teaching concept of COOL, which is short for CoOperative Open Learning,

has been developed by two Austrian teachers in 1996. The initiators of COOL, Helga

Wittwer and Georg Neuhauser, who have been teaching at a commercial school in

Upper-Austria, primarily wanted to react to the increasing amount of heterogeneity in

class by creating a suitable teaching concept. Therefore, the main aim of COOL is to

promote self-organised competency-based learning strategies, the development of

personal competencies as well as the improvement of social skills (see Cooltrainers

n.d.). COOL has been influenced by different progressive teaching movements; how-

ever, it is fundamentally based on the principles of Helen Parkhurst’s Dalton Plan,

which will be explained in more detail in the following section of the paper.

6

3.1.1 Helen Parkhurst and the Dalton Plan

The principles of Helen Parkhurst’s Dalton Plan, originally referred to as the

‘Dalton Laboratory Plan’, act as the basis for the teaching concept of CoOperative

Open Learning. At the beginning of the 20th century, the Dalton Plan was developed

and firstly implemented in a school in Massachusetts, USA. Helen Parkhurst originated

the teaching concept as a practising teacher, affected by her personal experiences as

a student as well as a teacher, which, in her view, have been far from satisfactory. In

order to understand Parkhurst’s personal motives and reasons for developing the un-

derlying teaching philosophy of COOL, her Dalton Plan, a closer look at the story of

her life needs to be taken.

Helen Parkhurst

Helen Parkhurst, the initiator and founder of the Dalton Plan, was born in Du-

rand, Wisconsin, in 1887. By developing the Dalton Plan, Parkhurst became a very

important personality when it comes to the progressive educational movement. The

author van der Ploeg even argues that, “apart from John Dewey, no American educa-

tional reformer has been as internationally successful and influential as Helen

Parkhurst” (2013, 7). She had been a bright pupil at the turn of the 19th century, but

“there was little to capture the pupils’ interest and not much for them to do” (van der

Ploeg 2013, 9) during her schooldays. As “American education was monotonous and

one-sided” (ibid) at that time and “learning was dull and a matter of routine” (ibid)

Parkhurst could not really trigger many positive associations when thinking about her

school lessons. As the teacher was the one to speak in class, Helen Parkhurst and her

fellow students were simply “required to sit still and listen” (ibid) most of the time, to

some extent they also had to “learn and recite facts by heart” (ibid). Furthermore, the

teacher-centred teaching methods in those days led to the fact that only the teacher

was the one to ask questions, although those questions “were not intended to stimulate

the pupils to think or start working” (ibid). Exactly the opposite was always the case,

the teacher asked questions in order to make sure that the students were able to re-

produce the content that they had been taught or which they had had to read or study-

by-heart beforehand (see ibid). Moreover, students were also drilled to provide “ready-

made, recently memorized facts” (ibid), which they also had to recite simultaneously

7

all together in order to satisfy their teacher. At the turn of the 19th century, it was com-

mon practise that students had to do a lot of their work for school at home. Teachers

very often assigned whole chapters from their textbooks as homework, as van der

Ploeg also points out (see 2013, 10). They wanted their students to study all the as-

signed texts by heart in order to be able to recite the answers according to the various

questions asked by the teacher during the following lesson (ibid). As Helen Parkhurst

had been “bored to tears at school and felt that she was not taken seriously” (van der

Ploeg 2013, 9), this kind of education was not satisfactory at all but rather frustrating

for Parkhurst. Already as a small child it was Parkhurst’s wish to become a teacher

one day. Because of the experiences she herself collected as a pupil, she wanted to

give a better performance than her teachers and “had become convinced that schools

could and should be different” (van der Ploeg 2013, 11).

As early as at seventeen years of age, Helen Parkhurst received her teaching

qualifications and therefore started her teaching career in 1904. As the one-teacher

school in the small village Waterville, Wisconsin, was in need of a teacher, Parkhurst

was given the chance to begin working there. At that place, Helen Parkhurst was con-

fronted to work with forty-five pupils, the youngest students aged six while the oldest

had already been sixteen years of age (ibid). As Parkhurst was only about one year

older than her eldest students at that time, she had to find a way to “prevent being

obstructed by the older pupils” (van der Ploeg 2013, 12). As a result of these circum-

stances, Parkhurst decided to allow her students to collaborate with her in order to

achieve being respected by all of her students. As a first step, Parkhurst decided to

assign the oldest boys the roles of assistants, who had to fulfil the job of being a monitor

for one subject they could choose (see ibid). Van der Ploeg argues, that “it was more

effective to divide forty pupils among six supervisors than to group forty-six together

under one mistress” (ibid), as it had been common practise at that time. Also, Parkhurst

wanted her students to work at their own pace, which otherwise would not have been

possible within this group of students, non-homogenous in terms of age and level. Fur-

thermore, Parkhurst determined to make sufficient room for each subject in the class-

room by creating different subject-related corners, including a rearrangement of the

equipment in the classroom. She wanted her students to have the freedom to move

around in the classroom instead of sitting at their desk quietly during the lessons (see

ibid). Assigning the roles of assistants to six older students implied that they needed

8

to take care of their own time-management wisely. Being an assistant did not only

involve helping fellow students in one specific subject, but also getting one’s own work

done on time. Parkhurst described these happenings in her first year as a teacher as

the “origin of assignments and of budgeting time” (van der Ploeg 2013, 12). Hence,

Parkhurst’s ideas and innovations during her time at Waterville can be seen as the

starting point of the Dalton Plan.

In 1905, Parkhurst decided to leave Waterville to begin the Teachers Training

College in River Falls, Wisconsin, where she attended an authentic teacher training

course (see ibid). In contrast to her expectations, Parkhurst was not satisfied with what

she experienced there, as it was “strongly traditionally oriented with regard to subject

content and educational methods” (van der Ploeg 2013, 14). Nevertheless, Parkhurst

had the chance to learn about psychology there, as she was very interested on the

way children learn and what they experience (see ibid). In 1907, Helen Parkhurst grad-

uated from the Teachers Training College in River Falls and in the following two years

she stayed in Wisconsin to gain further working experience. Two years later, in 1909,

Parkhurst began to work as a teacher at the Edison School in Tacoma, Washington.

There, she got the chance to carry out an experiment, which was based on the same

principles as later defined in the Dalton Plan. As a result, van der Ploeg argues that in

1912, “the Dalton Plan [was] practically finished, although not yet known by that name”

(2013, 16) because the experiment there “closely resemble[d] the Dalton Plan tried out

by Parkhurst in Dalton, Pittsfield and New York, from 1919 onwards” (ibid).

In 1914, Parkhurst started to collaborate with the educator Maria Montessori, as

she admired Montessori’s approach to teaching and learning, and later became Mon-

tessori’s representative in the U.S. (see van der Ploeg 2013, 21). Although Parkhurst

worked with the Italian educationalist closely, a number of other educationalists have

had influence on the development of the Dalton Plan as well.

In 1920, Helen Parkhurst received the chance to implement her teaching ap-

proach at the high school in Dalton. Her experiences there not only influenced her in

terms of the content of her teaching philosophy, but also the name of the city was

eponymous for her work. In 1922, she finally published her first book, Education on the

Dalton Plan, although the Dalton Plan had practically been finished already in 1912

(see van der Ploeg 2013, 16).

9

The Dalton Plan

Helen Parkhurst started to develop the Dalton Plan, originally referred to as the

‘Dalton Laboratory Plan’, as a practising teacher during her first year at school in 1904.

The Dalton Plan, as the teaching concept is commonly referred to in the literature as

well as by educationalists, is named after the town Dalton in Massachusetts, where it

was firstly implemented at the local high school. Although Helen Parkhurst is the

founder and main character, the Dalton Plan was influenced by a number of people,

who were dissatisfied with the teacher-centred teaching methods at the beginning of

the 20th century (see van der Ploeg 2013, 20ff.). As the educationalist van der Ploeg

argues, Helen Parkhurst’s teaching philosophy was influenced by the educational re-

former Maria Montessori, the philosopher John Dewey, the educational psychologist

Edgar James Swift, the poet and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson, the biologist Ed-

win Grant Conklin as well as the efficiency ideologists Frederick W. Taylor and Franklin

Bobbit (ibid). As Parkhurst developed the Dalton Plan as a practising teacher, it was

affected by her personal experiences and is therefore mainly based on practical expert

knowledge. Furthermore, the Dalton Plan is only embedded in the most important the-

oretical information, as “Parkhurst did not need much space for theoretical justification”

(van der Ploeg 2013, 24) and therefore it was already practically completed in 1912,

although the theory only followed in the 1920s.

Already during her first experiences as a teacher, Parkhurst reasonably aimed

to distinguish students into groups of interest and ability instead of simply assigning

them according to their age (see Claussen 1997, 69). Also, Parkhurst realised early in

her career as a teacher that students need to be given freedom in various ways in

order to work successfully, which is why freedom is described as one of her principles

in the Dalton Plan, which will be explained in more detail shortly. Furthermore, it was

one of her first steps as a teacher in Waterville to rearrange furniture in the classroom,

as she learned that the learning environment, which includes the arrangement of the

interior as well as the teaching materials in the classroom, has a major influence on

the success of learning and the motivation of students (see van der Ploeg 2013, 13).

One of the most influencing lessons she learned during her first teaching experiences

was that the way in which teaching and learning takes place has a much higher impact

on students than the subject matter itself (ibid). Due to Helen Parkhurst’s innovative

approach to teaching and learning, the Dalton Plan was “spread throughout the world”

10

(van der Ploeg 2013, 7) during the 1920s and 1930s, being especially successful in

the Netherlands and Japan (see ibid). Nevertheless, there is only one certified Dalton

school in America, namely the Dalton School in New York, which Helen Parkhurst ini-

tiated herself (ibid).

One very important aspect of the Dalton Plan is that it can be seen as one pro-

gressive teaching model, which does not primarily focus on creating an alternative

school (see Popp 1996, 269) but aims to restructure existing schools. As a result,

Helen Parkhurst developed a teaching method, which aims to substitute traditional,

teacher-centred ways of teaching and learning in various types of schools. Popp ar-

gues, that Parkhurst’s’ Dalton Plan suggests a reformation of the methods of teaching

as well as learning, which may be implemented in any school, regardless of the various

educational objectives each school predefines autonomously (see ibid).

The main idea behind the Dalton Plan is to support individual learner’s needs

by providing assignments, which students may work on independently as well as co-

operatively (see Greimel-Fuhrmann 2007). These assignments, referred to as “con-

tract jobs” (1922, 35) by Helen Parkhurst, include different tasks and learning targets

as well as a predefined deadline. Also, students have to sign their contract jobs in order

to make them take on personal responsibility for their behaviour (ibid). Taking on re-

sponsibility should support students in dealing with their own action as well as the

community surrounding them (see Popp 1996, 271). During ‘laboratory time’, which

can be described as self-study lessons, students have the chance to work on their

assignments and are free to decide whether they would like to work individually, in

pairs or even in groups as well as where and when to work on them. Furthermore,

students are given the freedom to consult the teacher at any time they need help or

support during ‘laboratory time’ (see Popp 1996, 270). The Dalton Plan mainly aims to

individualise teaching as well as learning by reorganising school life in order to enable

students to fulfil their true potentials. For this reason, there is a strong need to provide

personal assistance and support of individual skills and abilities to students during self-

study lessons (ibid).

Helen Parkhurst was profoundly convinced that the competitive situation, which

develops within teacher-centred teaching, needs to be removed in order to allow stu-

dents the possibility to work cooperatively (see Popp 1995, 93). Also, Parkhurst em-

phasised the importance of assigning groups of interest and ability instead of age. This

11

implies that the Dalton Plan aims to enable students to work together outside the tra-

ditional classroom, extending the students’ scope of action (see Eichelberger 2002,

31) in order promote their individual development. Eichelberger claims that Helen

Parkhurst wanted to draw the attention at school from teaching to learning, signifying

that the learners have to take on responsibility for their work and progress instead of

their teacher (see 2002, 20).

In Education on the Dalton Plan, which was published in 1922, Helen Parkhurst

defined two main pedagogical principles, namely freedom and cooperation. The third

pedagogical principle underlying the Dalton Plan, self-reliance, also referred to as

budgeting time, was added a few years later, in 1925 (see Eichelberger 2002, 19).

The first principle, freedom, is always connected to responsibility according to

Parkhurst’s definition, meaning that the students’ freedom to decide on their behalf

simultaneously implies behaving on one’s own responsibility (see Greimel-Fuhrmann

2007). Eichelberger argues that freedom also entails to respect others, which simulta-

neously constrains personal freedom (see 2002, 19). Furthermore, he claims that there

is no freedom without limits, not even in the Dalton Plan. Instead, Parkhurst described

the personal freedom of choice as her first principle, limited by the responsibility stu-

dents have to take on when making decisions. In concrete terms, students working

within a Dalton Plan environment are free to choose which assignment they would like

to work on, where they would like to do so and also whether they would complete their

assignment on their own, with a partner or in a group. In more detail, students do not

get restricted or stopped by a ringing bell in Dalton Plan schools, as they are non-

existent in order to get students to decide on their own when they want to work on their

assignments and how much time they give themselves for their tasks (see Parkhurst

1922, 19). As a result, Parkhurst’s Dalton Plan offers students to take care of their

time-management, involving responsibility for their decisions. As students are free to

decide where they would like to work on their assignments, they are offered to move

around in the school building freely as well as to choose an appropriate working place

themselves.

The second principle, cooperation, enables students to work together in teams

collaboratively and to cooperate with each other (see Greimel-Fuhrmann 2007). Ac-

cording to Parkhurst, the learning environment needs to offer space for students to

cooperate with each other instead of creating a competitive situation as can be found

12

in teacher-centred teaching (see Hölbling, Wittwer and Neuhauser n.d.). One main aim

of the Dalton Plan is to socialise the school as one single unit and to create a commu-

nity, which is working cooperatively as well as collaboratively (see Eichelberger 2002,

21). Eichelberger argues that the teachers need to work together cooperatively and

discuss issues before making decisions in order to create a school that works accord-

ing to the Dalton Plan. When it comes to cooperation, Parkhurst argued that students

learn to deal with freedom, to be creative and to see themselves as part of a community

in cooperation (ibid). While students are faced with various kinds of tasks, they learn

to find suitable solutions through being creative. Also, through cooperating and being

part of a community pupils learn to understand that others may think differently, to

express their own opinion as well as to live together in a democratic way (ibid). More-

over, Parkhurst argues that experiencing success through working collaboratively pro-

motes teamwork and joint responsibility (see Hölbling, Wittwer and Neuhauser n.d.).

By describing the third principle of the Dalton Plan as self-reliance or budgeting

time, Parkhurst wanted to emphasise the importance of self-organisation as well as

independent work (see Greimel-Fuhrmann 2007). During ‘laboratory time’, students

should learn to work independently and to organise their schedule by themselves (ibid).

In detail, the freedom to decide how, when and where to complete assignments carries

the responsibility for students to budget time carefully and spend it according to their

personal estimation. In the Dalton Plan, it is indispensable to acquire self-reliance as

students themselves are in charge of their learning progress and success and aim to

become autonomous individuals. Nevertheless, students may get back to the teacher

at any stage during their working process in order to get the support and help they may

ask for, which leads to the role of the teacher as described in the Dalton Plan.

The teaching concept of the Dalton Plan also clearly changes the role of the

teacher, as it moves from teacher-centred teaching to a teaching method, which can

be described as the opposite, namely student-centred (see Popp 1996, 277). Teachers

need to plan lessons far in advance and in consultation with colleagues so as to coor-

dinate the self-study lessons (ibid). As already described as one main principle in the

Dalton Plan, students are free to choose the time, place and manner when working on

their assignments during ‘laboratory time’. In consequence, the teacher needs to

change his attitude in class, as he has to be there for the students’ requests and there-

fore has to adjust himself to much more incoherent questions and concerns in order to

13

support the students effectively (ibid). It is not the teacher’s job to tell students what to

do during the lessons anymore, but rather to help and support them in developing their

skills, knowledge and personality (see Eichelberger 2002, 19). Hence, the teacher pro-

vides advice in terms of content and at the same time supervises the self-study lessons

(see Schwerdt 1933, 167). Nevertheless, the teacher’s role must not be underrated,

as the assignments need to be planned and designed carefully. When designing as-

signments for ‘laboratory time’, Eichelberger argues that teachers need to ask them-

selves the following questions:

• How will I design the assignments?

• How many and which levels will I include in the assignments?

• How will I assess the assignments?

• How many lessons need to be designed as self-study lessons?

• Which tools will the students need when working on their assignments?

• Which tools may I provide? (see Eichelberger 2002, 20).

As Eichelberger argues, Helen Parkhurst’s Dalton Plan focuses on learning in-

stead of teaching, meaning that the teacher has to confer the responsibility of the learn-

ing success to the students, as they are in charge of their own progress (see 2002,

20). In order to do so successfully, teachers not only have to adapt their attitude in

class but also have to plan students’ assignments for the ‘laboratory time’ thoroughly.

The impact of the Dalton Plan on COOL

As the principles of Helen Parkhurst’s Dalton Plan act as a basis for the Austrian

teaching concept of COOL, this section will take a closer look at the impact of the

Dalton Plan on COOL. Therefore, it provides a comparison of various aspects both

teaching concepts share, including the two approaches, the assignments students

have to work on, the learning environment in school, and the teachers’ as well as the

students’ roles in both teaching philosophies. For this purpose, the comparison be-

tween the Dalton Plan and COOL was illustrated in a table, which is taken and adapted

from Amerstorfer’s research (2016, 30ff.), who conducted a representative research

project at a COOL school and originally drew the comparison in her thesis. Hence, the

information in this section is mainly based on her findings, presented in Table 1.

14

Dalton Plan COOL

a new innovative way of teaching pub-lished in the USA in 1922

a new innovative way of teaching in Aus-tria introduced in 1996

one person’s ideology based on role models, experience and intuition

a group of teachers’ state-funded project; based on the Dalton Plan

supports individual learner needs, group and pair work

supports individual learner needs, group and pair work

enhances learners’ freedom, coopera-tion, and self-reliance

enhances learners’ freedom, coopera-tion, and self-reliance; enhances teach-ers’ freedom

monthly “contract jobs” signed by pupils; assignments may cross over subjects

subject-specific assignments; assign-ments may cross over subjects

assignments must be differentiated, meaningful, and include helpful sugges-tions

assignments must be in line with compe-tences as defined in the curriculum

minimum requirement must be met be-fore a new learning agreement can be started

completion of assignments has no impli-cations for other assignments

a plan of action has to be presented to the teacher before starting a new assign-ment

no plan of action has to be presented be-fore starting a new assignment

no conventional classroom but subject-specific “laboratories”

different classrooms and study areas

supportive and comfortable learning en-vironment

supportive and comfortable learning en-vironment

no modern technology available modern technology available

no fixed timetable fixed timetable

15

pupils develop skills required to solve as-signments independently

pupils develop skills required to solve as-signments independently; pupils com-pensate for each other

pupils consult the teacher, peers, or books for advice

pupils consult the Internet first, peers if necessary, and rarely the teacher

pupils choose their preferred working mode freely

pupils choose their preferred working mode often following the teacher’s sug-gestions

pupils work at their own pace; decide what to study, for how long, and when

pupils work at their own pace; decide what to study in which COOL lesson, and for how long

teachers give pupils confidence in what they do and how they do it

teachers give pupils covert confidence through reduced amount of verbal in-struction

teachers ensure pupils’ safety and well-being

teachers ensure pupils’ safety and well-being

teachers support pupils’ decision-making teachers support pupils’ decision-making upon request

teachers are subject specialists; respon-sible for subject-specific materials

teachers are subject specialists; partly responsible for subject-specific materials

Table 1: Comparison between the Dalton Plan and COOL (taken and adapted from Amerstorfer 2016, 30ff.)

