Teacher's perspective regarding Co-teaching Classes: A qualitative study

Objective: To explore teacher's perspectives regarding co-teaching classes.

Methods: Online interviews of participants were conducted through Zoom meetings at a suitable time the researcher and the participant decided beforehand. Teachers' perspective regarding co-teaching classes were studied. The study design was qualitative, and phenomenological. A purposive sampling technique was opted in which participants involved in co-teaching in the field of medicine for not less than one year were chosen. Data was collected through a semi structured interview, with nine open ended question, after validation from experts.

Results: Thematic analysis of the data was done in three phases. Fifty-three codes were identified from the transcriptions of the interviews in the initial coding. Twelve codes were derived in axial coding and finally, five themes were formed. Overall teachers showed a very positive response towards co-teaching. They discussed a lot of benefits of co-teaching. The opportunities and challenges in the co-teaching classes were also discussed. and most importantly the interaction of the co-teachers in the planning phase of the session, during the class and in the assessment were explored.

Conclusion: Teachers described their experience of co-teaching as productive, pleasant, and enriching. The professional growth of teachers is fostered through co-teaching. Collaborative harmony develops among co-teachers. Teacher's satisfaction also increases by comprehensive knowledge transfer. Although some challenges were faced by teachers in co-teaching classes. The most common challenge of co-teaching was time management. Dominating nature or irresponsible teachers was also a challenge to deal with.