Attitudes facilitating cooperative learning

In the following we shall consider the already mentioned most important attitudes needed for cooperative learning structures. Here, attitude refers to the opinion, approach and complex perceptions a teacher has regarding learning and teaching, which also implies assessment and emotional components²². It is one attitude to consider the role of the teacher as primarily an information provider, and it is a different attitude to think that the skills to collect and analyse information have priority. In the first case we consider the personal qualities of the teacher and her performance as a lecturer as a merit, while in the second case, we value the progress those participating in learning make in collecting and analysing information.

In a sense this change of attitude can also be the key to cooperative learning structures.

Although cooperative structures themselves imply the guarantee for the implementation of cooperative situations, the increased density of interpersonal relations (see simultaneous interactions) in a classroom can frequently lead to situations to be solved in small groups (e.g. one of the groups do not understand the task or a conflict arises because someone is not approved of, etc.). To solve such questions, you need some sort of cooperative attitude toolkit, which can make the functioning and success of cooperative structures valid, especially in such situations. The list below is not exhaustive, here we intended to outline a comprehensive set of cooperative attitudes that can easily be translated into practice.

Knowledge is the collective creation of mankind

This approach views human knowledge as the collectively created tradition of mankind. It does not involve the nature of knowledge, whether it is secret or public, scientific of religious, etc. Instead, it strives to remain open towards accessible and emerging knowledge and, for the sake of developing the cooperative learning community, to make such knowledge accessible for the individuals. Such knowledge or learning is one’s native tongue and cultural heritage. The language and culture one

22 Aronson also has the same definition in his seminal work: A társas lény (Közgazdasági és Jogi Könyvkiadó,

brings from home, the various individual attainments and proficiencies are all building stones of learning, whether we pay attention to it during teaching and learning, or not. This cooperative approach, which focuses on collective creation, calls our attention to the fact, that in the case cooperative learning structures we, if possible, need to structure the processes of learning in a way that would incorporate individual knowledge and attainment as well as the cultural values represented by individuals. What is more, in the course of learning these values should be built upon. For a cooperative teacher the diversity of knowledge in his class is like a “goldmine”, because using cooperative structures, this cultural and knowledge diversity can be metamorphosed into a cooperative learning polyphony.

Access to knowledge is the fundamental right of everyone

The principle of sovereignty declares that the power of the state shall be exercise by the people.

One of the instruments to achieve this is universal and secret suffrage. If, on the basis of this, we assume that through their autonomous and conscious decisions people are able to exercise the power assigned to them by the principle of sovereignty, then we need to guarantee that everyone should have equal opportunity to participate in the processes of learning. If everyone may have access to, for example, the common knowledge taught in schools, then he will make his individual and conscious decisions – that might concern the community – in a more reasonable way. It is therefore necessary to make the access to knowledge intended to be known by every individual a fundamental right for all of us. This attitude believes that in the field of education – especially in public education – it is essential to examine if, as a result of the various teaching activities, everyone has had adequate access to common knowledge and if they are able to orient in an autonomous way and successfully follow their well-founded individual plans in the right directions (general knowledge, professional knowledge in line with his individual interest, qualifications, etc.). This means that we do not investigate how the teacher and some “good students” get on with the “material”, but whether everyone progresses according to their individual aptitude, knowledge and ideas.

Access to knowledge should be guaranteed for everyone

If we apply concrete and practical cooperative principles we can represent this approach effectively, efficiently and in an equitable way. The flexible and open structures, the simultaneous interaction involving everyone, the equal participation, the personal responsibility and accountability, the continuous cooperative publicity of groups, the conscious development of personal and social competencies and cognitive-learning competencies set out a clear and practical framework for the teaching activity defined step-by-step. In this respect we might also say that a cooperative teacher structures the publicity of knowledge accessible by everyone through his teaching process.

Learning should originate from the individual wishing to learn

If someone has no wish to learn, if no essential interest or curiosity emerges regarding the topic, then it is very difficult to ensure essential learning for her. Getting to know the students and helping them voice their intentions and doubts may give us ideas regarding how to raise or follow the various individual interests. The self-realisation tendency of Rogers can involve the individuals who take part in learning only by progressing towards and solving problems that are considered essential. This attitude calls the attention to the fact that the students stand in the centre of learning and that the most important activity is to get to know them in an objective and efficient way.

Judging against the “master”-centred approach of pedagogy (e.g. sage, guru, etc.), the attention is not focused on the teacher but on the student and therefore the attention of the students is also focused mainly on one another and on themselves.

Everyone operates an individual and complex knowledge construction

Although human knowledge is common, the knowledge of each individual is quite different. The structure, defining principles, forms and ways of expression of an individual’s knowledge are influenced by several factors, however this time, we are not interested in the complexity of this concept of knowledge construction. The practical message of the attitude we outlined is rather that we must see the following clearly: everyone’s knowledge is different and it stays like this forever.

The aim of cooperative learning is therefore not the homogenization of individual knowledge but the integration of them into the tradition of human learning. For the acquisition and use of scientific knowledge (social sciences, humanities, science, etc.), the levels of requirements can be defined, however, it is a different question who achieves these levels and how, and also in what direction he sets out from there. Not to mention the fact that in the case of learning art, aesthetics and philosophy, besides the effects that can be described by scientific tools, we can also talk about progress that can be better grasped through a discourse envisaged outside the scope of science (e.g.

aesthetics). For a cooperative teacher the most important task is to explore the individual ways and to assist those efficiently and effectively so that everyone may reach the general level of requirements, the general development of their abilities in an autonomous way.