As the table illustrates, the Dalton Plan can be described as a new innovative

way of teaching, published in the USA in 1922. Also, it was Helen Parkhurst’s own

ideology, which was mainly based on different role models during her time, her own

experiences as a teacher as well as student, and her personal intuition. The Dalton

Plan acts as the basis for the teaching concept of COOL, which can also be described

as “a new innovative way of teaching” (Amerstorfer 2016, 32), introduced in Austria in

1996. While the Dalton Plan is only based on Helen Parkhurst’s ideas, COOL was

developed as a project by a group of teachers. Compared to the Dalton Plan, COOL

had the advantage of being a state-funded project in Austria, while Helen Parkhurst

16

did not enjoy any sponsorship or funding at the beginning of the 20th century. The

Dalton Plan and COOL share various main ideas, as both approaches aim to “support

individual learner needs, group and pair work” (ibid) and enhance “learners’ freedom,

cooperation and self-reliance” (ibid). As opposed to the Dalton Plan, COOL also en-

hances the teachers’ freedom, which was not explicitly described as a feature by Helen

Parkhurst.

Second, both the Dalton Plan and COOL are based on students’ assignments.

Helen Parkhurst referred to those as “contract jobs”, which were given to students

monthly and also had to be signed by them. In COOL, students are faced with subject-

specific assignments, which have to be “in line with competences as defined in the

curriculum” (Amerstorfer 2016, 38) and also “may cross over subjects” (ibid). Dalton

Plan assignments may cross over subjects as well, but first and foremost have to be

“differentiated, meaningful, and include helpful suggestions” (ibid). One aspect which

distinguishes COOL from the Dalton Plan is that within the concept of COOL, the com-

pletion of assignments “has no implications for other assignments” (ibid), whereas in

the Dalton Plan, the “minimum requirement must be met before a new learning agree-

ment can be started” (ibid). Also, there is no need of presenting a plan of action before

starting a new assignment in COOL, whereas this is described as a requirement for

completing and starting assignments in the Dalton Plan.

Third, both the Dalton Plan and COOL aim for a “supportive and comfortable”

(Amerstorfer 2016, 39) learning environment. Also, both teaching approaches do not

entail the traditional concept of the classroom, but rather a learning environment, in

which students may choose their working space freely. In the Dalton Plan, there are

no conventional classrooms but rather “subject-specific “laboratories”” (ibid), while dif-

ferent, welcoming study areas and nicely-designed classrooms are available as work-

ing places for pupils in COOL. While there was no modern technology available when

Helen Parkhurst developed and implemented the Dalton Plan at the beginning of the

20th century, numerous possibilities of technical support is granted in COOL today.

Another difference between the Dalton Plan and COOL is that the teaching concept of

COOL includes fixed tables, which firmly fix one-third of the lessons as COOL lessons

in the timetables, while the Dalton Plan does not contain fixed timetables.

17

Fourth, a closer look at the roles and responsibilities that students need to take

on in COOL and in the Dalton Plan will be taken. Both approaches want pupils to de-

velop skills, which they will need in order to solve their assignments independently.

Additionally, the teaching philosophy of COOL also requests students to compensate

for each other. In the Dalton Plan, students “consult the teacher, peers, or books for

advice” (Amerstorfer 2016, 35), while in COOL, modern technology leads to the fact

that students “consult the Internet first, peers if necessary, and rarely the teacher”

(ibid). Both teaching concepts offer the possibility to students to “work at their own

pace” (ibid), which includes taking care of their own time-management. Students also

decide what they want to work on, for how long they would like to do so and when. In

COOL, there is a need for pupils to decide what they want to study in which COOL

lesson. In COOL, as well as in the Dalton Plan, students are free to decide their working

mode, only differing in the fact that pupils in COOL often follow their teachers’ sugges-

tions.

Fifth, students need to take on a lot of responsibilities in both the Dalton Plan

and in COOL, but also teachers are in need of doing so. While teachers in Helen

Parkhurst’s Dalton Plan are required to “give pupils confidence in what they do and

how they do it” (Amerstorfer 2016, 36), COOL wants teachers to do so through a “re-

duced amount of verbal instruction” (ibid). Both teaching approaches share the feature

that teachers “ensure pupils’ safety and well-being” (ibid) and that teachers should

support students in making decisions, whereas this should only happen upon request

within the teaching concept of COOL. Another feature that appears in both the Dalton

Plan and in COOL is the request that teachers need to be subject-specialists. Further-

more, while teachers are responsible for the needed subject-specific materials in the

Dalton Plan, teachers are only partly required to take care of subject-specific materials

in COOL.

To sum up, it can be argued that the Dalton Plan had a major impact on COOL,

as they share a lot of features. Most importantly, both teaching approaches are pursu-

ing the same aims, for example when it comes to the students’ freedom or the learning

environment pupils are faced with. Nevertheless, some aspects embedded in the

Helen Parkhurst’s Dalton Plan have significantly changed and therefore have been

adapted within the concept of COOL.

18

3.1.2 The Development of COOL

The founders of the teaching concept of COOL, Georg Neuhauser and Helga

Wittwer, argue that the whole project initially started because the situation at school

caused grounds for discontent and frustration among them and their colleagues, teach-

ing at a commercial school in Steyr, Upper Austria. As the commercial highschool

boomed, the three-year training at the commercial school got unpopular. Neuhauser

and Wittwer claim that students may have missed precise job opportunities after fin-

ishing the three years at that school (see 2002, 161). In consequence, students’ moti-

vation, self-confidence as well as their attitude towards school was influenced in a

negative way. As Neuhauser and Wittwer state, the innovative teachers were faced

with the following problems, which led to excessive demand and despair:

• Due to a lack of apprenticeship openings, students had to attend the

commercial school, although they actually have never been interested in

doing so (see ibid).

• In classes, foreigners, who were at the same time non-native speakers

of German, made up forty percent of all students (see ibid).

• The number of students, who were handicapped or displayed behav-

ioural problems, increased noticeable (see ibid).

• An ever-increasing drop-out-rate – sometimes about half of the students

or even more –, students who were switching from one school to another,

as well as pupils, who had to repeat a year, increased fluctuation at the

three year training at the commercial school (see ibid).

Furthermore, teachers complained about a lack of further education in the ped-

agogical as well as socio-psychological field, as for example courses on personality

development of teachers or on how to handle students displaying behavioural prob-

lems (see 2002, 162). Additionally, Neuhauser and Wittwer argue that the popular

forms of teacher-centred teaching made it even harder for them to resolve the various

problems. The students’ unbalanced level of performance in school as well as their

different potentials made it impossible to go on with teacher-centred methods in class

(ibid). Also, teachers were not able to handle the troubles due to alterations in students’

social statuses, which led to increasing aggression within the groups and a rising num-

19

ber of outsiders in class (ibid). Moreover, students were not capable of taking on re-

sponsibility for themselves and their success in learning. Teachers and parents got

more and more helpless, which led to an enormous increase in unattended lessons in

the different grades (ibid).

Neuhauser and Wittwer highlight the importance of introducing a supervision

group at the commercial school in Steyr in 1993. Once a month, about ten to twelve

teachers participated in the supervision group, accompanied and guided by an external

supervisor (ibid). At the beginning of the new school year in 1995, teachers were com-

plaining about their situation at the commercial school within the supervision group

again. Then, they decided to seize the initiative because they could not find an alter-

native for their own ideas and commitment as a solution to their problems. As a result,

the teachers agreed on aiming to improve their students’ social competences as well

as their sense of responsibility (ibid). Also, they wanted to regain the pleasure and fun

in teaching. By agreeing on these roughly defined aims, the main idea of COOL was

born. Neuhauser and Wittwer emphasise that it was essential for the success of their

project that a) the decision to initiate the project was made by a group of teachers

instead of only one highly motivated teacher starting it individually and b) that it was

not only the main aim to make a change in order for students to profit, but also to

achieve improvements for teachers by cooperating with each other (see 2002, 163).

The only remaining question at that stage of the development of COOL was

which progressive teaching model would fit their needs best, as it was clear from the

outset that the teachers were aiming for a non-traditional teaching approach. They

asked themselves, which teaching philosophy would meet the requirements and chal-

lenges, which the secondary school offered (see ibid). In order to find a suitable model,

the group of teachers visited various schools throughout Austria, who implemented

projects and initiatives connected to the teaching method of ‘Open Learning’, attended

different courses, went through pedagogical literature and invited colleagues to take

part in advanced training courses at their school (ibid). Nevertheless, the vital decision

for taking Helen Parkhurst’s Dalton Plan as the basis for their project happened during

the teachers’ stay at the Drenthe College in the Netherlands. There, they had the

chance to get an insight into a school, which implies the Dalton Plan successfully and

is also held in high esteem. In Austria, progressive teaching models have only been

implemented in primary or lower secondary schools at that time, which is why it was

20

very important for the introduction of the project in Steyr to be able to refer to an ex-

ample of an efficient and lasting implementation at a vocational school, namely at Dren-

the College in the Netherlands.

The Dalton Plan offered a pedagogical concept, which definitely met the teach-

ers’ requirements as well as their idea of an ideal teaching philosophy (ibid). Helen

Parkhurst’s teaching principles of freedom, cooperation and self-reliance suited the

teachers’ aim to promote students’ individual abilities (ibid). Also, the teachers appre-

ciated the integral way of seeing school not only as a place for learning but also for

living. The practical approach of the Dalton Plan also offered them the possibilities to

include their own ideas and beliefs and therefore to adapt the teaching approach ac-

cording to their individual needs and wishes. As a result, the teachers describe Helen

Parkhurst’s Dalton Plan as the common theme in COOL, while highlighting that their

teaching concept will never be completed, as constantly changing circumstances and

influences require adaptions at times (see 2002, 164).

The philosophy of the psychologists Carl R. Rogers, besides Helen Parkhurst’s

pedagogical ideology, was the second influencing concept during the development of

the teaching concept of COOL (see ibid). Roger’s psychological concept strongly fo-

cuses on communication between parents, teachers and students, including parent-

teacher conferences, team-meetings of teachers as well as regular discussions and

meetings of the whole class (ibid). One aspect, which is substantial in Roger’s concept

and had an impact on the development of COOL, is the introduction of the role of a

facilitator or host, who needs to be present during conversations in order to make sure

that communication is taking place effectively (ibid).

In May 1996, the first theoretical concept of COOL was finished, implemented

and tried out at the commercial school in Steyr by twelve teachers. Neuhauser and

Wittwer claim that although they had to face various forms of reactions from their fellow

colleagues, they profited from the introduction and development of the project, as they

were working together in a cooperative way. This enabled them to reach colleagues,

who suddenly wanted to be a part of the COOL project, as it was working out very well

(ibid). By working together cooperatively as teachers, the team argues that at the same

time they would act as role-models for their students, since their developed teaching

concept requires students to work together cooperatively as well.

21

In 1997, after one year of test operation, the state-funded project was officially

introduced at the commercial school in Steyr. At the beginning, COOL was imple-

mented in two grades, constituting the first project in a vocational school in Austria,

which was based on a progressive teaching model, focusing on cooperative as well as

open learning.

3.1.3 What is Cooperative and Open Learning?

Cooperative Learning

As the first part of the abbreviation for the teaching philosophy “COOL” stands

for Cooperative Learning, a closer look at the definition of this teaching approach needs

to be taken in order to understand the basis of COOL. As Dörnyei argues, cooperative

learning refers to “the instructional use of small groups in order to achieve common

learning goals via cooperation” (1997, 482), while Jacobs, Power and Inn state that

cooperative learning can be seen as “[p]rinciples and techniques for helping students

work together more effectively” (2002, ix). In more detail, Oxford describes these prin-

ciples and techniques as being “highly structured, psychologically and sociologically

based”(1997, 444), which aim to “help students work together to reach learning goals”

(ibid). In general, cooperative learning can be described as situations of learning taking

place in the social form of group work, in which students are working together cooper-

atively (see Greimel-Fuhrmann 2007).

Amerstorfer points out one essential aspect of cooperative learning by explain-

ing that “in order to cooperate successfully, learners need to be willing and able to work

together with others, which is a learning process itself” (2016, 44). Through working in

groups, students should not only gain expertise but also learn how to help each other

in various situations, how to communicate successfully and how to be considerate to-

wards someone else (see Greimel Fuhrmann 2007). In this context, it is vital that stu-

dents learn to take on responsibility for their fellow group members, so as to develop

social cohesion within the group (ibid). Furthermore, Konrad and Traub emphasise that

students need to work cooperatively within their groups in order to reach their personal

goals as well as to gain the ability to observe upcoming issues from different perspec-

tives (see 2010, 6).

22

In general, learning takes place within contexts that should motivate students to

cooperate with colleagues while developing a lasting problem-solving competence

(see Konrad and Traub 2010, 7). Moreover, learning can be seen as social as well as

communicative happenings, which enable students to deepen their understanding

through discussion and interaction with others (see Konrad and Traub 2010, 5). In

consequence, Konrad and Traub argue that cooperative learning can be defined as a

form of interaction, in which participating learners acquire skills and knowledge (ibid).

Also, numerous studies have found “that activities that support cooperation are usually

associated with gains in academic, emotional, and social areas” (Jacobs, Power and

Inn 2002, xii), which clearly emphasises the effectiveness of teaching approaches fo-

cusing on cooperative learning.

Within cooperative learning, the teacher’s role changes compared to traditional

teaching approaches. Cooperative learning enables teachers to observe the different

groups, to analyse upcoming difficulties and problems within cooperation, as well as

to provide individual feedback on the progress for each group (see Green and Green

2012, 44). Also, Green and Green highlight that teachers, who are making use of co-

operative learning approaches in class, promote the learning success itself, as this

form of student-centred teaching leads to a) students having a more positive attitude

towards learning, b) stronger relationships among group members and c) sustainable

acquisition of knowledge (see 2012, 38).

Open Learning

When speaking of the teaching approach of open learning, Amerstorfer summa-

rises that “[o]pen learning provides opportunities for individuals to actively make sug-

gestions, guesses, attempts to solve problems, discoveries within a community, and

thereby contributing to one another’s learning process” (2016, 47). As a result, the

philosophy of open learning can be seen as contradictory to traditional teacher-centred

teaching approaches, as it promotes various opportunities for students to play an ac-

tive part rather than the teacher taking action exclusively. Open learning can be defined

as an autonomous as well as self-regulated way of learning (see Greimel-Fuhrmann

2007). Primarily, students are free to decide on the place, time and manner of com-

pleting their assignments. Although open learning approaches offer the possibility of

deciding when to work on their assignments, students need to organise and plan their

23

time wisely. Greimel-Fuhrmann highlights the fact, that every teaching approach, which

includes an open learning philosophy, is in need of predefining a code of conduct,

including measures, which need to be taken when students do not stick to the rules

(2007). Additionally, an open learning approach can also “represent open classroom

doors, free choices regarding, for instance, assignment completion, and pupils’ willing-

ness to open up to this innovative teaching approach and to each other” (Amerstorfer

2016, 48).

3.1.4 Features of COOL

The teaching concept of CoOperative Open Learning distinguishes itself from

other progressive teaching approaches through various features and aims. As a result,

the main features, namely teamwork, assignments, role of the teacher, assessment,

incorporation of parents and the learning environment will be described in the following

section.

Teamwork

As cooperation is one of the main principles in the teaching philosophy of COOL,

it can also be seen as the basis of the teachers’ work. Teachers have the opportunity

to declare themselves ready to comply with the COOL concept on a voluntary basis,

which implies that they need to back the COOL project (see Neuhauser and Wittwer

2002, 166). On the one hand, COOL teachers have to organise meetings regularly

basis in order to exchange ideas. On the other hand, teachers also have to coordinate

their teaching plans for various grades in an interdisciplinary way. Neuhauser and Witt-

wer explain that the individual teams of teachers at the commercial school in Steyr

meet every three weeks for about one hour in order to co-ordinate and discuss their

preparations for the COOL lessons, fix appointments, plan various projects, exchange

gained experiences and talk about the general working atmosphere in class (ibid).

Also, at the beginning of the school year, the COOL teacher team in Steyr always

organises a conference, lasting for three days, outside their school site. During these

three days, the COOL teachers plan and organise the most important issues and tasks

for the new school year and reflect upon the experiences gained during the preceding

semesters (ibid). Also, COOL teachers are further developing their teamwork, cooper-

ation and organisational skills during the conference.

24

Next, not only teachers need to organise team-meetings but also students have

to hold meetings on a regular basis. There, students get the chance to deal with their

concerns, problems and organisational matters as well as to learn to take minutes,

ways of facilitation and presentation (see Hölbling, Wittwer and Neuhauser n.d.). Ide-

ally, the COOL philosophy includes a class council, which is held by students and one

teacher of the COOL teacher team for about one lesson each week. There, students

have the opportunity to discuss their worries as well as suggestions and additionally

talk about difficulties regarding individual assignments (see Neuhauser and Wittwer

2002, 171). At the beginning of the first grade, the class council is presented and mod-

erated by a teacher, from the second semester onwards, students are introduced to

take on the role of moderators in the class council themselves (ibid).

Another aspect of COOL, which supports the teamwork between teachers and

students, is the so-called “SchülerInnen-LehrerInnen-Forum” (ibid), a students-

teacher-forum, which is held three to four times each semester. There, the same num-

ber of teachers as well as students, who were selected beforehand, should discuss

various topics including complaints, wishes and suggestions connected to their COOL

lessons. These discussions promote students’ participation in the further development

of the teaching concept of COOL and also strengthens the relationships between

teachers and students (ibid).

Assignments

Within a COOL classroom environment, students are working on assignments,

which may ideally be designed interdisciplinary, and are free to choose the time, space

and manner for completing these by the predefined deadline (see Hölbling, Wittwer

and Neuhauser n.d.). For COOL lessons, which are defined as such in their timetables

(for instance see Table 2), teachers provide students with assignments. These assign-

ments may content-wise only be connected to one specific subject, but can also be

designed in an interdisciplinary way.

According to Neuhauser and Wittwer, a COOL assignment needs to include the

following elements:

• basic information on organisational matters (e.g. deadline, title or social

form of assignment),

• educational objectives,

25

• techniques and methods in order to reach educational objectives,

• learning outcomes (e.g. presentations, texts, discussions or plays),

• form of assessment,

• possibilities of recording for students (e.g. learning report, working time),

• an indication of commitment (learning agreement).

(translated and adapted from Hölbling, Wittwer and Neuhauser n.d.)

As students have the chance to decide freely when and during which COOL

lessons they want to work on which assignments, they also have to learn to plan their

time wisely as well as to take on responsibility for their own work (see Neuhauser and

Wittwer 2002, 167). Furthermore, the assignments enable students to autonomously

decide whether to work on and complete them individually, in pairs or even in groups.

The suitable learning environment in COOL schools also supports students in working

on their assignments outside the classroom, for example in comfortable and inviting

seating areas.

Assessment

Hölbling, Wittwer and Neuhauser argue that different teaching approaches also

require different forms of assessment. For this reason, the usual way of assessment

gets expanded by direct forms of assessments, e.g. portfolios (n.d.). As the COOL

assignments may be completed in diverse forms, for instance as oral presentations as

well as written texts, these assignment need to be assessed in different ways. Besides

the teachers’ assessment, students are encouraged to evaluate their performances

themselves as well, for example by filling out learning protocols as well as question-

naires designed for reflexion-purposes (see Neuhauser and Wittwer 2002, 170). At the

end of a semester, teachers have to include the outcomes of the numerous COOL

assignments in the students’ grades besides tests, exams and marks collected during

regular lessons.

Role of the teacher

Within the teaching concept of COOL, the role of the teacher changes remark-

ably, which implies that the teacher becomes a facilitator, guide, coordinator, consult-

ant and advisor (see Hölbling, Wittwer and Neuhauser n.d.). As a result, the teacher

has the chance to work with students individually and offer them personalised help if

26

needed. Also, COOL provides a shift for the teacher from an active to a much more

passive role, which will be elaborated in detail in section 3.2.

Incorporation of parents

The teaching concept of COOL provides incorporation of the parents by arrang-

ing parents’ evenings on a regular basis, ideally twice a semester (see Neuhauser and

Wittwer 2002, 173). These meetings are included in order to offer the possibility for

parents to actively communicate concerns or suggestions or simply to exchange about

COOL (see Hölbling, Wittwer and Neuhauser n.d.). Neuhauser and Wittwer argue that

parents seize these opportunities regularly and are in favour of them, as this form of

incorporation of parents has not existed before COOL in Austria.

