Conference Agenda

Collaboration is accentuated as one of the critical 21st-century skills students need to learn to be best prepared for their future professional and social lives. One reason for the emphasis on collaboration is that today's workplace is structured with teamwork as the basic structure (Deepa & Seth, 2013). A recent study focusing on 21st-century skills for higher education students in EU countries found that employees consider collaboration/teamwork skills one of the essential soft skills that graduates need (Crosta et al.,2023). In higher education, the focus on group learning to learn and develop collaboration skills is growing, and there is a wealth of different approaches, such as cooperative, collaborative, problem-based, and team-based learning (Davidson & Major,2014).

Cooperative learning (CL) is a pedagogical model that can support facilitators of learning to structure students working in small groups for academic and social gains. It is described as an instructional use of small groups where students work together to maximize their learning and others (Johnson et al., 2008). The pedagogical model has a long history and an extensive research base demonstrating its effects (Kyndt et al.,2013; Slavin 2015). Cooperative learning is proposed as suitable for improving university instruction as it is based on validated theory to mediate effective collaboration where the students learn through collaboration and learn to collaborate (Johnson et al., 2014). It is found that CL at the university level is effective for developing students' social skills necessary for teamwork (Mendo-Lázaro et al., 2018).

Johnson et al. (2014) accentuate a conceptual CL approach suitable for improving university instruction. The conceptual approach is based on social interdependence theory (Deutch, 1949), and five validated essential elements must be structured into the learning situation to mediate effective collaboration. The five elements are to ensure the group and its members have positive interdependence, individual accountability, promotive interaction, appropriate use of social skills, and group processing (Johnson et al.,2014). The social interdependence theory, the five elements, and suggested CL procedures provide an integrated system for teachers to organize and design learning in small groups.

Despite the established benefits for students' learning, CL is considered complex, and teachers encounter difficulties implementing the method (Ghaith, 2018; Sharan, 2010). Besides, different group learning approaches are already used in university settings to organize students` working together. Instead of teachers implementing an integrated CL system to organize and design learning in small groups, we believe there is a potential for teachers to inquire into their existing group learning and teamwork practices through the lens of the five elements of CL. It is argued that understanding the five elements allows CL procedures to be designed and, in this way, gives faculty tools to support learning in groups (Johnson et al., 2014).

To our knowledge, there is limited research on how the five elements of CL can be used as a reflective tool to inquire into their existing instructional use of group learning and teamwork in higher education. Often, the focus is on implementing the pedagogical model with a focus on specific methods and CL structures. We believe there is an untapped potential for extending and applying CL as a theory in higher education by inquiring into existing group learning and teamwork practice with a reflective lens using the five elements of CL to support the development of collaboration and teamwork skills.

In this research paper, we explore:

In what ways can the theoretical model of cooperative learning as a reflective lens be used to support the facilitation of teamwork in higher education?

In recent decades people in almost every developed country have experi-enced many rapid changes in society; migration and rapid technological developments. These dramatic changes have influenced adults worldwide with respect to their participation in lifelong learning. As a result great emphasis has been put on adult immigrants to participate in various courses and learning activities (Van Tubergen and Van De Werfhorst, 2007). However, there is ample evidence to show that success in attracting participants from this target group is lacking. One of the challenges lies with women from the Middle East who are scattered around the work market and in society in general. Even though state policies have set out requirements, regarding education for immigrants, and determine the importance of embracing diversity so that immigrants find it easy to integrate to the society and access their chances of participation in daily life, there is a considerable group of adults women, of foreign origin, who has a limited role in participation in the educational activities on offer.
The main purpose of this research is to highlight factors which impede participation and successful completion of courses, among women from the Middle East in lifelong learning courses in Iceland and to investigate how best to meet the variety of these women´s needs, and thus to enhance their access to the community in order to establish a safer community for their children and descendants which allows for the integration of both the existing and new culture. These aspects are an important part of making future developments possible for these women regarding participation and coexistence in the new environment.
The research question is: How do women from the Middle East explain their limited participations in lifelong learning activities in Iceland?