Empathy also needs to be expressed through cooperative learning

It is vital that the participants of cooperative learning (teachers, students) should not only get to know the knowledge, interests and states of mind of one another, but also recognize and feel each other’s emotions and scruples. Our emotional life, personal and social skills may have a crucial impact on our future career. It is not enough just to recognize the feelings of others, we need to express these recognitions towards our peers with empathy. If someone sees that her partner empathizes with her keeping a sincere eye on how she feels, then, as a result of such reflections, she is able to define her feelings and react to them more precisely. The recognition, expression, comprehension and regulation of emotions has become an independent scientific field within psychology (researching emotional intelligence) and provides ample evidence that it is the state of emotional intelligence of people which has a crucial contribution to happiness in life.

The organisers and the participants of learning should be understanding

If our starting point is the individual, we need to learn to accept what we learn of others. What counts is not forcing our students to adopt a suitable attitude but to get to know and understand the real attitude of them so that we can adjust our teaching practice in a cooperative way. This attitude is not guided by the nature of the relationship the teacher has with learning or with his subject – actually, we can expect a teacher to be on the level of a “candidate master” -, instead, the teacher turns his attention to understanding what he learned of his students and accept those as their actual condition so he can structure the processes of cooperative learning according to the real situation.

Behavioural congruence is most effective in cooperative situations

The words of empathy become truly sincere and the participants of cooperative learning will feel accepted only when “the mouth says what the head and the heart feels” (Imre Montágh). This is congruence. That is, students believe that someone is truly understanding and has empathy only if that person herself is credible and accepts her own feelings, doubts and lack of knowledge the same way that she expects her students to act. We saw at Rogers that this meant that the person realises her feelings and acts in accordance with her recognized emotional state of mind. In the beginning congruent behaviour may be a question of one’s conscious decision even if he does not possess congruent patterns of behaviour. This time we begin to pay conscious attention to our emotional messages. As long as we do not recognize our own feelings, we cannot be truly empathic, since as

long as we do not recognize the feelings we have, say repressed anger, there is not much chance to recognize those of others. Congruence is a skill which can be practiced consciously but in the beginning we need to acquire the attitude of “striving for congruence”. Berne calls the mutually congruent interactions “game-free intimacy”. When, for example, someone does not play the “ideal teacher” and is able to enter a learning situation without any play-acting. To reach congruence Rogers provides the necessary conditions, as we have discussed above, while Gordon elaborates the techniques to be used in practice. It is especially from the perspective of congruence that Gordon talks about stating responsibility in connection with, for example, the I-statement, explaining that through an I-statement the teacher takes responsibility for his feelings (e.g. for his anxiety over the lack of success), that are otherwise kept in secret.

Learning-centred flexibility

In the processes of cooperative learning structures learning is always in the centre. Along the cooperative principles and attitudes and according to the needs and recognized wants of the participants we can shape the tools of development and the cooperative structures in a flexible way.

It is especially important to understand that even if we are one of the organisers of learning, we do not always have to find out everything. It is not our teaching or learning that is in the centre, but instead, the learning activity of the cooperative community of learners. The community produces a great deal of creativity in the course of cooperative learning and it is practical to build upon this when we implement flexible cooperative corrections. If we take the ideas of the participants into consideration they will be increasingly autonomous in organising their own learning, because they can test their ideas in practice. The most crucial question for the teacher structuring learning in any established teaching situation is the following: How can we all learn from this?

Autonomy in learning

If we manage to harmonise the personal, social and learning competencies of the participants according to cooperative principles and improve them for the sake of cooperation, then, in the course of our cooperative learning, autonomous and cooperative learning communities are born consisting of people who are able to learn on their own. It is practical to immediately bear in mind the autonomy achieved in learning and consider it as a vital value. It is not the pace, the degree and the level of requirements that matter, as these are only tools to achieve our aims. In the processes of academic knowledge acquisition the emphasis is placed on establishing and cultivating the ability to develop on your own. For the sake of this we should regard the small groups as autonomous and independent, who are also able to organise their work. It may be, however, that in the beginning they are not yet able to cooperate in an efficient and equitable way, but if we find this out together, we can already help them develop the necessary skills, so that they can achieve independence in their own learning as soon as possible. On the other hand, this independence, this tendency of self-realization is given in every person as it was proved by the research of Rogers as early as in the 1960s. However, this tendency of self-actualization must be rid of the “psychological silt deposited on it” so that the individual can develop himself within his community.

Attitude expecting the achievement of a more cooperative situation

Cooperative learning structures originate from the fact, proved by psychological research, that the competencies assisting our cooperation can be developed successfully till the end of our life. Thus, a cooperative teacher approaches any non-cooperative learning situation with an attitude which assumes the clear possibility of achieving a more cooperative situation. That is, the cooperative attitude is not about hoping but approaching the teaching situation by considering the question of how it can be made more cooperative. Teachers may use these attitudes and cooperative principles and roles as guidance.