Learning environment

Another essential feature of COOL, which at the same time is very often ne-

glected in various teaching approaches, is an inviting and suitable learning environ-

ment. In COOL, students are encouraged to take part in designing and arranging their

learning environment at school according to their needs (see Neuhauser and Wittwer

2002, 172). COOL students have the possibility to work on their assignments outside

traditional classrooms, including seating areas and working stations throughout the

school building. In order to allow students to work successfully and feel comfortable

while doing so, their learning environment needs to be designed in a friendly way as

well as equipped with the required working tools, as for example devices that allow

students to look things up on the internet (ibid).

27

3.1.5 The implementation of COOL at BBS Rohrbach

Although there are 40 COOL partner schools and 21 certified impulse-giving

COOL schools in Austria in the school year 2016/17 (see Cooltrainers n.d.), the teach-

ing concept of CoOperative Open Learning may be implemented in different ways.

Ideally, COOL lessons should make up about one third of the students’ timetable (see

Greimel-Fuhrmann 2007), as can be seen in in the following time-table of the commer-

cial school in Steyr.

MO DI MI DO FR

1 TXV RW COOL (REL) WR E

2 TXV COOL (GEO) COOL (BOW) COOL (E) COOL (D)

3 GEO COOL (BW) WR COOL (BW) COOL (D)

4 BW BW D BWUP BW

5 REL GEO RW BWUP D

6 E

7 LÜ

8 LÜ

9 WINF

10 WINF

Table 2: “Beispiel eines Stundenplans der ersten Klasse“ (Neuhauser and Wittwer 2002, 168)

In order to receive a COOL certificate in Austria, schools need to prove the fol-

lowing nine different quality characteristics:

• written assignments as a basis for self-organised learning,

• cooperative open learning phases,

• cooperation of the teachers,

• training and development of teachers,

• promotion of cooperation and the ability to work in a team,

28

• contemplation and evaluation of the lessons,

• feedback and assessment,

• certain basic conditions in the school building,

• public relations activities (see ibid).

People, who are interested in getting an insight into COOL schools, have the

chance to visit one of the 21 certified impulse-giving schools, including BBS Rohrbach,

where this research project was conducted.

COOL at BBS Rohrbach

Already in 1996, the teachers Mag. Doris Ortner and Mag. Elisabeth Spöcker

initiated the teaching concept of CoOperative Open Learning at BBS Rohrbach, which

is short for “Berufsbildende Schulen Rohrbach” and consists of four different schools.

Back in 1996, they started to implement Helen Parkhurst’s Dalton Plan at one of the

four school types at BBS Rohrbach, namely at HAS, a form of commercial school.

Since 2008, the Dalton Plan is also applied at two more local school types, namely at

the HAK, a commercial high school, and the HLW, a vocational school of commerce

and tourism. Furthermore, since the year 2009, the BBS Rohrbach is officially a COOL-

as well as an eCOOL-certified school, which means that the school fulfils a number of

criteria needed for that certificate in Austria. At the moment, there are twelve forms in

which the Dalton Plan is implemented, including 25 teachers who are working in terms

of this teaching concept (see Cooltrainers n.d.). On the one hand, the school argues

that their main focus of Dalton lays on the teamwork between teachers as well as stu-

dents. On the other hand, they also emphasise interdisciplinary education, including

special focus areas within different grades (see BBS Rohrbach n.d.).

At BBS Rohrbach, different aims of the Dalton Plan are pursued. First, the

school is aiming for socially competent, independent as well as self-reliant students.

Another aim of the school is to offer students the greatest possible chance to work

independently and freely while maintaining a high level of responsibility for others.

Also, BBS Rohrbach wants to promote individual students by differentiation (ibid). Fur-

thermore, numerous elements of the Dalton Plan are realised at that school. Besides

their school certificate, students from Dalton forms also receive a special Dalton certif-

icate at the end of the term. At BBS Rohrbach, the Dalton Plan as a teaching concept

29

is implemented by interdisciplinary Dalton assignments in various subjects, which stu-

dents can work on during their Dalton lessons. These are defined as such in their offi-

cial timetables. Moreover, the school uses class councils as a social-integrative

method and class-teacher teams with individual team communication are working to-

gether (ibid). The school argues that students appreciate the freedom of choice to work

on assignments during Dalton lessons, the cooperation with other students and the

possibility to receive better grades because of the implementation of the Dalton Plan

at their school (ibid).

30

3.2 Role(s) of the EFL teacher

When thinking about school life, different people will have varying associations

connected to teachers and their range of duties, which may be influenced by personal

experience. But what, actually, are the roles of a teacher? Which duties do teachers

need to fulfil? According to Rothland, besides instructions and education, teachers are

confronted with various types of education connected to behaviour (see 2009, 497).

Formally, teachers should fulfil their duty of educating, assessing, advising, further de-

veloping their own knowledge and competencies as well as the school itself (ibid).

According to secondary sources, the role of the teacher is defined through ful-

filling the responsibility of being in charge of numerous decisions in class (see Schultz

1971, 167). In detail, the teacher determines the main goals of the lessons as well as

decides about the procedures, materials and devices needed in order to reach the

predefined goals (see ibid). Also, the teacher is in charge of assessing the perfor-

mances of the students in terms of his overall aim (ibid). Besides decision-making, the

role of the teacher includes supervising and guiding students, coordinating group-work,

moderating discussions and, not to forget, giving lectures on new subject matter (ibid).

Some authors argue that the role of the teacher is constantly getting more complex,

which results in increasing functions and duties of the teachers (e.g. see Koertshuis

2007, 135). Society anticipates a high demand of professionalism and knowledge from

teachers, who should lead the students’ way. Also, teachers are required to be fairly

proficient, as this quality justifies the authority in class and makes the teachers respon-

sible for the students’ learning success or progress (see ibid). Furthermore, the teacher

can be seen as a person committed to pedagogical ideals, who trusts in his or her

students’ abilities and skills in order to make them take on responsibilities for them-

selves as well as for their learning success (see ibid).

The role of the teacher as well as the teaching priorities have also varied and

changed in English language teaching over the years, Penny Ur claims (2012,1). She

describes the most important aims of English language teaching as teaching for both

accuracy and fluency, focusing on vocabulary, teaching writing skills as well as “mak-

ing learners aware of the variety of ‘Englishes’” (ibid). Regarding the role of the teacher,

Ur argues that “there was a strong reaction against the old-fashioned image of the

teacher as a dictator and lecturer” (2012, 16) during the second half of the 20th century.

31

Then, the teachers were asked not to take on the role of inflexible lecturers anymore,

but rather the one as a supporter of learning and as “’facilitators’, who help students

learn how to think rather than ‘tellers’, who teach facts” (ibid). When it comes to English

language teaching, Ur argues that an extremely student-centred way of teaching can

result in being counterproductive (ibid). In detail, she emphasises that students are

dependent on a “substantial amount of teacher-initiated instruction” (ibid) in English

language lessons, as they would never be able to discover sounds, words and gram-

matical structures without any instruction provided.

According to Ur, an English language teacher needs to take on the role of

• an instructor,

• an activator,

• a role-model,

• a provider of feedback,

• a supporter,

• a motivator,

• a manager,

• an assessor

in EFL lessons in order to work successfully (see Ur 2012, 17). As to understand

Ur’s motivation and reasons for listing these roles, the different functions will be ex-

plained briefly. Within EFL lessons, the teacher is an essential figure when it comes to

providing specific information about the foreign language, as he is the one to introduce

students to unknown sounds and letters and provide “appropriate samples of spoken

and written language and clear expressions” (ibid). As a result, the English language

teacher needs to take on the role of an instructor. Furthermore, the EFL teacher needs

to take on the role of an activator, as one essential part of foreign language learning is

its usage. Therefore, the teacher needs to encourage students to use the English lan-

guage in class as often as possible by providing activating tasks, which ideally involve

speaking, writing, reading as well as listening skills (ibid). According to Ur, “the teacher

normally represents the prototype of the English speaker during a lesson” (ibid), which

results in the teacher being a role-model for the students. Hence, students may copy

the teachers’ style of speaking and writing as they are listening to the teacher and

observing the language use in class (see ibid). Moreover, one essential function that

32

English language teachers need to fulfil is the one as a provider of feedback. “In order

to progress, students need to know what they are doing right or well, what they are

doing wrong or not so well, and how they can improve” (Ur 2012, 17), which means

that the teacher is in need of providing feedback on the student’s performances on a

regular basis. Giving feedback is also strongly connected to the next role, namely the

one as supporter. In general, it is the teacher’s duty to be there for students’ requests

and concerns and also to help them in understanding and producing the acquired lan-

guage appropriately (see ibid). By doing so, the EFL teacher encourages students to

improve their language production outside the classroom, too. During English lan-

guage lessons, teachers also need to take on the role of being a manager. Within this

role, teachers need to be able to bring “the class together at the beginning of a lesson”

(see ibid) as well as to organise group work and to make sure that “individual members

of the class are attending and responding appropriately” (see ibid). One of the most

important roles of teachers, including EFL teachers, is to be a motivator for their stu-

dents. Ur argues that “whether the language-learning process in the course of the les-

son is interesting and motivating or boring and demotivating is largely up to the teacher”

(2012, 18), who also holds the enormous power to get unwilling students to participate

in class by encouraging them effectively. Lastly, the teacher needs to fulfil the function

of being an assessor. Through the process of assessing students’ performances, the

teacher provides information on their success and helps them in knowing where they

are at the moment and which step they can take next (see ibid).

Koertshuis points out that the teacher takes on the responsibility for the process

of learning too often (see 2007, 132). He rather suggests that students should need to

take on the responsibility for their progress and achievements in learning themselves,

as they would be capable of doing so. Instead, teachers should devolve this responsi-

bility explicitly to their students, while providing their expertise and knowledge in order

to support pupils in learning the language (see Koertshuis 2007, 133). By ensuring this

aspect, the teacher’s role changes to the one as an advisor or helper in the process of

learning, which can also be described as one essential role of the teacher within a

COOL classroom environment.

33

3.2.1 What are the role(s) of the EFL teacher in COOL?

As Hertz-Lazarowitz argues, the role of the teacher is currently undergoing ma-

jor changes, especially when talking about student-centred teaching concepts. As a

result, teachers are becoming partners in learning and are described as the “guide[s]

on the side” (Hertz-Lazarowitz 2008, 46), rather than being a “dictator and lecturer” (Ur

2012, 16) in class. In general, the job specification for teachers can be defined as them

being specialists when it comes to school-related issues, education and teaching as

well as approaching students appropriately (see Dubs 2009, 22). Weidner argues, that

the teacher by all means needs to change his traditional role and newly define it, in

order to implement cooperative teaching approaches successfully in class (see 2009,

128). In detail, the role of the teacher changes entirely within a cooperative and open

teaching concept as it offers freedom to students, who are now in charge of making

decisions on their own (see Brüning and Saum 2009, 134). As already mentioned be-

fore, the students are free to choose the time, place and manner when working within

a COOL classroom environment. In consequence, the teacher needs to change his or

her attitude because during a COOL lesson, he needs to slip into the role of

• a facilitator,

• a helper,

• a guide,

• a coach,

• a coordinator,

• an advisor,

• a consultant,

• a co-communicator

in order to support the students effectively while they are working on their as-

signments (see Hölbling, Wittwer and Neuhauser n.d.). When preparing assignments

for COOL lessons, teachers “set down the rules” (Cohen 1986, 91) and also need to

“let go and allow [groups, pairs or individual students] to do their work” (ibid). In related

literature, it is argued that although teachers might be aware of the numerous benefits,

which cooperative teaching approaches definitely offer, they often find it difficult to im-

plement these teaching philosophies in class (see Gillies et al. 2008, 2). One question

that may come up in that context is what teachers are supposed to be doing if students

34

are actually working on their assignments in a self-directed and autonomous way within

a COOL classroom environment. In class, the teacher has to be there for the students’

requests during COOL lessons and therefore has to adjust himself to much more inco-

herent questions and concerns in order to support the students effectively (see Popp

1996, 277). Eichelberger argues that it is not the teachers’ job to tell students what to

do, but rather to help and support them in developing their skills, knowledge and per-

sonality (see 2002, 19). Furthermore, Cohen states that the teacher is no longer the

direct supervisor of the students, who watches for every mistake and corrects it on the

spot but who rather delegates authority to students or groups of students (see 1986,

91). This results in students being in charge of a) their own work and b) how much

effort they put in it. At the same time, “they are empowered to make mistakes, to find

out what went wrong, and what might be done about it” (ibid).

In this context, it is very important to bear in mind that this does not automatically

mean that the teacher has given up the authority but is rather “free for a much higher

level and more demanding kind of teacher role” (Cohen 1986, 94). In fact, Weidner

argues that within cooperative classroom environments, the teacher needs to learn

anew how to listen carefully, how to react properly, how to supervise effectively, how

to motivate lastingly and how to support students actively (see 2009, 128). In contrast,

the teacher needs to stop addressing upcoming problems instantly and has to stop

wanting to take matters immediately into his hands, demonstrating his advance in

knowledge. Putting pressure on students because of deadlines is known to be coun-

terproductive as well (ibid). As a result, the teacher needs to behave in a passive way

during COOL lessons, although he should try to provide help and support when being

approached by students at any time.

Another important aspect when talking about the changing of the teacher’s roles

in COOL is that teachers need to plan lessons far in advance and in consultation with

colleagues so as to coordinate the COOL lessons and regular lessons (see Popp 1996,

277). This may appear of minor importance at first sight, but planning and designing

COOL assignments needs to be done thoroughly, so that students have the chance to

complete them successfully. Also, through reasonable assignments, interventions by

the teacher can be avoided (see Haag 2007, 28). Haag practically argues that inter-

ventions by the teachers have been proven as being disadvantageous during self-

35

study lessons. By interrupting students while they are working on assignments, teach-

ers do not support students at all (ibid). In contrary, observations showed that the

teachers’ intervention leads to disorientation of the students and poor output, as stu-

dents often do not know how to include the teacher’s input (ibid).

36

4 Data and Results

The following section of the thesis intends to present the data collected during

an excursion to BBS Rohrbach and the according results of the conducted research

project. Within the framework of the course “Focus on Language and the Learner:

Learning Strategies and Cooperative Learning”, the course instructor, Carmen Amer-

storfer, organised an excursion to this certified COOL school in Upper Austria. In De-

cember 2016, my colleagues and I had the chance to visit BBS Rohrbach for three

days in order to get an insight into an Austrian school, which has been applying the

teaching concept of CoOperative Open Learning successfully. In the course of the ex-

cursion, the school offered us the possibility to get in touch with COOL teachers as

well as students and to sit in on various COOL lessons. There, we had the chance to

observe them and to get an idea of how these COOL lessons, which were explicitly

referred to as ‘Dalton lessons’ at BBS Rohrbach, are structured and how they take

place. Furthermore, it was possible to carry out face-to-face interviews with two teach-

ers, who have been actively taking part in the teaching concept of COOL for several

years. Besides, we were offered to engage in talks with different teachers informally in

the observed COOL lessons.

During said lessons, I had the chance to observe the content connected to my

predefined research topic. In detail, I was observing which roles teachers take on within

a COOL classroom environment and whether students get back to the teacher, that is

present during the lesson. Also, it was possible to carry out short, informal interviews

with the students during their ‘Dalton lessons’. During these conversations, students

had to answer open questions regarding their personal perception of the role of the

teacher in COOL verbally.

In the following section, the findings of the face-to-face interviews with the two

teachers, Elisabeth Spöcker and Isabella Übermasser, will be presented. After that,

the outcomes of the informal interviews with 24 students during their COOL lessons

will be displayed. Third, additional observations related to the research project and

other notable occurrences that took place during the stay at BBS Rohrbach within

COOL classroom environments will be elaborated shortly.

37

4.1 Interviews with EFL teachers

During the course of the excursion to BBS Rohrbach in December 2016, two

English language teachers were willing to do a face-to-face interview in order to sup-

port the conducted research project. As both teachers have been teaching English

within a CoOperative Open Learning classroom environment at BBS Rohrbach, they

have already gained a lot of experience in that field over years. The interviewee Elisa-

beth Spöcker was one of the initiators of the implementation of the COOL approach at

BBS Rohrbach and, excluding maternity leave, has been consistently teaching in

COOL classes since the initiation in 1996. With more than twenty years of experience

in being an EFL teacher in the context of COOL, Elisabeth Spöcker’s explanations and

answers given in the interview can be regarded as an authentic and reliable example

for the research project. Isabella Übermasser, the second interviewee, has gained a

lot of experience in the field of CoOperative Open Learning at BBS Rohrbach, too. She

has been part of the COOL project at that school since 2007, at which she also teaches

English as a foreign language. As a result, both interviewees portray suitable as well

as trustworthy interview partners regarding the purpose of this research project.

During the interviews, which have been recorded for further processing, the

teachers were faced with open questions, which can be found in the interview protocols

in the appendix (see Interview Protocol I and Interview Protocol II). These interview

protocols were created in advance in order to act as a guideline during the interviews,

as they were carried out face-to-face and could have included distractions. Some

posed questions emerged spontaneously during the interviews, others needed to be

rephrased so as to get the expected type of answer or lead into the anticipated direc-

tion. The presented data in this section refers to the answers received in the interviews,

the original transcript of the interviews can be found in the appendix (see Transcript

Interview I and Transcript Interview II).

The interviews were conducted within a very friendly and inviting atmosphere at

BBS Rohrbach, which is why they can be referred to as pleasant conversations rather

than formal interviews. The first interview, which was conducted on December 15th with

EFL teacher Isabella Übermasser took place in the so-called ‘Sonnenraum’ within the

school building. The ‘sun-room’ may be described as a very bright room with lots of

daylight, equipped with comfortable beach chairs, blankets and pillows and acts as a

38

kind of chill-out room for teachers as well as students of the school, as Ms. Übermasser

explained to me. The second interview, with Elisabeth Spöcker as an interview partner,

was carried out in the ‘Aquarium’ at BBS Rohrbach. This room can be depicted as an

open working space outside the classrooms of the school building, equipped with com-

fortable office chairs as well as adaptable tables, surrounded by a glass facade, which

is why bright daylight creates a pleasant working atmosphere there.

39

Question 1: How do you perceive your role as a teacher in COOL les-sons?

Faced with this question, Isabella Übermasser first of all pointed out, that she

finds herself in different roles when it comes to COOL lessons (see Transcript Interview

I, from #0.00:45.7# to #0:04:11.8#). On the one hand, she described herself as taking

on the role of a facilitator within a COOL classroom environment, who guides the stu-

dents to work on their assignments autonomously and who leads students to viewing

their tasks from different angles (see ibid). Furthermore, Übermasser explained that as

a facilitator, she wants to teach students to complete their assignments in an adequate

way (see ibid). She argued that her main aim as a facilitator in COOL is to make it

easier for students to work in a self-reliant way. In order to do so, Übermasser de-

scribed that it is essential to change the role from being a teacher in the traditional

understanding, basically serving as the only source of knowledge, to the one who tries

to make it easier for students to get on with their work (see ibid). She explained that

during her last COOL lesson, she knew that her students were working intensively on

their assignments and in consequence, she also offered them the opportunity to work

freely and independently without interrupting them or giving input, for instance.

On the other hand, Isabella Übermasser would depict herself as fulfilling the role

of a coach during COOL lessons (see ibid). She argued that as a (COOL) teacher, she

would also be responsible for students’ social learning, besides learning a foreign lan-

guage. In detail, Übermasser pointed out, that she currently is the class teacher of a

grade participating in COOL, where it is very important for her personally to coach

students properly (see ibid). In coaching sessions, the teacher explained, she would

sometimes simply ask them how they are feeling at the moment, how they are getting

along with the other teachers, how they are coping with COOL in general or whether

there are any difficulties within the class. Übermasser described that once a semester

she makes time for her students during COOL lessons in order to coach them. Then,

the teacher speaks to every student in class individually, offering them the opportunity

to speak about issues their pupils are concerned with. Isabella Übermasser empha-

sised that through these coaching conversations with her students, she would recog-

nise in how far her students profit from the Dalton lessons in English, but also in terms

of social learning (see ibid). In general, the teacher claimed that students would also

profit from coaching as teachers would provide advice on how to allot time and tasks

40

outside school context meaningfully. Moreover, Übermasser argued that students

would appreciate the teacher’s role as a coach, as they would sometimes simply need

to talk about their well-being, which is not possible during regular lessons (see Tran-

script Interview I, from #0.04:15.4# to #0:05:06.7#). Within her additional role as being

a class teacher for one grade, she claimed that it is her aim to be aware of her students’

well-being, as she feels as being especially responsible for them (see ibid).

In this context, Übermasser highlighted the importance to move away from the

idea that the teacher has to be the exclusive conveyer of knowledge and at the same

time also the only authority in class (see ibid). As opposed to this perception, she ar-

gued that there are numerous other sources of knowledge, which are always up to

date and much more versatile than a teacher could ever be, for instance the internet.

Also, Übermasser claimed that teachers should not forget about the knowledge and

skills that students already have gained, which enable them to work independently,

too.

Similar to the first interview partner, also Elisabeth Spöcker would primarily de-

fine her role as an EFL teacher within a COOL classroom environment as being a

coach for her students. The first thing she mentioned during our interview was that

during COOL lessons, she would assign herself a different role than in regular lessons

(see Transcript Interview II, from #0.00:59.3# to #0:01:53.7#). Furthermore, she

pointed out that she would really enjoy taking on the role of a coach, because during

these lessons, she would have the time to give attention to students individually in

order to explain them something, which they may not have conceived completely (see

ibid).

Also, Spöcker argued that within COOL lessons, she would have the chance to

provide help for students in subjects other than English, which implies a different con-

nection to her students (see ibid). During our interview, Elisabeth Spöcker described

her passion for teaching in the context of COOL, as those lessons would be ‘relaxing’

for her because they offer the opportunity for her to take on different roles as opposed

to regular lessons (see ibid). She elaborated that the preparatory work for COOL les-

sons happens outside the classroom, in the majority of cases even at home, as she

would need to prepare the different assignments for her COOL students. In conse-

quence, Elisabeth Spöcker claimed that she is always looking forward to COOL les-

sons, since it would be possible for her to have a focus on other things than during

41

most regular lessons (see ibid). The teacher would not describe herself as favouring a

teacher-centred approach in regular lessons, as she is also doing a lot of group and

pair work in those lessons. Nevertheless, she stated that she could observe a differ-

ence between regular and COOL lessons (see ibid).

At the end of our interview, Elisabeth Spöcker exemplified that her roles within

a COOL classroom environment may also change depending on the group of students

itself and for how long they have already been participating in COOL at BBS Rohrbach.

As a result, Spöcker argues that the first two years in Dalton are always difficult, be-

cause students have to find their way into a teaching concept that may be totally new

for them (see Transcript Interview II, from #0.12:28.5# to #0:13:53.2#). As an example,

Spöcker described the first two years in the grade, in which she also fulfils the job of

being their class teacher, as having been very demanding and exhausting (see ibid).

The teacher argued that then COOL lessons have also been physically demanding, as

she had to rush from one working space to the other in order to keep an eye on all of

her students, unequally distributed all over the school building at different working

spaces (see ibid). She explained that there have been a few students, who did not

really participate during COOL lessons as much as required and encouraged other

students to do so as well. In consequence, Spöcker told me that she had to run up and

down during those lessons, which was quite demanding for her personally. This was

due to the fact that there are much more students in the first two grades, as some leave

the vocational school after one or two years (see ibid). Now, she described, this exact

grade has already been taking part in COOL for the fifth year in a row, which means

that they are already aware of what they want to do and how they want to do that within

their self-study lessons. Spöcker fancied the fact that even if she happens to be about

five to ten minutes late in COOL lessons in that specific grade, students are most often

already actively working on their assignments, which she described as being “pretty

cool” (see ibid). Furthermore, Spöcker highlighted that the teaching approach of Co-

Operative Open Learning suits her best, as she has already been participating in that

concept since 1996, when the first COOL grade was installed at BBS Rohrbach.

42

Question 2: Which roles do you take when pupils are completing English assignments during a COOL lesson?

As an answer to this question, Elisabeth Spöcker pointed out that she is con-

stantly trying to follow up on only taking on the role as a coach during COOL lessons,

even if students are working on English assignments, which she prepared and previ-

ously designed herself (see Transcript Interview II, from #0:01:53.7# to #0:03:20.9#).

The teacher explained that the tendency to tell students the correct solutions to the

tasks or to lead them in one direction is much higher for her personally, if students are

completing their English assignments in COOL lessons (see ibid). In these situations,

Spöcker claimed, she has to pull herself together in order not to interrupt the students

during their self-study lessons. Also, the teacher argued that she has to refine herself

in order not to do so, but rather only offer capacity building for students within a COOL

classroom environment (see ibid). She emphasised that in COOL lessons, she per-

ceives her role as an EFL teacher in a different way than she would do in regular

lessons, although she stated that she does not always succeed in implementing it ef-

fectively in class (see ibid).

Elisabeth Spöcker explained that especially if students are working on their

COOL assignments for the subject English, she already knows the correct answer to

the posed questions or how to complete the task accurately, which makes it much more

challenging for her to fade into the background and take on a passive role in class (see

ibid). In more detail, she argued that in contrast to her own subject English, she would

not always be capable of helping students with their COOL assignments from other

subjects, as these simply may not cover her area of expertise. Nevertheless, she

clearly highlighted the importance of not providing ready-made answers to the students

working on English assignments, but rather to slip into the role of a coach, which pro-

vides help if needed and primarily wants to support students in working autonomously

and in a self-reliant way (see ibid).

Moreover, Elisabeth Spöcker explained that as an EFL teacher, she would al-

ways be prepared and willing to illustrate details on grammar or other content related

issues during COOL lessons, if approached by students (see ibid). She argued that

the CoOperative Open Learning classroom offers her the freedom to take some time

for students’ individual requests. In detail, she would first always make sure if the rest

43

of the class is working on their assignments and if there are no other students’ con-

cerns or questions. As soon as she has gained confidence that the other students

would not need her help, she would sometimes make about ten minutes time or more

for a student, in order to provide individual advice or explanations (see ibid).

Isabella Übermasser agreed to Spöcker’s answers regarding that question, as

she explained that it is her aim that students find the answers to questions or solutions

to tasks, included in their COOL assignment for the subject English, independently and

without the EFL teacher’s help (see Transcript Interview I, from #0:05:30.6# to

#0:08:10.7#). In this context, Übermasser highlighted the importance of giving feed-

back on students’ assignments as an EFL teacher, e.g. taking on the role of a provider

of feedback. She described that she always provides feedback by stating how she liked

the completion of the assignment in general (see ibid). Also, she assesses the English

assignments by giving points or sometimes also the letters from A to E, while A is the

best and E the worst ‘grade’. Übermasser emphasised that she rarely needs to grade

students’ COOL English assignments with an E, as she believes that students usually

put a lot of effort into them (see ibid). Moreover, the teacher argued that when providing

feedback on English assignments, she always tries to formulate the feedback in a way,

that ensures students to be able to take something out of it and to also have the chance

to improve (see ibid). Sometimes Übermasser only assesses students’ assignments

by commenting on them with phrases such as “well done”, “excellent” or sometimes

also “sloppily written” (see ibid). In her view, it is important for students to know how

the assignment has been assessed by the EFL teacher in order to offer them the

chance to reflect on their work independently (see ibid).

Furthermore, Übermasser explained that she always wants her students to get

active in class (see ibid). As a result, she always tries to design assignments so that

students can demonstrate their final products at the end. These products may vary

from task to task. Sometimes they have to give a presentation on a self-elaborated

topic, sometimes students have to perform a dialogue or a role-play and sometimes

they may even have to perform handicraft work in their COOL English assignments,

although this may happen much more rarely than in other subjects, Spöcker argued

(see ibid).

In general, Isabella Übermasser emphasised that as an English language

teacher in COOL, she would want to fulfil the function of helping students in order to

44

successfully complete English assignments, as well as all the other assignments from

various subjects autonomously (see ibid). She points out that there would be a need

for students to acquire the ability to work in a team, in order to be able to take part in

professional life later (see ibid). As a result, it is the aim of the teacher to guide students

in becoming much more self-reliant and in taking on responsibility for their learning

progress (see ibid), which would be especially important in foreign language learning.

45

Question 3: How far do your roles as an English language teacher differ in COOL and in regular English lessons?

For Elisabeth Spöcker, her roles as a teacher, in fact, differ when it comes to

regular English language lessons and those in COOL. In regular lessons, she would

describe herself as taking on the role of the conveyer of knowledge as opposed to

COOL lessons (see Transcript Interview II, from #0:03:34.9# to #0:04:16.5#). Although

she functions as the presenter of new content in regular lessons, Spöcker claimed that

she always tries to apply a student-centred teaching approach in regular lessons as

well (see ibid). In contrast, the teacher argued that during COOL lessons she would

have the opportunity to establish much more intense and also personal relationships,

which would not be the case in regular lessons that often (see ibid). In regular lessons,

she would describe her relationship to students as much more professional and dis-

tanced, whereas COOL offers her the chance to get to know her students better (see

ibid).

Faced with this question, also Isabella Übermasser explained that her roles as

an EFL teacher differ in COOL and in regular English lessons. The teacher stated that

she would also do pair work or group work in regular lessons, but that she contributes

much more during those lessons than she does within a COOL classroom environment

(see Transcript Interview I, from #0:08:25.0# to #0:09:31.3#). Übermasser described

herself as being much stricter in regular lessons, for example if she teaches a new

chapter of grammar (see ibid). Besides, she pointed out the importance of having some

kind of input and output as well as including practise in regular lessons (see ibid). For

that reason, Übermasser sometimes initiates small challenging competitions in regular

lessons, during which students have to put in a lot of effort, which would not be possible

in COOL lessons. Then, she takes on the role of an official or supervisor during those

competitions, in which students may need to be the fastest in describing a picture or in

completing a vocabulary activity (see ibid). She described her motive for conducting

these competitions in regular lessons as to motivate students (see ibid). In contrast,

Isabella Übermasser also argued that some regular lessons may proceed very calmly

as students sometimes simply have to read a text and answer questions accordingly

(see ibid). Then, she describes her role as being the one who controls whether stu-

dents are actually working and also how they are answering those questions (see ibid).

46

Furthermore, Isabella Übermasser claimed that she tries to apply a student-

centred as well as open teaching approach in regular lessons as well (see Transcript

Interview I, from #0:09:34.5# to #0:10:30.8). She said that she had just set up a dis-

cussion in a regular lesson the day before. There, students had to get together in

groups of four in order to discuss one predefined topic (see ibid). In contrast to COOL

lessons, the teacher argued that she would only let her students work freely and in a

self-reliant way in regular lessons for short periods of time, as they would have the

chance to work in that manner for the whole amount of time in COOL lessons (see

ibid). In that context, Übermasser pointed out that she would not interfere in those

discussions within a COOL classroom environment, whereas in fact she does so during

regular lessons and also wants students to present their results (see ibid). Additionally,

she stated that although she focuses on student-centred teaching approaches, it may

happen that there are regular lessons, which are designed entirely in a teacher-centred

way (see ibid).

47

Question 4: How do you decide which role to take? Do you actually de-cide?

As an answer to Question 4, Elisabeth Spöcker explained that she would never

actively decide which role she takes on during any lesson but rather described making

this decision situationally within a fully automatic process (see Transcript Interview II,

from #0:04:26.6# to #0:04:45.5#). Moreover, she pointed out that she had never ac-

tively thought about “oh, now I have the role of a coach” (ibid) during a COOL lesson.

However, the teacher would describe the automatized process of taking on the role of

a COOL teacher or a teacher in a regular lesson as already happening when looking

at the timetable, which distinguishes COOL lessons from regular lessons. Also, Elisa-

beth Spöcker claimed that COOL lessons at BBS Rohrbach are taking place simulta-

neously, which means that different grades as well as a number of teachers are work-

ing in a COOL environment at the same time. The teacher argued that because of this

circumstance, she does not only provide help for her assigned students in that COOL

lesson, but also for the other students who are present in the different working space

and completing their COOL assignments (see Transcript Interview II, from #0:04:55.4#

to #0:05:17.1#). In the context of deciding which roles to take on within a COOL lesson,

Spöcker also emphasised the teamwork between teachers when it comes to COOL.

They are not only focusing on the specific students that they are working with during

COOL lessons (see ibid), which is related to not actively but rather automatically de-

ciding on which role to take as a teacher.

Isabella Übermasser argued that she does not really decide on which role to

take on as a teacher, but rather feels as if she grew into the teaching concept of Co-

Operative Open Learning (see Transcript Interview I, from #0:10:53.9# to #0:12:29.9#).

In the interview, she explained that she did courses on the COOL teaching approach,

which helped her in taking on the role of an English language teacher in COOL (see

ibid). Übermasser emphasised, that not only the COOL concept at BBS Rohrbach has

made progress over the years itself and that it is still doing so, but also she herself, as

a teacher, has improved further in that field (see ibid). As a result, she claimed that it

is not possible to actively decide which role to take in class or think about that issue,

but rather to back the project in general and adapt it to personal needs (see ibid). In

this context, Übermasser argued that when thinking about COOL, there are so many

different positive aspects to be found in that teaching concept that she proudly likes to

48

say that she is a COOL teacher or a Dalton teacher (see ibid), as they usually refer to

at BBS Rohrbach. Furthermore, she described that she appreciates taking part in the

COOL concept, initiated by her colleagues Doris Ortner and Elisabeth Spöcker, be-

cause she thinks that this teaching approach embodies a bonus point for her students

and not in order to boast that she herself is a COOL teacher (see ibid).

After rephrasing the question, Isabella Übermasser said that sometimes she

needs to make an exception to what she stated above about her role as a teacher in a

COOL classroom environment (see Transcript Interview I, from #0:12:33.5# to

#0:13:30.2#). Although she would not do so if everything works as planned, Über-

masser claimed that she sometimes needs to interrupt students in COOL lessons (see

ibid). In that case, she does so because students give her the impression that they are

not working properly or not at all, or simply do not like to work on their assignments

during that lesson (see ibid). Also, Übermasser argued that she would tell students not

to eat during their COOL lessons, as she finds that they also could not do that in a

regular lesson (see ibid). As a result, the teacher actively decides to change the until

that point passive role, in order to make students use their time in COOL effectively or

to refrain them from doing inappropriate things during their lessons (see ibid).

49

Question 5: In how far do you get actively involved when pupils are working on English assignments during COOL lessons?

In the second interview, Elisabeth Spöcker argued that she normally would not

get actively involved when students are working on their English assignments during

COOL lessons (see Transcript Interview II, from #0:05:25.7# to #0:07:08.2#). She pro-

vided an example by talking about her fifth grade, in which she described that the day

before, her students had been working on their English assignments during Spöcker’s

COOL lesson and had only approached her once, as they had wanted to know some-

thing about the layout of their English assignment (see ibid). The teacher explained

that except offering guidance, supervising student’s work, motivating students if she

likes what they are working on as well as praising them, she would not describe herself

as being actively involved in class but rather as taking on a much more passive function

(see ibid). Spöcker would depict her role in a COOL class only as being physically

active, as she is walking around between the different working spaces throughout the

school building during COOL lessons (see ibid). In this context, she argues that walking

around implies giving students the feeling that the teacher is there for them at any

stage, meaning that they can always approach her if they need help or an advice re-

garding their assignments (see ibid).

Another important aspect that Elisabeth Spöcker mentioned was that she does

not interfere with students’ work during COOL lessons anymore (see ibid). The expe-

rienced teacher described this as being one of the learning processes for COOL teach-

ers, which take a long time to happen as they need to internalise this process. During

her twenty years of teaching within a COOL classroom environment, Spöcker found

out that the approach which fits best for her personally in these situations, is to ask

students what they have already done so far or what they are working on at the mo-

ment, instead of instantly blaming them for not doing anything (see ibid). She argued

that one of the worst things that a teacher, who guesses that students are not working

properly, can do in this situation is to pose questions or statements like “Why aren’t

you working?” or “It is you again, who is not doing anything!”. Spöcker categorises this

as an inappropriate as well as counterproductive approach (see ibid). When recognis-

ing that a student is not working during COOL lessons, the teacher would rather sug-

gest to take into consideration that the students may need more time than the others

(see ibid). If the student continues not to work actively for a longer period of time,

50

Spöcker would approach him by asking what he has already done or whether he could

show her his work he had completed at that stage, as this way of dealing with these

problems is working best for her (see ibid).

First and foremost, Isabella Übermasser wanted to point out that although she

may not be actively involved when students are working on their English assignments

during COOL lessons, her role cannot be described as unnecessary at all (see Tran-

script Interview I, from #0:19:52.4# to #0:20:25.1#). On the contrary, Übermasser

claimed that her role as a teacher in COOL simply differs from the same role within a

regular lesson, in which there would be a need to take tests and give final grades (see

ibid). She highlighted that there is much more social learning involved in a COOL class-

room environment, which implies a different, but not inactive, role of the teacher (see

ibid).

Moreover, Übermasser argued that during the first two years, in which students

are working with the teaching concept of COOL, the teacher is much more actively

involved than later on (see Transcript Interview I, from #0:13:54.5# to #0:15:12.7#). At

the beginning, there are more questions coming up regarding the English assignments,

which is why Übermasser began to simply introduce and discuss the tasks of the Eng-

lish assignments herself in the first few COOL lessons before students could even start

to work on them (see ibid). Nevertheless, she claimed that students could also choose

to work on different assignments when she is present as an EFL teacher during COOL

lessons, which means that she may not get actively involved (see ibid). Übermasser

gave one example of a situation, in which a student had to prepare a presentation for

a different subject during the COOL lesson. Then, the teacher simply offered her help

by providing some tips on how to do a presentation properly, arguing that the student

could also use these tips for English presentations in the future as well (see ibid). In

that context, she highlighted the importance of handing in assignments on time, which

may imply that students have to work outside the classroom (see ibid). This means,

that Übermasser would only involve herself actively, if students will not make it to finish

their assignments on time (see ibid).

51

Question 6: Please describe the different roles you take before, during and after COOL lessons.

Elisabeth Spöcker explained that one of the roles she is taking as a teacher

before COOL lessons is definitely the one as a coordinator (see Transcript Interview

II, from #0:10:03.8# to #0:11:52.7#). She argued that especially interdisciplinary work,

as it happens within the teaching concept of COOL, requires a lot of coordination of

the own lesson plans but also in connection with other COOL teachers (see ibid). As

BBS Rohrbach realised inter-year exams a few years ago, teachers explicitly have to

coordinate the content of their regular lessons as well as their COOL assignments, in

order to successfully prepare their students for these exams, which take place at the

same time (see ibid). Elisabeth Spöcker explained that because of these inter-year

exams, she needs to plan COOL assignments in a way that all topics that English

teachers agreed on beforehand are covered (see ibid). As a result, the teacher has to

stick to these topics and it is not possible anymore to incorporate an additional or dif-

ferent topic, as she did beforehand as soon as she realised that students seem to be

into one specific topic (see ibid). Spöcker argued that this fact also results in having to

plan way ahead. She explained that she fixes dates for exams or tests far in advance,

as those should not take place during scheduled COOL lessons but in regular English

lessons (see ibid). In consequence, she emphasises that effective self-organisation is

essential and added that a lot of teachers fail in doing so successfully (see ibid).

In the context of taking the role of a coordinator, Spöcker also highlighted the

importance of uploading students’ COOL assignments well enough in advance (see

ibid). She added that this task does not demand a lot of effort of the teacher, but it is

something that teachers have to think of and accomplish before a COOL lesson. In

that context, the teacher emphasised the problems connected to interdisciplinary edu-

cation again. Elisabeth Spöcker described that the preparation of interdisciplinary

COOL assignments needs to be coordinated, which proves to be difficult for various

reasons (see ibid). She explained that before the beginning of the school year, the

COOL teachers had organised a workshop for two days, in which they had also de-

signed several interdisciplinary assignments suitable for CoOperative Open Learning

(see ibid). As soon as school starts again, Spöcker claimed, teachers would not have

enough time to design these assignments together, as they already have to cope with

a huge workload (see ibid).

52

During our interview, also Isabella Übermasser told me that it is one of her tasks

before COOL lessons to upload the English assignments on Moodle on time (see Tran-

script Interview I, from #0:10:53.9# to #0:12:29.9#). She argued that designing COOL

assignments equals much more work than preparing a regular lesson, in which teach-

ers could for example tell students to “read from page 14 to page 17 in a book” (see

ibid). In COOL lessons, however, teachers would really need to think about the tasks

carefully. Übermasser explained that whenever designing a task for COOL assign-

ments, she deliberates whether the content or format would be suitable and interesting

for her students (see Transcript Interview I, from #0:15:27.6# to #0:17:19.1#). Also,

she wonders whether the topic of the assignments would suit her preliminary lesson

plans for the additional regular lessons, in order to incorporate the outcomes of the

COOL assignments (see ibid). Moreover, Übermasser thinks about whether the tasks

would fit the students’ needs and in how far her students would profit from the comple-

tion of her assignments (see ibid).

The EFL teacher Elisabeth Spöcker argued that during COOL lessons she

would define herself as functioning as a coach. Spöcker explained that she would de-

fine the role of a coach as being the one, who is there for the students if they need any

help, but who only offers capacity building to the students within a COOL classroom

environment (see Transcript Interview II, from #0:07:17.3# to #0:07:38.5#).

After the COOL lesson, both teachers describe that they are taking on the roles

of an evaluator as well as the one of a provider of feedback. Isabella Übermasser

argued that after the COOL lessons, she has to correct the English assignments of her

students and needs to give appropriate feedback on their works, so that students have

the chance to improve or realise what they are already good at (see Transcript Inter-

view I, from #0:10:53.9# to #0:12:29.9#). When talking about the assessment of COOL

assignments, Übermasser explained that these tasks need to be assessed carefully,

in order to support the students in their progress of learning (see Transcript Interview

I, from #0:15:27.6# to #0:17:19.1#). The teacher described that her COOL students

put a lot of effort in completing their various assignments autonomously, which is why

they deserve proper acknowledgement from their teachers (see ibid). Therefore, Über-

masser always tries to point out the positive aspects of the students’ tasks when provid-

ing feedback (see ibid). Also, she offers suggestions in which fields of knowledge stu-

dents could possibly get better or which part of the assignment they could improve on

53

(see ibid). Nevertheless, Übermasser also stated that she would tell students if their

submitted assignments did not meet the expectations and therefore could not be put

on the teacher’s record positively (see ibid).

Elisabeth Spöcker would also describe herself as taking on the role of an eval-

uator and provider of feedback after the lesson, but added that, depending on the as-

signments, she also takes on these roles during COOL lessons. If students had to write

a text, she collects these and assesses them as well as provides feedback afterwards

(see Transcript Interview II, from #0:07:52.0# to #0:09:57.4#). In detail, Spöcker ex-

plained that she would only give students grades on extensive tasks, as for example

on various interdisciplinary COOL assignments (see ibid). In contrast to these longer

tasks, she would only assess rather short assignments, for instance by commenting

“well done, but you need further practise”, adding a few appropriate chapters which

students could use for practise (see ibid). Elisabeth Spöcker also emphasised the im-

portance of always trying to find positive aspects in the students’ assignments, as they

would really need that in order to stay motivated (see ibid).

Furthermore, Elisabeth Spöcker elaborated on herself as being the one who

reflects upon happenings, outcomes as well as results after the COOL lessons (see

ibid). She explained that during her twenty years as a COOL English teacher, she has

never used a task twice, but always adapted the assignments according to various

influential factors (see ibid). Spöcker argued that as soon as something appears inap-

propriate, as for example the time frame for completing the assignment, she tries to

adapt the task accordingly (see ibid). In this context, she makes use of notes, which

she takes immediately if she comes across difficulties. She argues that otherwise she

would forget about her remarks (see ibid). Also, Spöcker described that sometimes

assignments, during which she had the feeling that students would like them, turned

out not to be interesting for them at all (see ibid). In contrast, it also happened to her

that she had doubts about the attractiveness of specific tasks, which turned out to be

very exciting for the students (see ibid). As a result, the EFL teacher argues that it is

important to adapt the assignments in terms of content, group size as well as gender

distribution in class in order to create appropriate and at the same time also challenging

COOL assignments for her students (see ibid).

54

Question 7: How do you think that students perceive your role as a teacher when they are completing English assignments during a COOL lesson?

When faced with this question, both interview partners had to take a short pause

in order to think of an answer. The second interview partner, Elisabeth Spöcker, ar-

gued, that also students would perceive her role as an English language teacher in a

different way when they are working on their assignments during COOL lessons (see

Transcript Interview II, from #0:12:01.5# to #0:12:28.5#). In her view, students are

aware of the fact that they have the possibility to talk about various topics with her

during COOL lessons as well as to approach her in different ways and because of

diverse reasons (see ibid). Furthermore, Spöcker argued that she has the feeling that

during COOL lessons, students would not perceive her as a teacher in the traditional

sense, but rather as a supporter, an assistant or a guide (see ibid).

My first interview partner, Isabella Übermasser, told me that it would be difficult

for her to answer that question (see Transcript Interview I, from #0:17:30.4# to

#0:19:42.0#). After thinking about it, Übermasser came to the conclusion that students

would perceive her as a coach as well as a facilitator within a COOL classroom envi-

ronment (see ibid). In detail, the teacher would argue that students like to work freely

and therefore appreciate it if she does not take on a traditional, teacher-centred role in

the classroom but rather supports the students’ self-study lessons (see ibid). Über-

masser explained that the week before, she had had an experience in class, which

might support her thinking: Due to the fact that no access to a computer room had

been available on that day, which may had limited students’ opportunities in terms of

working spaces, Übermasser had asked her students whether they had wanted to have

a regular lesson or a COOL lesson (see ibid). According the her explanation, her stu-

dents insisted on having a COOL lesson in that week because they wanted to work for

the upcoming test. When the COOL lesson started, the students had already been

working on their assignments autonomously at their various working spaces, without

even asking Ms. Übermasser anything beforehand (see ibid). As a result, she argued

that students really appreciate the working atmosphere offered within a COOL class-

room environment and also insist on having those COOL lessons, as soon as they got

an insight into and certain experience regarding that particular teaching concept.

55

4.2 Interviews with students

During the visited and observed COOL lessons at BBS Rohrbach, I had the

chance to carry out short and informal interviews with the students, during which I

asked them to define the role of the teacher during COOL lessons. Furthermore, I

wanted to find out how they personally perceive their teachers within a CoOperative

Open Learning classroom environment. Students were asked to give open answers,

which means that there were no predefined limitations or restrictions for their answer-

ing. Open questions were chosen as a suitable format, in order not to constrain the

students’ way of thinking beforehand, which might have had an impact on the answers

received. In total, 24 students were interviewed in the course of the visit to BBS

Rohrbach, for practical reasons their names will not be mentioned in this paper.

First, numerous students described the teacher as the one who is present to

answer upcoming questions while they work on their assignments. They argued that it

would be the role of the teacher to remove any ambiguities concerning the content of

the assignments, the structure as well as organisational matters. Although students

described the teacher as a helper and supporter, they stated that they would only get

back to the teacher if they do not see any other option instead. One student even said

that “although the teacher is present in class in order to answer our questions, I nearly

always ask my fellow students first and only get back to the teacher if no one else can

help me with my problem, neither from my grade nor from the upper grades”. This

statement was emphasised by another student, who told me that “we will work it out

together before we ask the teacher; literally, we rarely need to ask them anything” and

that “during our Dalton lessons, the teacher does not really explain anything, only if we

absolutely cannot find the answer to our questions”.

Second, students described that teachers behave in a passive manner within a

COOL classroom environment. They argued that the teacher does not interrupt them

while they are working on their assignments and also offers them the possibility to work

freely. One student explained that she really likes it “that Dalton teachers do not inter-

fere in our work, which makes it much easier for us to work together in teams”. Also,

students emphasised the fact that teachers are not as strict as they would be in regular

lessons but that they would rather describe the teacher as a kind of colleague during

COOL classes. Moreover, another student even explained that “Dalton teachers are

56

much more relaxed, more open, friendlier and more helpful than teachers in regular

lessons and they try to help you and bring you on with the content”. One student

pointed out that the teacher sometimes pays students a compliment if they approve

what they are working on.

Third, students argued that, according to their point of view, the teacher does

not play an important role during Dalton lessons. In fact, one student mentioned that

“the teacher is not important when we are working on our Dalton assignments in class”

and he furthermore explained that by arguing that “the teacher is only present in the

Dalton lessons in order to make sure that we are working on our assignments”. In the

students’ perception, Dalton lessons are ‘easy’ lessons for the teachers because they

“do not really have anything to do in class because we are working independently, no

matter whether there is a teacher present or not”. Another student described that alt-

hough the teacher is present, she is always working on her own and cannot think of

one moment she got back to the teacher in order to ask something in all of her past

Dalton lessons. This argument got supported by other students as well, who claimed

that although the teacher is present, there would not be a need for them to have the

teacher around. On the contrary, other students argued that it makes a difference if the

teacher is present during COOL lessons or not. They explained that “everyone pulls

oneself together” if the teacher is present which makes them work on their assign-

ments. Another issue that students raised in that context was the preparation of as-

signments. Various students argued that the teacher is “just there for designing our

assignments and making them available for us on Moodle”. Furthermore, two students

even claimed that “the teacher does not have to do much when preparing our assign-

ment” and they thought that “the teacher does not need to put much effort into the

preparation of our assignments”. They illustrated that argument by mentioning that “the

teachers take already ready-made assignments from the internet or books and do not

prepare them themselves”.

Summing up, twenty-four students were interviewed during class shortly and

provided open answers to the interview questions. In total, eighteen students explicitly

described the teacher as a supporter during COOL lessons while sixteen defined his

or her role as a helper. Half of the interviewed students stated that the teacher acts as

a contact person in a COOL context. The teacher was also explicitly depicted as the

57

supervisor by nine students, while, in total, seven argued that the teacher is only there

to make them work.

4.3 Additional Observations

During an introductory presentation at school given by the two teachers Doris

Ortner and Elisabeth Spöcker, they already mentioned the important change of the

teachers’ role within a COOL classroom environment. Doris Ortner argued that she

herself does not feel like “the one who knows it best” anymore but rather the one, who

is always present to answer students’ questions in class. Also, she described herself

as a companion and coach in the context of CoOperative Open Learning. Elisabeth

Spöcker agreed to her colleague and explained that, similarly, she does not feel as a

“know-it-all” and the one who predetermines every detail in advance anymore.

During a COOL lesson, I had the chance to chat with a teacher who also argued

that he defines himself as a supporter during COOL lessons. Moreover, he explained

that although he knows that, in fact, he is actively involved during class, he behaves in

a passive way in order to support the learners. Another teacher commented that she

would only interrupt students, who are working on their COOL assignments, if she rec-

ognised that something develops in a wrong direction.

During the different COOL lessons at BBS Rohrbach, it was possible to observe

the teachers as well as the students while they were working on their assignments.

There, it was noticeable that if students get back to the teacher, they exclusively ask

questions concerning organisational and structural matters, as for example the exact

deadline of their Dalton assignments. In detail, during the attended lessons it was ob-

servable that the students do not ask the teacher questions regarding the subject mat-

ter of their assignments. In one lesson, the teacher tried to get the attention of the

students present in that room because she wanted to make a detailed comment on the

deadline of a specific assignment. Also, she reminded the students of the exact dead-

line and that they should bear it in mind when completing their assignments. Another

time, the teacher reminded the students of one specific task included in their assign-

ment, which they should not forget to work on.

58

5 Discussion

The final part of the thesis aims to bring together the theoretical information

regarding the teachers’ roles within the concept of COOL and the outcomes described

in the previous section, which represent the empirical data that has been collected at

BBS Rohrbach. The findings of the two face-to-face interviews with COOL teachers,

the informal interviews with students, attending a certified COOL school, as well as the

in-class-observations at BBS Rohrbach will be analysed in light of current literature on

that topic.

For this purpose, a comparison between the EFL teachers’ roles within a COOL

classroom environment according to related theory, the perception of COOL teachers’

roles themselves, and the students’ perception of the role of the teachers in COOL will

be provided, as illustrated in Table 2. The table has been created on the basis of the

previous chapters 3.2, 4.1 as well as 4.2, which dealt with the EFL teachers’ roles and

presented findings of the interviews with English language teachers as well as COOL

students. According to the empirical data, a closer look at Table 2 will be taken in order

to establish connections between the practical outcomes of the research project and

the theoretical framework of the thesis.

In general, the table provides an overview on whether the perception of COOL

teachers as well as the perception of COOL students from BBS Rohrbach agrees or

disagrees with the various teachers’ roles according to the theory on that topic. First,

the roles which teachers take on within the context of the teaching approach of COOL

are listed (adapted from Neuhauser, Wittwer and Hölbling n.d.). Second, the most es-

sential roles, defined as such by Penny Ur (see Ur 2012, 17), which EFL teachers have

to take during English language teaching are included in the table. Out of practical

reasons as well as to simplify the illustration, two symbols have been allocated to show

agreement or disagreement of the interviewees during the research project. On the

one hand, the symbol “ü” describes that the interviewed teachers or students agree

on the listed teacher’s role. On the other hand, the symbol “û” implies that the percep-

tion of COOL teachers or students does not conform to the theoretical description of

the specific role.

59

COOL teachers taking on the role as a …

teachers’ roles ac-cording to theory

perception of

COOL teachers

perception of

COOL students

CO

OL

teac

hers

facilitator ü û

helper ü ü

guide ü û

coach ü ü

advisor ü ü

consultant ü ü

co-communicator û û

coordinator ü û

EFL

teac

hers

instructor û û

activator û û

role-model û û

provider of feedback ü û

supporter ü ü

motivator ü ü

manager ü û

assessor ü û

Table 3: Comparison between the EFL teachers’ roles in COOL according to theory, the perception of COOL teachers and the perception of COOL students (created on the basis of chapters 3.2, 4.1 and 4.2)

60

… coordinator and manager

One of the essential roles that teachers have to take before COOL lessons is

that of a coordinator, as described by Hölbling, Wittwer and Neuhauser (n.d.). When

taking a look at Penny Ur’s definition of EFL teachers’ functions in class, the manager

(see Ur 2012, 17) could be seen as a comparable role within regular English language

lessons to the coordinator in COOL. Ur stated that “the management of the classroom

process includes activities such as bringing the class together at the beginning of a

lesson and organising group work, as well as making sure that individual members of

the class are attending and responding appropriately” (ibid). Also, Schultz argued that

the role of the teacher would also include coordinating group work (see 1971, 167).

Within the concept of COOL, Cohen stated that teachers preliminary “set down

the rules” (1986, 91) when preparing assignments and tasks for COOL lessons, which

can be described as being part of the coordinating work. Also, teachers need to plan

lessons far in advance and in consultation with fellow colleagues that also participate

in the teaching approach, so as to coordinate the COOL lessons and the scheduled

regular lessons (see Popp 1996, 277). It could be argued that this may be of minor

importance at first sight, but planning and designing COOL tasks needs to be done in

a careful way so that students have the possibility to work on them during COOL les-

sons successfully.

The EFL teacher Elisabeth Spöcker explicitly argued that she identifies one of

her roles before COOL lessons as the one of a coordinator, which confirms the depic-

tion of this role as described in secondary sources. Elisabeth Spöcker argued that in-

terdisciplinary work, which should be included when implementing the teaching ap-

proach of COOL, requires a lot of coordination. In the interview, the teacher explained

that it would be one of the most difficult challenges in COOL to coordinate one’s own

lesson plans and designs for COOL assignments with the other ones of COOL teach-

ers of a grade. In this context, Spöcker emphasised that this coordination would be

especially difficult in Rohrbach, as BBS implements inter-year exams. As a result,

teachers now would have to coordinate the content of their regular lessons as well as

their COOL assignments with their fellow colleagues beforehand. Elisabeth Spöcker

said that it would be important to do so carefully in order to successfully prepare stu-

dents for exams, which also take place at the same time on an inter-year basis.

61

As a result, the EFL teacher additionally argued in the interview that it would be

her responsibility to coordinate the content of her regular as well as COOL lessons in

a grade. Also, it would not be possible anymore to include additional topics, which have

not been agreed on by all teachers involved, because of these inter-year exams. In

this context, Elisabeth Spöcker claimed that another aspect of being a coordinator or

manager within COOL would be the responsibility to plan far in advance. She explained

that fixing dates for exams or tests early enough would be essential, as those should

not be scheduled during COOL lessons but, ideally within regular English lessons.

When talking about taking on the role of a coordinator, Elisabeth Spöcker argued that

some colleagues would have trouble to do so, as they would not be able to cope with

this form of self-organisation very often.

During our interview, Isabella Übermasser told me that it is one of her tasks in

the context of COOL to upload the English assignments for her students on the Moodle

platform on time as well as to design them thoroughly beforehand. Although she did

not explicitly describe that this would be part of the function as a coordinator or man-

ager, but her explanation could be interpreted in that way. Übermasser explained that

designing COOL assignments would pose much more work than simply preparing a

regular lesson, for example by following a teacher-centred approach. She would need

to think about the content and design of her English assignments carefully and coordi-

nate them for her students in an appropriate way. When doing so, Übermasser includes

considering the suitability of the assignment topics and whether those would be inter-

esting for the students, as well as in how far her pupils could derive benefit from the

tasks. The EFL teacher added that she would also design the English assignments in

a way that students have the chance to present final products at the end. These

presentations, which may also be realised as dialogues or role-plays sometimes, need

to be coordinated as well, which, again, represents one of the teacher’s functions in

COOL.

Although the students at BBS Rohrbach did not explicitly name the role of a

coordinator or manager during the interviews, some described various teachers’ ac-

tions during COOL lessons, which could be allocated to these roles. Numerous stu-

dents argued that the COOL teacher “is just there for designing our assignments and

making them available for us on Moodle”. These tasks definitely include extensive work

62

for the teacher as a coordinator or manager, even though students did not describe

these as being part of their perception of COOL teachers.

... supporter and helper

During the informal interviews in class, a number of students described the

teacher as the one, who is present to answer upcoming questions while students are

working on their assignments during COOL lessons. As students would also perceive

the role of the COOL teacher as the one of a helper and supporter, they argued that it

would be the role of the teacher to remove any ambiguities concerning the content of

their COOL assignments, the structure as well as organisational matters. One aspect,

which was very interesting in that context was that students told me that they only get

back to their COOL teachers in class if they do not see any other option to receive the

needed information or help otherwise. When talking to one specific student, he even

argued that “although the teacher is present in class in order to answer our questions,

I nearly always ask my fellow students first and only get back to the teacher if no one

else can help me with my problem, neither from my grade nor from the upper grades”.

This statement was emphasised by another student who explained that “we will work

it out together before we ask the teacher; literally, we rarely need to ask them anything”

and that “during our Dalton lessons the teacher does not really explain anything, only

if we absolutely cannot find the answer to our questions”. This means that although

students are aware of the fact that their COOL teachers are there for any questions or

concerns during their self-study lessons as their helper and supporter, they seem to

prefer not to make use of these advantages.

The students’ perception of these particular teachers’ roles overlaps with what

the COOL teachers told me during the interviews. Isabella Übermasser claimed that

she would want to fulfil the function of helping students in order to successfully com-

plete English or other COOL assignments autonomously as their supporter. In this

context, the EFL teacher emphasised that in students’ future working life, there would

be a strong need for them to acquire the ability to work in a team. As a result, it is

Übermasser’s aim to guide the students in becoming self-reliant individuals by already

having them take on responsibility for their learning success at school. In this case, the

teachers’ explanations can be described as being strongly connected to the students’

63

perceptions. While the pupils described that the teachers would be there for them dur-

ing COOL lessons as their helpers and supporters, they would first always try to find a

different way before approaching them.

Both the teachers’ perceptions of their roles as a helper and supporter as well

as the students’ ones are closely related to the description of these roles, defined in

secondary literature. Popp argues that during COOL lessons, the teacher has to be

there for the students’ requests and therefore has to adjust himself to much more in-

coherent questions and concerns in order to support students effectively (see Popp

1996, 277).

In current literature on that topic, the author Koertshuis highlights the fact that

the teacher takes on the responsibility for the process of learning too often (see 2007,

132). Instead of doing so, teachers should pass on the responsibility explicitly to their

students, while providing their expertise and knowledge in order to support pupils in

learning the language and at the same time acting as a helper or supporter for them

(see Koertshuis 2007, 133). As a result, teachers need to learn to behave in a passive

way within the context of COOL, although they should try to provide help and support

when being approached by students at any stage.

In the course of our interview, the EFL teacher Elisabeth Spöcker emphasised

another aspect of taking on the role as a helper within COOL lessons. She argued that

because of COOL she would have the chance to provide help for students in other

subjects than English, which for her personally implies a different connection to her

students. Spöcker claimed that this would be possible because COOL lessons at BBS

Rohrbach take place simultaneously, which means that different grades as well as a

number of teachers work in a COOL environment at the same time. Because of this,

she could also act as a helper for students who she would not get in touch within a

traditional teaching role, as she would not be responsible for them. During the inter-

view, the EFL teacher also described that due to the fact that the main work for her

COOL lessons happens outside the classroom, she would have the opportunity to take

on different roles in COOL lessons than in regular lessons, for instance the one as a

supporter for students.

Finally, Eichelberger supports both the students’ as well as the teachers’ per-

ceptions of taking on the roles of helpers and supporters in COOL lessons by arguing

64

that within this context, it is not the teachers’ job to tell students what to do, but rather

to help and support them in developing their skills, knowledge and personality (see

2002, 19).

… facilitator

Penny Ur’s theoretical description of EFL teachers being “‘facilitators’, who help

students learn how to think rather than ‘teller[s]’ who teach facts” (2012, 16), can also

be seen as a definition of a facilitator’s function in the context of COOL. In the interview,

Isabella Übermasser supported this definition as she described herself as taking the

role of a facilitator within a COOL classroom environment, who guides the students to

work on their assignments autonomously and who leads students to view their tasks

from different angles. Moreover, the EFL teacher explained that as a facilitator, she

wants to teach her students how to complete their assignments in an adequate way

and how they can manage to do so effectively. In this context, Übermasser argued that

it would be her main aim as a facilitator in COOL to make it easier for students to work

in a self-reliant way. In order to do so, the EFL teacher described that it is essential to

take on the role of a COOL teacher, who tries to make it easier for students to get on

with their work, as a facilitator usually does. Isabella Übermasser supported her state-

ments by providing an insight into one of her last COOL lessons. She told me that she

had known that her students had been working on their COOL assignments intensively.

In consequence, she stated that she had offered them the opportunity to work in an

independent and free way, without interrupting them or giving some kind of input, alt-

hough she initially wanted to do so. By stating that, Übermasser clearly showed that

she has already taken on the role of a facilitator within COOL lessons and successfully

manage to let go of taking on a teacher-centred role.

… guide and coach

According to the findings of the two face-to-face interviews, both EFL teachers

would primarily describe their role within a COOL classroom environment as being a

coach for their students. Isabella Übermasser would depict herself as fulfilling the role

of a coach, as, besides having the job of teaching a foreign language properly, she

would be responsible for her students’ social learning as a COOL teacher as well. The

teacher also provided an example and argued that for her personally it would be very

65

important to continuously coach her students. She explained that once a semester she

would make time for her students during COOL lessons in order to coach them. Then,

she would speak to every student in class individually, offering them the opportunity to

speak about issues, pupils are concerned with. At the same time, Übermasser would

get to see in how far her students have already benefited from the COOL lessons.

Also, the interview with Isabella Übermasser showed that she definitely perceives her-

self as a coach during COOL lessons. In this context, the EFL teacher explained that

she would sometimes feel the urge to simply ask her students how they are feeling at

the moment or how they are getting along with the other COOL teacher. As a coach in

COOL, it sometimes also happens to her that she talks to individual students about

how they may cope with COOL in general or whether they must face any difficulties or

problems in class. Within the role of a guide and coach, Isabella Übermasser also

claimed that it would be her aim to keep an eye on her students’ well-being. Also, over

the years as a COOL teacher, she has gained the feeling that students would appreci-

ate her role as a coach or guide, as pupils would sometimes seek advice on how to

budget their time and tasks meaningfully, also including outside school context.

In theory, teachers are required to take on the roles of a coach and a guide

within the teaching concept of COOL. Schultz argues that, consequently, the role of

the teacher includes guiding students (see 1971, 167), whereas Hertz-Lazarowitz even

claims that teachers are becoming partners in learning and therefore he would already

describe them as the “guide on the side” (2008, 46).

Also, Elisabeth Spöcker’s perception relates to the theory in the respect that she

also described to perceive her role as being a coach or guide for her COOL students.

In that context, the EFL teacher especially pointed out that she would really enjoy tak-

ing on the role of a coach. She explained in the interview, that she would have the time

to pay attention to individual students during these lessons. As a result, it would hap-

pen to her that she explains something to students, which they may not have conceived

completely until that point.

Another interesting aspect when describing the role of a coach was that Elisa-

beth Spöcker pointed out the fact that it would sometimes be difficult for her personally

to stick to that role, especially if students work on English language assignments, which

she created beforehand. The experienced teacher admitted that it would be a chal-

66

lenge to carry out the function of a coach without leading students into the aimed di-

rection if she realises that they explicitly work on English assignments. In that case,

she always has to bear in mind that as a coach in COOL, she only wants to offer

capacity building to her students and support them in working autonomously and in a

self-reliant way, instead of providing ready-made answers.

Furthermore, seeing herself as a coach also includes offering students her help

or providing some tips on various issues, Übermasser argued in the interview. She

also emphasised the fact that she would involve herself actively if she realises that

students will not make it to finish their assignments on time. This could be interpreted

as taking on the role of a coach or guide, who wants to lead the students into the right

direction in order to enable them to reach the required goal or complete their COOL

assignments successfully.

Although the COOL students did not explicitly mention that COOL teachers are

taking on the role of a guide, Elisabeth Spöcker argued that she would have the feeling,

that students would perceive her as a guide, rather than a teacher in the traditional

sense, represented in teacher-centred teaching approaches. Also, Isabella Über-

masser supports that perception by stating that within a COOL classroom environment,

students would see her as a coach. Moreover, Übermasser explained that students

would appreciate the opportunity to work freely and independently, approving her func-

tion as a guide.

… consultant and advisor

During the attended COOL lessons in the course of the excursion to BBS

Rohrbach, it was noticeable that students would only get back to their teacher if they

had questions regarding organisational as well as structural matters in class, for in-

stance the deadline of an assignment. As a result, students indeed perceive their

teacher as a consultant or advisor in COOL, however, they would only approach them

if they are not able to find an answer to their question in a different way, e.g. by asking

fellow students or consulting the internet. Also, one result of the observations made at

BBS Rohrbach showed that students would not get back to the teacher in order to ask

questions regarding the content of their assignment, as they would consult different

sources for that purpose first.

67

Not only did the interviewed students perceive the teacher as an advisor or con-

sultant in the context of COOL, also the two EFL teachers agree on that. Elisabeth

Spöcker illustrated that as an EFL teacher, she would always be prepared and willing

to illustrate details on grammar or other content related issues during COOL lessons if

approached by students. She argued that the CoOperative Open Learning classroom

offers her the freedom to take some time for individual students’ requests. As a result,

she would define one of her roles as a COOL teacher as being the one of a consulter

for students, who may need additional information or want to know about issues, which

they have not been confronted before. Moreover, Elisabeth Spöcker explained that she

would always be willing to make time for individual students during COOL lessons, in

order to provide individual advice or additional explanation.

… motivator

The findings of the interviews showed that both the teachers’ as well as stu-

dents’ perceptions of the COOL teacher’s role include taking on the role as a motivator.

The EFL teacher Spöcker claimed that she always tries to motivate students by telling

them whether she likes what they are working on. Also, she takes on the role as a

motivator in COOL if she praises her students for their performances. This is strongly

connected to the role of being a provider of feedback, which will be evaluated shortly.

… provider of feedback and assessor

One role which both COOL teachers mentioned during the interview was the

one of a provider of feedback. Although this function is not explicitly described in the

teaching philosophy of COOL, Ur elaborated on the importance of EFL teachers taking

on that role in or after class (see Ur 2012, 17). Also, none of the interviewed students

at BBS Rohrbach described the COOL teacher as being the one who provides feed-

back to them. Nevertheless, both Elisabeth Spöcker and Isabella Übermasser ex-

plained that being a provider of feedback would be an essential role for them as teach-

ers. Isabella Übermasser especially highlighted the importance of giving appropriate

and meaningful feedback on students’ assignments, as they would need to realise

what they are good at or which parts show weaknesses in order to get the chance to

improve. Therefore, the teacher explained that she would also depict herself as taking

on the role of an assessor of students’ COOL assignments, due to the fact that she

68

would need to fulfil this task in order to support her students in their learning progress.

In that context, Übermasser emphasised that she would feel responsible for giving

meaningful as well as helpful feedback and for assessing assignments carefully, as

students would put a lot of effort in completing their various COOL assignments in a

self-reliant way. When taking on that role, Isabella Übermasser always tries to point

out the positive aspects of the students’ tasks first, while at the same time making

suggestions where students could possibly get better or which part of the assignment

they could improve on.

Within a COOL classroom environment, Elisabeth Spöcker would also describe

herself as taking on the role of an evaluator and provider of feedback, although stu-

dents did not mention these roles in their interviews. Similar to Übermasser, also

Spöcker emphasised that she would provide feedback on students’ COOL assign-

ments, although she rarely assesses these by giving a grade. When it comes to taking

on the role of a provider of feedback, also Elisabeth Spöcker agreed on the importance

of always pointing out a positive aspect in the students’ assignments, as this would

keep up students’ motivation. Moreover, the EFL teacher stated that she would some-

times only add short, but helpful, comments on rather short tasks, whereas she ex-

plained that she would only give students grades on extensive assignments, for exam-

ple on interdisciplinary COOL assignments, which may include more complex and

therefore more demanding tasks.

In the context of talking about being a provider of feedback after COOL lessons,

Elisabeth Spöcker explained that she would also depict her role as being an evaluator,

meaning that she reflects upon happenings during COOL lessons as well as the re-

ceived results. She argued that she feels responsible for taking on the role as an eval-

uator in COOL after lessons, as there would always be a need for her to adapt the

assignments according to various influential factors. The EFL teacher explained that it

makes a difference for her whether there are more boys or girls completing the assign-

ment, for instance, which is why she always tries to adapt the tasks according to the

students’ needs. While taking on the role of an evaluator, Spöcker described that she

had never used a task twice, but had always tried to adapt it accordingly. Whenever

she realises that students have to face troubles when working on an assignment, she

evaluates it in detail in order to make suitable adaptions.

69

… supervisor

The teaching concept of COOL does not explicitly aim for the teacher to take on

the role of a supervisor, as this could be seen as a much more traditional teachers’

role. In related secondary literature, Cohen argues that the teacher no longer takes on

the function of a supervisor of the students, who watches for every mistake they make

in order to correct in on the spot (see 1986, 81). In consequence, Cohen suggests that

teachers should delegate authority to students or groups of students instead (see ibid).

While doing so, the students would be in charge of their own work and are free to

decide how much effort they put in it. Also, students are “empowered to make mistakes,

to find out what went wrong, and what might be done about it” (Cohen 1986, 81) if the

teacher does not take on the role as a supervisor anymore.

Neither the interviewed students nor the two COOL teachers directly named the

role of a supervisor when talking about teachers’ functions. Nevertheless, one student

argued that the teacher would only be present in order to make sure that they work on

their assignments. In this students’ perception, the teacher would not really take on an

important role during COOL lessons as students would work on their assignments in-

dividually but would simply be present, maybe in terms of a supervisor, during that

time. Other students claimed that it would make a difference for them if the teacher is

present in COOL classroom environments, not in terms of being a supporter or helper,

but rather as a supervisor, because this would result in them working more properly

and actively.

During our interview, Elisabeth Spöcker told me that she would need to be phys-

ically active during COOL lessons, as she would walk around between the different

working spaces throughout the school buildings. Although Spöcker claimed that her

presence would give her students the feeling that the teacher is there for them at any

stage, students may perceive this as the teacher taking on the role as a supervisor, as

explained before. While the EFL teacher claimed that she would do so in order to offer

students the opportunity to approach her at any time when working on their assign-

ments, students would interpret this differently.

70

… instructor

As it is essential in COOL that teachers move away from the idea that they have

to be the exclusive conveyers of knowledge while also being the only authority in class,

none of the interviewed teachers or students would describe the COOL teacher as

taking on the role of an instructor in class. The EFL teacher Isabella Übermasser ex-

plained that there would be numerous other sources of knowledge, which are always

up to date and much more versatile than a teacher could ever be, for instance the

internet. Also, she emphasised that teachers should not make the mistake to underes-

timate the students’ knowledge and skills, which would enable them to work autono-

mously. Although Übermasser described that during the first few months of working

with COOL for the first time, students would ask much more questions than at a later

stage. As a result, Übermasser sometimes introduces and discusses the English as-

signments in the first few COOL lessons until students are familiar to the teaching con-

cept. Although it could be argued that Isabella Übermasser would take on the role of

an instructor when doing so, her intention is to support and help students to be able to

work on their assignments independently, which does not feature that particular role

but rather the one as a guide or helper.

… activator

The teachers’ role of being an activator, as described by Penny Ur, has not

shown up throughout the conducted interviews at BBS Rohrbach, which supports the

underlying objective of a COOL teacher, taking on a passive role instead. Elisabeth

Spöcker argued that it would be inappropriate to actively approach students during

COOL lessons, as they are free to decide when, where and how to work on their as-

signments. These conditions may result in the teacher getting the impression that stu-

dents are not working properly and therefore wanting to take on the role of an activator

in order to make them work. In this context, Spöcker pointed out that COOL teachers

would need to learn anew not to act as an activator, as this is an important role in EFL

teaching. Ur states, that EFL teachers would need to make students use the English

language in class, which is connected to actively interfering in students’ work. Within

COOL lessons, it is possible to do so by providing activating tasks in the English lan-

guage assignments, which could involve speaking activities, for example.

71

6 Conclusion

First and foremost, the present diploma thesis intended to take a closer look at

the various roles that teachers take on within COOL classroom environments. The aim

of this paper was to find out how EFL teachers perceive their roles in COOL lessons.

In detail, it tried to define the roles, which English language teachers have to take on

before, during and after COOL lessons, during which students are working on their

assignments. For the purpose of answering the predefined research questions

properly, empirical data has been collected during an excursion to a certified COOL

school in Upper Austria. There, I had the chance to conduct two face-to-face interviews

with experienced EFL teachers, who have been involved in the teaching approach of

COOL for years. In the context of the excursion also informal interviews with COOL

students were carried out, while maintaining a specific focus on their individual percep-

tion of COOL teachers.

The findings of the interviews showed that within the context of COOL, EFL

teachers perceive themselves in numerous roles, which largely differ from traditional

teachers’ roles. Also, they confirmed that their functions may often vary during COOL

classes as well as before or after these specific lessons. In detail, the teachers would

mainly describe themselves as serving as facilitators, helpers, guides or coaches dur-

ing COOL lessons, which supports the theoretical depiction of COOL teachers as de-

scribed in secondary literature. Moreover, the interviews showed that they also take

on the roles of providers of feedback and assessors. It is noticeable that these are only

named in secondary literature connected to EFL teachers instead of COOL teachers.

Nevertheless, it can be argued that both of the interviewed EFL teachers teach English

in the context of COOL, which may be the reason for this specific overlap.

The results of the interviews with students participating in a COOL teaching ap-

proach supported the theoretical definitions of teachers serving as supporters, helpers,

guides and coaches. Additionally, students describe the role of COOL teachers as the

one of a supervisor, although this may only be based on the fact that teachers con-

stantly move between different working stations in order to provide support for stu-

dents. In general, it can be concluded that the findings of the conducted research pro-

ject showed that the theoretical depiction of the teachers’ roles closely correlates with

the practical perception of teachers as well as students.

72

While closely examining the specific topic of COOL classroom environments

over a longer period of time, my initial positive impression towards this teaching con-

cept has been strengthened even more. It was absolutely striking to me that certain

schools, such as BBS Rohrbach, offer overwhelmingly different and fresh teaching ap-

proaches as opposed to traditional ones. The predominant form of teaching in the vast

majority of present schools in Austria still pursues teacher-centred philosophies. Ac-

cording to my personal perception, it is impressive that refreshing concepts such as

COOL provide exciting advantages for students, while at the same time offering a set

of new opportunities to teachers. To be honest, it would be my predominant goal as a

teacher to serve as a supporter, helper and guide during the learning process for my

students rather than only being seen as a conveyer of knowledge. Therefore, I would

definitely aim for getting the chance of teaching at a school one day that successfully

implements teaching approaches similar to COOL.

73

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Zukunft Reformpädagogik. Neue Kraft für eine moderne Schule, edited by Harald Ei-

chelberge and Christian Laner, 131-6. Innsbruck, Wien, Bozen: StudienVerlag.

Neuhauser, Georg and Helga Wittwer. 2002. “Das COOL*-Projekt. Der Daltonplan in

der Sekundarstufe II. Ein Dalton-inspirierter Schulentwicklungsprozess an der

BHAK/BHA Steyr.” In Eine Einführung in die Daltonplan-Pädagogik, edited by Harald

Eichelberger, 161-203. Innsbruck: Studienverlag.

Oxford, Rebecca L. 1997. “Cooperative Learning, Collaborative Learning, and Inter-

action: Three Communicative Strands in the Language Classroom.” Modern Language

Journal 81 (4): 443–56.

Parkhurst, Helen. 1922. Education on the Dalton Plan. New York: E.P. Dutton & Com-

pan. With an Introduction by T. P. Nunn, M. A., D. Sc., Professor of Education, Univer-

sity of London; and Contributions by Rosa Bassett, M. B. E., B. A., John Eades.

Popp, Susanne. 1995. Der Daltonplan in Theorie und Praxis. Ein aktuelles Reformpä-

dagogisches Modell zur Förderung selbstständigen Lernens in der Sekundarstufe. Bad

Heilbrunn: Klinkhardt.

Popp, Susanne. 1996. “Helen Parkhurst und der Daltonplan.“ In Reformpädagogik und

Schulreform in Europa. Grundlagen, Geschichte, Aktualität. Band 2: Schulkonzeption

75

und Länderstudien, edited by Michael Seyfarth-Stubenrauch and Ehrenhard Skiera.

Hohengehren: Schneider.

Rothland, Martin. 2009. “Lehrerberuf und Lehrerrolle.” In Handbuch Schule. Theorie

– Organisation – Entwicklung, edited by Sigrid Blömeke, Thorsten Bohl, Ludwig Haag,

Gregor Lang-Wojtasik und Werner Sacher, 494-502. Bad Heilbrunn: Klinkhardt.

Schultz, Wolfgang. 1971. “Wie verändert sich die Rolle des Lehrers im Hinblick auf

die sich wandelnden Methoden?“ In Lehrerrolle im Wandel. Bericht über die Konferenz

vom 28.10.-1.11.1968 in Berlin, edited by Alexander Schuller, 165-169. Weinheim,

Berlin, Basel: Julius Beltz.

Schwerdt, Theodor. 1933. Neuzeitlicher Unterricht. Analytische Didaktik in klassi-

schen Unterrichtsbeispielen. (Von Herbart über Kerschensteiner, Montessori, Dalton-

und Jena-Plan zum Gesamtunterricht.) Paderborn: Ferdinand Schöningh.

Ur, Penny. 2012. A Course in English Language Teaching. Second edition. Cam-

bridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, Sao Paulo, Delhi and

Mexico City: Cambridge University Press.

van der Ploeg, Piet. 2013. Dalton Plan: Origins and Theory of Dalton Education: Sax-

ion Dalton University Press.

76

8 Appendix

8.1 Interview Protocol I

Interview Partner: Mag. Isabella Übermasser, English teacher at BBS Rohrbach

Interviewer: Sarah Scherwitzl

Time: December 15th, 2016

Place: BBS Rohrbach

Erstmals vielen Dank, dass Sie sich für ein ExpertInnen-Interview im Rahmen meiner

Diplomarbeit zur Verfügung stellen. In meiner Diplomarbeit beschäftige ich mich mit

der Rolle der Lehrperson im COOL Englischunterricht. Das Interview wird aufgenom-

men und anschließend transkribiert. Die Daten fließen dann in meine Diplomarbeit

ein. Vor Beginn des Interviews möchte ich Sie bitten ein kurzes Statement abzuge-

ben, ob dieses Interview in meiner Diplomarbeit anschließend anonym behandelt

werden soll oder nicht.

• Wie nehmen Sie Ihre Rolle als Lehrperson im COOL Unterricht wahr? (How do you perceive your role as a teacher in COOL lessons?)

• Welche Rollen nehmen Sie ein, wenn SchülerInnen während dem COOL Unterricht an Englisch-Arbeitsaufträgen arbeiten? (Which roles do you take when pupils complete English assignments during a

COOL lesson?)

• Inwiefern unterscheiden sich Ihre Rollen als EnglischlehrerIn im COOL

Unterricht und im regulären Englischunterricht? (How far do your roles as an English language teacher differ in COOL and

regular English lessons?)

77

• Wie entscheiden Sie, welche Rolle Sie einnehmen? Entscheiden Sie dies überhaupt? (Wenn ja, in welcher Phase des Unterrichts? Welche Rollen? Wie oft?) (How do you decide which role to take? Do you actually decide? (If yes, at

which stage during the lesson? Which role(s)? How often?)

• Inwiefern sind Sie aktiv eingebunden, wenn SchülerInnen an Englisch-Arbeitsaufträgen im COOL Unterricht arbeiten? (In how far do you get actively involved when pupils work on English assign-

ments during COOL lessons?)

• Bitte beschreiben Sie die verschiedenen Rollen die Sie vor, während und nach dem COOL Unterricht einnehmen. (Welche anderen Rollen nehmen Sie ein?) (Please describe the different roles you take before, during and after COOL

lessons. (What other roles do you take? Can you think of anything else?))

• Wie nehmen, Ihrer Meinung nach, SchülerInnen Ihre Rolle als Lehrper-son wahr, wenn Sie an Englisch-Arbeitsaufträgen im COOL Unterricht ar-beiten? (How do you think that students perceive your role as a teacher when they

complete English assignments during a COOL lesson?)

78

8.2 Transcript Interview I

Interview mit Mag. Isabella Übermasser

15.12.2016, 13:50-14:10

Interviewende Person (I): Sarah Scherwitzl

Befragte Person (B): Mag. Isabella Übermasser

I: Das heißt, es ist für Sie in Ordnung, wenn ich die Daten dann für meine Diplomar-

beit verwende und Ihren Namen unter Umständen auch anführe? #0:00:12.5#

B: Das ist für mich kein Problem, das können Sie ruhig anführen, mir ist egal wie Sie

das verwerten. #0:00:19.2#

I: Ich habe einfach offene Fragen, wie Sie darauf antworten ist Ihnen überlassen.

Beispiele unterstützen das Ganze. Die erste Frage wäre, wie Sie Ihre Rolle als Lehr-

person im COOL Unterricht bzw. in einer Dalton Lesson wahrnehmen? #0:00:45.7#

B: Da gibt es mehrere Rollen, einerseits ist es die des facilitator, also, dass man den

Schüler hinführt, eine Aufgabe selbstständig zu erledigen, eine Aufgabe auch aus

verschiedenen Blickwinkeln zu sehen, eine Aufgabe ordentlich zu machen und voll-

ständig zu machen. Also diese Rolle, dass man jemanden etwas erleichtert, selbst-

ständig etwas zu tun. Diese Rolle des facilitator, praktisch diese Rolle als Lehrer

nicht mehr als die Wissensinstanz, sondern eher, dass man den Schülern weiterhilft,

etwas zu tun. Ja, einfach, dass diese Aufgaben, dieses SELBSTSTÄNDIG werden,

einfach diese Aufgabe auch erleichtert. Und das heißt, dass man weg muss von die-

sen Rollen, des Lehrers, der die alleinige Wissensinstanz ist und die alleinige Autori-

tät, weil es gibt auch andere Wissensquellen die viel aktueller sind und auch viel viel-

seitiger sind als ein Lehrer sein kann und auch die Schüler bringen sehr viel selbst

an Wissen und an Können mit. Das andere Rollenbild das ich habe, das war heute

79

zum Beispiel, das ist dieses Coaching. Also ich bin auch dafür verantwortlich, dass

die Schüler sozial lernen und nicht nur die Sprache erwerben, sondern ich bin auch

Klassenvorstand einer Dalton-Klasse und im Dalton-Unterricht wird ja nicht nur das

Dalton-Prinzip an und für sich, sondern auch das Coaching großgeschrieben, und ich

habe heute sieben SchülerInnen gecoacht und einfach gefragt wie es ihnen geht, wie

es ihnen mit Dalton geht, wie es ihnen in der Klasse geht, wie es ihnen generell mit

den Lehrern geht. Also auch dieses soziale Lernen und auch dieses wie teile ich

meine Aufgaben, die ich außerhalb der Schule habe, ein. Auch diese Lernbegleitung

im Prinzip. Und das sind eigentlich dieses facilitate und coach, das sind eigentlich so

diese Rolle, die ich als Lehrer sehe. Ich bin nicht nur diese autoritäre Person die da

vorne steht und was predigt, sondern die Rollen sind vielseitig. Und ich habe heute

zum Beispiel die Klasse, ich habe gewusst sie haben einen Auftrag, ganz alleine und

selbstständig arbeiten lassen. Ich hab sie in den ersten Wochen sehr gut begleitet

und heute habe ich gesagt, ich nehme mir Zeit für dieses Coaching, es kommen am

nächsten Dienstag die nächsten dran, da werde ich eine kurze Zeit drinnen sein,

wenn es Fragen gibt die beantworten und dann werde ich mich wieder zurückziehen

zu den Schülern und dieses Coachgespräch machen, das ist dann einmal im Semes-

ter und ich sehe dann einfach wie diese Klasse nicht nur vom Englischen her vom

Dalton Unterricht profitiert sondern auch vom sozialen Lernen her. Also immer wichti-

ger ist diese Teamfähigkeit und auch diese Kreativität beim Probleme lösen, wird

auch durch diesen Dalton-Unterricht gefördert. #0:04:11.8#

I: Machen Sie das jetzt speziell, weil Sie Klassenvorstand sind? #0:04:15.4#

B: Ja, also ich habe auch schon andere Klassen gecoacht, aber ich möchte halt mei-

ner Klasse, dieses, was auch als Klassenvorstand natürlich wichtig ist, ist das soziale

Lernen, also ich bin als Klassenvorstand für diese Klasse verantwortlich und möchte

einfach wissen wie es ihnen geht, da bietet sich dieses Dalton-Coaching natürlich an.

Ich mache das auch nicht in jeder Klasse, das würde mir zu viel werden. Aber in mei-

ner Klasse mache ich das speziell und die Schüler sind auch wirklich dahinter, dass

sie mit dem Lehrer reden können. Einfach einmal abseits von Englisch, weil im Eng-

lisch-Unterricht da muss ich den Stoff durchkriegen und so, und im Dalton-Unterricht

da arbeiten sie an diesen Aufträgen und es kommt eigentlich wenig Gespräch wie

80

geht es mir eigentlich. Und einfach nur diese Frage wie geht es euch oder wie geht

es ihnen. #0:05:06.7#

I: Okay, danke. Welche Rolle nehmen Sie dann speziell ein, oder welche Rollen,

wenn die SchülerInnen während diesen Dalton Stunden an den Englisch-Aufträgen

arbeiten? Deckt sich das mit dem? #0:05:30.6#

B: Ja, ich möchte eigentlich, dass die Schüler selbst auf Antworten draufkommen,

also ich sage ihnen schon, ich gebe schon an Tagen mit Dalton Aufträgen sehr deut-

lich Feedback, wie mir der Auftrag insgesamt gefallen hat, ich vergebe auch Punkte

oder ich vergebe Buchstaben von A bis E also E kommt ganz selten vor, weil ich mir

denk die Schüler bemühen sich und ich reflektiere dann schon und gebe ihnen die

Dalton Aufträge dann so zurück damit sie damit was anfangen können. Nicht immer,

manchmal haben sie auch nur brav erledigt oder well done, oder excellent, oder ir-

gendsowas oder sloppiely written, kommt auch vor. Also gebe ihnen schon Feedback

auf diesen Auftrag, weil ich mir denk, dass es auch wichtig ist, dass sie selbst reflek-

tieren können wie ist der Auftrag bei mir, bei meinen Aufzeichnungen, bei den Noten-

aufzeichnungen angekommen. Das ist einmal das eine, dass ich ihnen Feedback

gebe, dann lass ich sie auch selbst etwas tun, also wie zum Beispiel jetzt haben sie,

meine Klasse und die Parallelklasse die ich in Englisch hab haben ein Festival ausar-

beiten müssen und jetzt lass ich sie eine Presentation geben, also die Klassen die

Präsentation geben, in anderen Klassen habe ich sie einen Dialog aufführen lassen,

da müssen sie dann einen Dialog aufführen. Oder, ich lass sie auch verschiedene

Produkte, Endprodukte, zu Präsentation, Rollenspiel auch einfach einmal eine Bas-

telarbeit, kann auch sein. Einfach wo sie kreativ gestalten können, aber das kommt

auch im Englischen seltener vor als in anderen Fächern, aber kann auch vorkom-

men, (...) und also, (...) dass ich diese (...) Funktion hab glaub ich, dass man den

Schülern einfach hilft, einen Arbeitsauftrag zu erledigen, einfach eine Aufgabe, die

gestellt wird, was ja auch im Job dann einmal enorm wichtig ist, dass sie die im

Team erledigen, also hinführen zu Selbstständigkeit und mehr Verantwortung für ihr

Lernen. #0:08:10.7#

81

I: Und inwiefern unterscheiden sich diese Rollen dann, speziell im Englisch-Unter-

richt, zu den regulären Unterrichtsstunden? #0:08:25.0#

B: Ja, sie unterscheiden sich schon weil, ich mach zwar schon Partner und Gruppen-

arbeiten in den Schulstunden aber ich bring mich viel mehr ein, also ich sag zum Bei-

spiel im Grammatikunterricht, dann ist das eine sehr streng geführte Stunde, also

schon auch mit Input und Output und Practise und solchen Dingen, oder ich mache

einfach, was ich auch im Unterricht mache so kleine Wettbewerbe wo die Schüler

sich besonders anstrengen müssen, das kann ich halt im Dalton Unterricht nicht so

machen, wo ich sag wer am schnellsten ein Bild beschrieben hat, oder wer am

schnellsten, so vocabulary Rallye oder irgendsowas, das mach ich auch einfach um

die Schüler anzuspornen, aber dann auch wieder ganz ruhige Stunden wo sie einen

Text lesen müssen und Fragen beantworten müssen, und wo ich das sehr wohl kon-

trollier was sie machen. #0:09:31.3#

I: Aber sie arbeiten auch in den regulären Stunden offen? #0:09:34.5#

B: Ja, ich arbeite schon offen, ja ich würde schon sagen, dass ich offen arbeite. Ich

habe gestern zum Beispiel eine Diskussion gemacht, da haben sie zu viert über

Dresscode diskutieren müssen aber es sind halt kürzere Lerneinheiten, es ist jetzt

nicht so dass ich jetzt nur eine Stunde dafür hernehme, weil das haben sie in Dalton,

dass sie völlig selbstständig arbeiten lasse und nur eingreife wenn jetzt irgendwas

nicht so passt, sondern z.B. arbeiten sie in Groups of five, zum Beispiel discuss

dresscodes in your school usw., dass sie diesen Dresscode dann diskutieren, aber

wie sie das diskutieren, das ist das ihre Sache, ich ruf dann zwar das Ergebnis gleich

ab, in dem Fall mach ich es in der nächsten Stunde weil es geläutet hat, aber ich lass

sie arbeiten, aber es gibt dann auch wieder ganze Unterrichtsstunden die von mir als

Lehrerin wirklich geführt werden. #0:10:30.8#

82

B: Gibt es so Momente, während dem Dalton Unterricht, wo man aktiv entscheidet

welche Rolle man einnimmt als Lehrperson? Entscheidet man das überhaupt?

#0:10:53.9#

I: (...) Ich glaube ich bin da richtig reingewachsen, ich habe Ausbildungen gemacht

zu Beginn meiner Tätigkeit vor gut neun Jahren, ich habe Ausbildungen gemacht und

ich bin irgendwie hineingewachsen durch das Ganze. Also es hat sich Dalton in der

Schule immer weiterentwickelt und es entwickelt sich immer weiter, und, man wächst

in die Rolle als Dalton-Lehrer hinein. Man muss das Konzept einmal gut finden und

dass die Schülerinnen und Schüler auch profitieren, dass man wirklich dahintersteht.

Dass man Aufträge zeitgerecht auf Moodle stellt, dass man Aufträge auch korrigiert,

was viel Arbeit ist, was wirklich mehr Arbeit ist als jetzt nur eine Unterrichtsstunde

einfach so im Buch Seite 14 bis Seite 17, sondern man muss sich wirklich was über-

legen. Man wächst in die Rolle hinein und es hat einfach so viele positive Seiten,

dass ich dann sage okay, (...) ich bin ein Dalton Lehrer oder ich sehe mich als Dalton

Lehrerin. Ich mache bei diesem Konzept was von zwei Kolleginnen, von der Frau

Professor Ortner und von der Frau Professor Spöcker, einfach mit, weil ich einen Bo-

nuspunkt für meine Schüler sehe. Aber so aktiv, dass ich sage, jetzt bin ich Dalton

Lehrerin, das gibt es eigentlich nicht. #0:12:29.9#

I: Und innerhalb von diesen Dalton-Stunden, man hat ja trotzdem verschiedene Rol-

len? #0:12:33.5#

B: Wenn ich sehe, dass ein Problem ist, also wenn ich sehe dass zwei Schülerinnen

nicht tun wie ich will oder dass sie irgendwie herumlungern und sagen das gefällt mir

nicht, ich mag nicht oder heute mag ich nicht, dann greif ich schon ein, also ich greif

schon ein aber ich lass zu z.B. wenn sie mal, (...) wenn ich merke, es wird ihnen zu

viel, sie haben eine Schularbeit gehabt und ich merke sie brauchen einfach irgend-

wie Zeit dass sie sich erholen, aber wenn zwei Schüler nur herumblödeln und ihren

Spaß haben dann bin ich schon dahinter, dass das nicht geht, oder sie jausnen,

dann sag ich in der Regulärstunde können sie auch nicht jausnen, bitte geben sie

83

das weg. Ja, also ich bin da schon eher dahinter, dass Schüler was machen. Und je

älter sie werden desto selbstständiger werden sie eigentlich. #0:13:30.2#

I: (...) Das heißt, wenn die Schülerinnen an diesen Englisch-Arbeitsaufträgen arbei-

ten, weil sie können ja auch an anderen Arbeitsaufträgen arbeiten, inwiefern sind sie

dann aktiv eingebunden, als dass die Schüler irgendwie auf sie zukommen?

#0:13:54.5#

B: Also in den ersten beiden Jahren, Unterrichtsjahren wo Dalton läuft da Fragen sie

eigentlich schon noch sehr oft, aber es wird dann eigentlich immer weniger. Also sie

fragen schon Frau Professor wie meinen Sie das, Frau Professor wie kann ich das

verstehen, das ist mir nicht klar, ich bin auch dann einfach übergegangen, dass ich

den Dalton-Auftrag am Anfang einfach vorstelle, dass ich so, z.B. nächste Stunde

mache ich das speziell dass ich sage, was ich von diesem Dalton-Auftrag erwarte,

aber natürlich können sie auch an anderen Aufträgen arbeiten und ich lass sie auch,

wenn sie jetzt ein Referat in ein, also letzte Woche war in der IIBHL hat eine ein Re-

ferat in der nächsten Stunde gehabt, da hab ich sie gelassen, da hab ich ihnen ein-

fach Tipps gegeben, schau, so und so macht man das, das ist auch gut für Englisch

wenn sie das machen, aber sie können auch daran arbeiten, warum nicht. Nur ich

verlange bei dem Auftrag, dass sie ihn zeitgerecht abgeben, dann kann es aber auch

mal sein, dass sie außerhalb der Stunde arbeiten müssen. #0:15:12.7#

I: Jetzt haben wir ja über die Rollen die Sie wirklich im Unterricht einnehmen gespro-

chen, gibt’s da verschiedene Rolle, auch vor oder nach diesen Dalton Lessons?

#0:15:27.6#

B: (...) Ja, ich überleg mir schon, wenn ich einen Auftrag zusammenstelle, oder

wenn ich einen Auftrag von einer Gruppe übernehme, kann dieser Auftrag interes-

sant sein für meine Schülerinnen? Kann ich ihr Interesse wecken? Passt das zum

Thema, passt das zu meinem Unterricht, inwieweit kann ich selbst den Dalton-Unter-

84

richt, dass was das Gelernte in den Regulärstunden einbinden, in einen Dalton-Un-

terricht. Oder das ist das was ich mir für am Anfang für Fragen stelle, also zu mei-

nem Unterricht, interessiert das meine Schülerinnen? Profitieren die Schüler und

SchülerInnen von dem Auftrag? Und nachher, (...) bin ich sehr behutsam mit der Be-

urteilung, also auch wenn es schlampig ist, schreib ich es zwar hin aber ich schreib

zumindest hin was mir ein bisschen gut gefallen hat, dass das nicht total, außer ich

merke sie haben gar nichts getan dann schreib ich es auf, dann bekommen sie eine

schlechte Note, aber wenn ich merke sie haben sich bemüht und es ist trotzdem

nicht das Ergebnis das eigentlich wünschenswert ist, dann bin ich da sehr behutsam

mit der Beurteilung, mit meinem Feedback. Ja, also ich möchte jetzt nicht, ich denke

mir die Schüler legen da sehr viel, oft wirklich SEHR sehr viel Bemühungen hinein in

das Ganze und sind dann ein bisschen enttäuscht, wenn sie den Auftrag zurückbe-

kommen und es ist nicht ganz die Note, die sie sich erwartet haben, also da bin ich

vorsichtig und sage ok, da ist es noch zu verbessern, hier ist es noch zu verbessern.

#0:17:19.1#

I: Was glauben Sie, wie die SchülerInnen denn Ihre Rolle als Lehrperson während

des COOL-Unterrichts wahrnehmen? #0:17:30.4#

B: (...) Das ist schwierig, also ich kann nur sagen, also, dass sie die Rolle, dass sie

das eigentlich glaube ich ganz gerne haben wenn ich nicht immer vorne stehe und

dirigiere, sondern dass sie selbst einmal ein bisschen frei arbeiten können. Ich hab

die Woche ein Erlebnis in meiner Klasse gehabt, ich hab gesagt, wollt ihr Dalton-Un-

terricht haben oder normalen Unterricht, ich hab gesagt es sind zur Zeit keine Com-

puterräume frei, und, dann hat die Klasse darauf bestanden, weil Schularbeit war,

dass es noch diese Woche einen Dalton-Unterricht gibt. Also sie fordern das ein,

also wenn es ihnen, wenn ihnen das Unterrichtskonzept gefällt, wollen sie das, sie

haben gestern schon gefragt, Frau Professor, wann holen wir Dalton nach, dann wa-

ren sie ein bisschen enttäuscht, wie das jetzt nicht so war, und dann hat es heute

diese Dalton-Stunde gegeben. Da haben sie mich nicht mal gefragt sind sie schon

selbst in die Dalton-Arbeitsplätze gegangen und haben da selbstständig gearbeitet.

Also ich denke mir, dass ihnen das Unterrichtskonzept taugt, also es gibt natürlich

85

immer ein paar Schülerinnen die damit nicht so viel anfangen können, aber es taugt

ihnen, ja, auch dieses Coaching. Ich habe dann gleich nach diesem Coachingge-

spräch noch drei Schülerinnen da gehabt die wollten noch in der Pause gecoacht

werden. Und ich habe gesagt es tut mir leid, ich habe jetzt auch ein Recht auf ein

Mittagessen, dann machen wirweiter. Ja, also dieser Klasse, meiner Klasse, gefällt

es total aber ich kenn auch Schüler die damit gar nichts anfangen können, denen re-

gulärer Unterricht einfach lieber ist, ja, aber die meisten die das haben die fordern

das dann auch ein. #0:19:32.1#

I: Und die sehen sie dann als? #0:19:34.5#

B: (...) Die sehen mich dann glaub ich einfach auch als Coach bzw. als diesen facili-

tator, ja.#0:19:42.0#

I: Also jemand der sie quasi begleitet, da ist, wenn es Fragen gibt? #0:19:52.4#

B: Ja, genau. Aber meine Rolle ist nicht überflüssig, ich bin jetzt nicht da und gebe

und es ist überhaupt kein Hintergedanke dabei, sondern meine Rolle ist einfach eine

andere als in einer Regulärstunde während des Tests oder während der Schularbeit

wo ich einfach beinhart beurteilen muss. Sondern hier fließt sehr viel soziale Kon-

takte, sehr viel soziales Lernen ein und das wollen die Schüler auch, und sie lernen

ja nicht nur die Sprache, sie lernen auch so viel mit. #0:20:25.1#

86

8.3 Interview Protocol II

Interview Partner: Mag. Elisabeth Spöcker, English teacher at BBS Rohrbach

Interviewer: Sarah Scherwitzl

Time: December 16th, 2016

Place: BBS Rohrbach

Erstmals vielen Dank, dass Sie sich für ein ExpertInnen-Interview im Rahmen meiner

Diplomarbeit zur Verfügung stellen. In meiner Diplomarbeit beschäftige ich mich mit

der Rolle der Lehrperson im COOL Englischunterricht. Das Interview wird aufgenom-

men und anschließend transkribiert. Die Daten fließen dann in meine Diplomarbeit

ein. Vor Beginn des Interviews möchte ich Sie bitten ein kurzes Statement abzuge-

ben, ob dieses Interview in meiner Diplomarbeit anschließend anonym behandelt

werden soll oder nicht.

• Wie nehmen Sie Ihre Rolle als Lehrperson im COOL Unterricht wahr? (How do you perceive your role as a teacher in COOL lessons?)

• Welche Rollen nehmen Sie ein, wenn SchülerInnen während dem COOL Unterricht an Englisch-Arbeitsaufträgen arbeiten? (Which roles do you take when pupils complete English assignments during a

COOL lesson?)

• Inwiefern unterscheiden sich Ihre Rollen als EnglischlehrerIn im COOL

Unterricht und im regulären Englischunterricht? (How far do your roles as an English language teacher differ in COOL and

regular English lessons?)

• Wie entscheiden Sie, welche Rolle Sie einnehmen? Entscheiden Sie dies überhaupt? (Wenn ja, in welcher Phase des Unterrichts? Welche Rollen? Wie oft?)

87

(How do you decide which role to take? Do you actually decide? (If yes, at

which stage during the lesson? Which role(s)? How often?)

• Inwiefern sind Sie aktiv eingebunden, wenn SchülerInnen an Englisch-Arbeitsaufträgen im COOL Unterricht arbeiten? (In how far do you get actively involved when pupils work on English assign-

ments during COOL lessons?)

• Bitte beschreiben Sie die verschiedenen Rollen die Sie vor, während und nach dem COOL Unterricht einnehmen. (Welche anderen Rollen nehmen Sie ein?) (Please describe the different roles you take before, during and after COOL

lessons. (What other roles do you take? Can you think of anything else?))

• Wie nehmen, Ihrer Meinung nach, SchülerInnen Ihre Rolle als Lehrper-son wahr, wenn Sie an Englisch-Arbeitsaufträgen im COOL Unterricht ar-beiten? (How do you think that students perceive your role as a teacher when they

complete English assignments during a COOL lesson?)

88

8.4 Transcript Interview II

Interview mit Mag. Elisabeth Spöcker

16.12.2016, 12:00-12:15

Interviewende Person (I): Sarah Scherwitzl

Befragte Person (B): Mag. Elisabeth Spöcker

I: (...) Sind Sie damit einverstanden, wenn ich dann eventuell Ihren Namen erwähne,

oder ob Sie lieber wollen, dass Ihre Daten anonym behandelt werden? #0:00:37.5#

B: Nein, das ist überhaupt kein Problem, das kann man ruhig erwähnen, also damit

habe ich kein Problem. #0:00:42.3#

I: Ich werde Ihnen alles offene Fragen stellen, wie Sie diese beantworten, gerne

auch mit Beispielen, ist natürlich vollkommen Ihnen überlassen. #0:00:49.8#

(...)

I: Die erste Frage wäre, Wie nehmen Sie Ihre Rolle als Lehrperson im COOL-Unter-

richt, oder in Dalton Stunden, wahr? #0:00:59.3#

B: Also für mich ist das ganz eine andere Rolle als sonst, ich sehe mich wirklich als

Coach, als Begleiter, und genieße diese Rolle weil ich einfach Zeit hab mich Schü-

lern individuell zuzuwenden, Ihnen etwas zu erklären, was sie vielleicht noch nicht

mitbekommen haben, ihnen auch in anderen Fächern weiterzuhelfen und ich denke

das ist ganz ein anderer Zugang zu den Schülern den man da bekommt und es ist

für mich auch sehr relaxing diese Stunde, weil da einfach die Hauptarbeit wirklich zu-

hause passiert ist, indem ich den Arbeitsauftrag vorbereitet habe und mich eigentlich

immer sehr freue auf diese Stunden weil man da einfach wirklich einmal eine andere

Lehrerrolle hat. Obwohl ich nicht der Typ bin der sonst frontal unterrichtet, ich mach

89

auch sonst natürlich diverse Aktivitäten in Gruppen, in pair work, aber in der Dalton

Stunde ist das noch einmal ganz anders. #0:01:53.7#

I: Also es ist schon ein deutlicher Unterschied zum regulären Unterricht? #0:01:56.5#

B: Für mich auf jeden Fall, ja. #0:01:57.5#

I: Welche Rolle oder welche Rollen nehmen Sie denn ein, wenn die SchülerInnen

während diesen Dalton-Stunden an Englisch-Arbeitsaufträgen arbeiten?

B: Also woran ich da ganz stark arbeite ist, dass ich auch da nur wirklich als Coach

fungiere, weil da ist die Tendenz wieder größer dass man gleich dazu neigt, ihnen

die Lösungen zu sagen und da muss ich immer bewusst an mir arbeiten auch an die-

sen Stunden nur Hilfe zur Selbsthilfe zu geben aber ich hab trotzdem, sehe mich da

in einer ganz anderen Rolle als Englischlehrerin als in den anderen Stunden aber es

gelingt mir nicht immer, es gelingt mir nicht immer, weil sobald man selber natürlich

das weiß, diese Antwort, in einem anderen Fach kann ich ja nicht helfen weil ich es

nicht weiß, aber in Englisch natürlich, aber das ist mir schon ganz wichtig dass ich

das im Griff habe dass ich da wirklich auch nur ein Coach bin und nicht der, der die

Lösungen bekanntgibt und so weiter. Ich bin aber sehr wohl bereit zum Beispiel

Grammatikkapitel oder irgendwas zu erklären, wenn die Schüler aus dem Regelun-

terricht mit irgendwas kommen und sagen sie haben noch was nicht verstanden, weil

ich in diesen Stunden auch Zeit habe, wenn ich mal sehe, dass alles läuft, die Ar-

beitsplätze abgegangen bin, setze ich mich auch zu einem Schüler hin und erkläre

mal zehn Minuten das, weil ich eh vertraue, dass die anderen arbeiten. #0:03:20.9#

I: Okay. (...) Das haben wir zwar schon kurz angesprochen, aber inwiefern unter-

scheiden sich denn die Rollen – speziell jetzt als Englischlehrerin – im COOL-Unter-

richt und im Regelunterricht? #0:03:34.9#

90

B: Naja, im regulären Unterricht sehe ich mich schon auch als der Wissensvermittler,

neue Dinge zu präsentieren usw. Bemühe mich aber auch da, sehr schülerzentriert

zu arbeiten, und im COOL-Unterricht bin ich, auch wie es die Schüler heute gesagt

haben, habe ich eine ganz eine andere Rolle, ich würde vielleicht nicht sagen Kolle-

gin oder Kollege aber es ist eine andere Rolle. Ich finde, dass ich da, also dass man

da auch wirklich Beziehungen aufbaut zu den Schülern. Und da ist das nicht so ein

distanziertes Verhältnis wie das vielleicht sonst ist, wobei in den fünften ist das so-

wieso kein distanziertes Verhältnis mehr, wenn man Klassenvorstand auch noch ist,

also das ist natürlich auch unterschiedlich. #0:04:16.5#

I: Wie entscheiden Sie, welche Rolle Sie als Lehrperson einnehmen? Oder entschei-

det man dies überhaupt? #0:04:26.6#

B: Ich denke da nie darüber nach, das passiert bei mir automatisch, situativ. In ei-

nem situativen Kontext, also ich habe mir da jetzt noch nie gedacht, aha, jetzt bin ich

der Coach. Eigentlich nicht, nein. #0:04:45.5#

I: Das heißt, man entscheidet dies in dem Sinn, dass eben gerade die Dalton-Stunde

stattfindet, und nicht irgendwie dazwischen? #0:04:55.4#

B: Genau, also weil wir die Dalton-Stunden auch gleichzeitig haben, fühle ich mich

auch, weil da im Computerraum auch andere Schüler sind, schaue ich auch ob die

gerade Arbeiten, auch wenn das gerade nicht meine Schüler sind aber da haben wir

eben so ein Teamwork, dass der Lehrer, der eben gerade in diesem Raum ist ein-

fach schaut, oder wenn wer Hilfe braucht dann helfe ich denen genauso. Oder da im

Aquarium ist das auch so. #0:05:17.1#

I: Das heißt, sind Sie dann irgendwie aktiv eingebunden, wenn die SchülerInnen spe-

ziell an den Englisch-Aufträgen arbeiten? #0:05:25.7#

91

B: Im Normalfall nicht, nein. Eigentlich nicht, nein. Wenn ich da an die Dalton-Stunde

gestern in der fünften denke, da, nur einmal wollten sie vom Layout was wissen, aber

ansonsten gar nichts. Außer begleiten und schauen, was sie machen, ein bisschen

Loben tu ich gerne, ein bisschen motivieren, wenn ich sehe, dass sie ist was klasse

gemacht haben aber sonst, aktiv bin ich gar nicht. Und in dieser Klasse zum Beispiel

bin ich auch deswegen nicht aktiv, das ist eine Laptop-Klasse, die sind in der Klasse.

Ansonsten bin ich aktiv körperlich, indem ich herumgehe und das ist wichtig, dass die

SchülerInnen merken ich bin präsent und sie wissen auch sie können mich etwas fra-

gen, wenn sie etwas brauchen. Ansonsten mache ich nichts. Sie wissen eh, wie ich

das meine. #0:06:08.4#

I: Und passiert es manchmal, dass man sich als Lehrperson zurücknehmen muss im

Sinne von, so wie wir es gestern besprochen haben, man fragt nach, was die Schüle-

rInnen machen oder sagt sie sollen was machen, passiert das? #0:06:24.3#

B: Jetzt nicht mehr, nein. Also das habe ich gelernt in den zwanzig Jahren, der ein-

zige Weg ist, in dem man nicht sagt jetzt machst du schon wieder nichts, oder irgen-

detwas, sondern einfach nur einmal interessiert fragen, aha, was habt ihr denn schon

gemacht und lasse mir das zeigen, das ist für mich der beste Zugang. Aber was ka-

tastrophal ist wenn ich hingehe und sage aha du schon wieder, du tust schon wieder

einmal gar nichts, also das sicher nicht. Und das muss man auch lernen, und ihnen

zugestehen, ich sage sicher nicht gleich was. Wenn ich jetzt die erste Runde mache

und merke, der macht noch nichts, dann denke ich mir, okay, vielleicht braucht er

noch ein paar Minuten, wenn ich das dann aber beim zweiten Mal sehe dann frage

ich, zeigst mir einmal, oder was hast du denn schon gemacht oder was hast du noch

geplant für heute, dann versuche ich es eben auf diese Weise in den Griff zu bekom-

men. #0:07:08.2#

I: Sie haben ja beschrieben, dass Sie sich in Dalton als Coach sehen. Gibt es zu die-

ser Bezeichnung noch andere Begriffe, die sie dafür verwenden würden?

#0:07:17.3#

92

B: (...) Ja, das bin ich eigentlich. Coach, Begleiter (...), nein, das passt gut. Also ich

finde das ist, so stelle ich mir einen Coach vor, der da ist, wenn man Hilfe braucht,

und der mir aber nur Hilfe zur Selbsthilfe gibt. Dafür ist doch ein Coach eigentlich da.

#0:07:38.5#

I: Ja, und das ist quasi die Rolle im Unterricht. Jetzt gibt es aber natürlich davor und

danach auch noch etwas, vor und nach den Dalton Stunden. Welche Aufgaben und

Rollen sehen sie da? #0:07:52.0#

B: Naja, vor den Dalton-Stunden hat man eher die traditionelle Rolle, das heißt, die

Assignments vorbereiten, überlegen, und nachher (...) die Nachbereitung ist unter-

schiedlich, was ich herausgefunden habe zum Beispiel, dass ich meine Assignments

immer verändere, ich habe noch nie eins zu eins übernommen, obwohl ich das

schon zwanzig Jahre mache. Was ich immer sofort mache, dass ich mir aufschreibe,

wenn ich das Gefühl habe, dass der zeitliche Rahmen nicht gepasst hat, also es ist

schon eine wichtige Sache das Nachbereiten für mich selbst. Weil ich das gelernt

habe, weil wenn ich mir nicht gleich aufschreibe was bei diesem Assignment nicht so

gut gelaufen ist, man vergisst es dann wieder. Also das mache ich dann für mich,

und dann kommt es immer darauf an, wenn etwas zum Schreiben war, ein Text,

dann wird der natürlich abgesammelt und korrigiert und dann Feedback gegeben.

Wenn das eine Präsentation ist, dann machen wir das eben in einer der regulären

Stunden dann und dann machen wir eben diese Präsentationen und (...), ja, Beurtei-

lung muss ich mir auch überlegen, wobei ich wirklich nur große Aufträge beurteile,

wie zum Beispiel diesen Fächerübergreifenden haben wir eine Note gegeben, an-

sonsten gebe ich überhaupt keine Noten. Ich schreibe eher dazu well done, but you

need further practise und dann schreibe ich ihnen ein paar Kapitel hin, wenn mir ir-

gendetwas auffällt, aber ich versuche immer, bei jeder Arbeit, wenn ich das nachbe-

reite und korrigiere, immer etwas Positives zu finden, weil sie das einfach so brau-

chen. #0:09:18.1#

I: Das heißt, in der Nachbereitung, machen Sie auch eine Art Selbstreflexion?

#0:09.26.4#

93

B: Ja, unbedingt. Ich finde, dass ist ganz, ganz wichtig, damit man da dann auch

weiterarbeiten kann. Weil ich habe auch schon Assignments gehabt, wo ich mir dann

gedacht habe ich weiß nicht, ob ihnen das so gefällt, und es hat ihnen total gut gefal-

len und hin und wieder wenn ich mir denke, das ist aber super und dann kommt es

vielleicht nicht so an. Und bei den Assignments, denke ich mir ist es schon wichtig,

auch dass man es reflektiert und auch pro Klasse, weil es ist ein Unterscheid ob es

mehr Burschen sind oder mehr Mädels, auch von der Thematik, von der Größe der

Gruppe hängt das ab und so weiter. #0:09:57.4#

I: Erfordert der COOL-Unterricht viel Koordinationsarbeit? #0:10:03.8#

B: Ja schon, Koordinationsarbeit, also wenn man fächerübergreifend arbeitet so-

wieso, und Koordination und vor allem Organisation. Also ich muss mir mit den

Schularbeiten genau überlegen, also wir haben ja diese jahrgangsübergreifenden

Schularbeiten, wo ich dann wirklich eben, wir haben das gerade gestern besprochen,

der Wahnsinn, bis dorthin jeder das alles gemacht haben muss, oder Früher habe ich

eben oft Assignments gemacht, also ein Thema, das sonst keiner gemacht hat, weil

ich gewusst habe der Klasse gefällt, dann habe ich eben etwas dazu gemacht. Das

kann ich mir jetzt nicht mehr erlauben, jetzt muss ich eben bei den COOL-Assign-

ments schauen, dass ich diese Bereiche für die Matura, für die Schularbeiten abde-

cke. Also, und das ist auch ein Punkt, an dem viele Lehrer scheitern, weil da muss

man wirklich gut organisiert sein und vor allem langfristig planen. Ich muss immer

schon wieder die nächste Wiederholung planen bzw. anschauen, weil ich die Ter-

mine fixiere, es soll ja nie eine COOL-Stunde sein, man muss schon anders koordi-

nieren und viel weitsichtiger Planen als sonst. #0:10:57.1#

I: Das heißt in dieser Vorbereitung ist man als Lehrer in gewisser Weise ein Koordi-

nator? #0:11:06.6#

94

B: Ja, und man muss auch schauen, dass das Assignment rechtzeitig hochgeladen

ist auf Moodle. Ich meine, das ist keine Arbeit, aber man muss auch daran denken,

dass man es macht. Und vor allem fächerübergreifend ist es eben einfach die Prob-

lematik, dass, so gern man es macht, es ist so schwierig. Wir haben jetzt eben ein

paar Mal im Herbst so ein Start-Up gemacht mit den Dalton Lehrern, da haben wir

wirklich zwei Tage gearbeitet, da haben wir super Assignments gemacht, ansonsten

kommt man nicht dazu, weil der eine hat da Zeit und der nächste hat da Zeit und so-

bald Schulbeginn ist hat sowieso jeder mehr als genug zu tun, das ist echt schwierig.

#0:11:52.7#

I: Wie nehmen denn Ihrer Meinung nach die SchülerInnen Ihre Rolle während so ei-

ner COOL Stunde wahr? #0:12:01.5#

B: (...) Ich glaube auch, anders. Ich glaube, dass sie auch merken, dass man da,

dass sie da auch die Möglichkeit haben über andere Themen zu reden, ich glaube,

das wissen sie auch ganz schnell. Und, ich glaube sie sehen einen da wirklich auch

nicht als den Lehrer, sondern eher als Helfer und Unterstützer. Also dieses Gefühl

habe ich. #0:12:287.5#

(...)

B: Und ich meine, es ist auch ein Unterschied, wie die Klasse, wo heute drei da wa-

ren, da waren in den ersten zwei Jahren die Dalton Stunden wirklich anstrengend.

Und dann waren ein paar dabei, die schon gewusst haben, die ziehen dann die an-

deren mit, da bin ich wirklich marschiert, da ist mir wirklich warm geworden. Jetzt ist

es wirklich eine Erholung, weil die wissen was sie wollen, was sie machen, aber die

ersten zwei Jahre bist du schon ganz schön beschäftigt in diesen Stunden, echt, also

da. Und vor allem sind die Klassen auch noch so groß, das geht ja alles Hand in

Hand und dann, aber jetzt, da ist das alles kein Problem. Ich komme hinein, auch

wenn ich fünf bis zehn Minuten später komme, die sitzen schon bei der Arbeit und es

wird gearbeitet. Das ist einfach lässig. #0:13:53.2#

95

I: Das heißt, nicht nur die Schüler wachsen hinein, sondern auch Sie wachsen immer

mehr in diese Rolle in COOL hinein? #0:13:59.8#

B: Ja, ja sowieso. Also für mich ist das das Beste, und ich mache das seit 1996. Wir

haben 1996 begonnen mit unserer ersten Dalton Klasse und da war ich dabei und

immer, ich war zwischendurch in Karenz, weil ich zwei Kinder habe, aber sonst war

ich immer dabei. Also solange ich an der Schule bin, solange bin ich dabei.

#0:14:28.0#