Sociologists have often focused and drawn pictures of how culture, identity, goals, attitudes, values, communication and even what is most important to people in life can vary between cultural areas or periods. They often put specific labels on periods of history that are supposed to describe culture of a certain period and certain groups. Today's society is no exception here, but sociologists' analysis and interpretation of the societies immigrants and refugees enter can help us understand their opportunities, challenges and the way the society reacts toward these vulnerable groups. In this study I outlined the main theories used in the interpretation of the data and their relationship to the research and its subjects. Pierre Bourdieu's theories on social, cultural and economic wealth should first be mentioned (Bourdieu, 1997; 2007), but he believes that individuals within a society are never equal, but possess varying amounts of wealth. which affects their activities and capacity for activities/participation in the society in which they live. I have also relied on Gidden's theories about the importance of education and the responsibilities that lies on both individuals and societies (Giddens, 1998; 2000).

According to his theory, it is an individual's right to have choices and to make his/her own decisions. But they also have to stop and think about the consequences of their decisions. In order to better understand the life and situation of the adult learners and their various need for practicality, I have relied on Knowles' six assumptions about the characteristics of adult students,i.e. how and why some adults take active participations in lifelong learning (Knowles, Holton and Swanson, 2005). Finally, I have used Wlodkowski's ideas about adult educators, and how he considers and interpretes the responsibility and the role of instructors, educational organizers and lifelong learning sectors to make the learning interesting, motivating, effective and accessible to everyone(Wlodkowski, 2007).

The teacher's professional competence is crucial for supporting and developing the increasingly complex skills students need to succeed in a constantly changing society. Professional competence is linked to how teachers learn and how they apply knowledge in practice to promote pupils' learning (Avalos, 2011). In the last 20 years, the focus has shifted from individualized to collective professional learning (Vangrieken & Kyndt, 2020). Nevertheless, there are many indications that schools struggle to facilitate collective learning. The Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) reports few changes to the collaboration among teachers from 2013-2018 (OECD, 2020), and the learning activities of teachers are mainly individual when they participate in school-based professional development (Solheim et al., 2018). Establishing professional learning communities in upper secondary schools is particularly challenging (Aas & Vennebo, 2021). This is linked to the size of the schools, which are often organized with more or less autonomous departments. The teachers are characterized by a large degree of autonomy and a weak tradition of cooperation (Huffman et al., 2016).

Desimone (2009) identifies five characteristics of teachers' learning: content focus, active learning, coherence, collective participation and that the development of competence takes place over time. Collective participation seems to be important, something that is also emphasized in the review study of Darling-Hammond et al. (2017). Collaboration and a positive collaborative climate are emphasized together with the use of modeling of effective practice, coaching, and expert support with opportunities for feedback, guidance and joint reflection. Thus, learning is strongly linked to content and context. Social participation as a learning process is central to Wenger's theory of learning (2003). Hargreaves & Fullan (2012) use the term social capital when they highlight the potential that lies in teachers cooperating and learning from each other. The social capital is the cornerstone in developing and changing the teaching profession, and can be developed by the teachers gaining access to the human capital of their colleagues. This means that arenas need to be created to develop collective learning communities. In that context, school leaders can support collaborative processes and promote the development of a professional learning community by focusing on content, clarifying roles and goals, and providing structural support (Hargreaves & Fullan, 2012; Timperley et al., 2007). Robinson (2014) specifies five leadership dimensions that affect the school's results: establishing goals and expectations, strategic use of resources, ensuring quality of teaching, leading teachers' learning, and ensuring a safe learning environment. Sølvik and Roland (2022) shine a spotlight on the complexity of leading collective professional learning in schools and realizing management theory in practice. They argue that leaders must provide collective direction, systematically follow up and adapt collective learning processes over time. This involves systems thinking and sensitivity to the school context, which Paulsen (2019) also emphasizes when he uses the term strategic school leadership.

Based on the premise that workplace-based competence development is a collective form of learning with the potential to promote collective learning and school development (Hargreaves & O'Connor, 2018), we have in recent years had several major national initiatives in Norway. In this paper, we take one of these initiatives as our point of departure: "Yrkesfaglærerløftet. Strategi for fremtidens fagarbeidere. Kunnskapsdepartementet." (YFL) (KD, 2015). The intention of this initiative is to increase academic quality and strengthen the education. It is assumed that at least three teachers from each school take part in the same further education, and compulsory work requirements will contribute to knowledge sharing in their own collegium (Directorate of Education, 2016). We ask: How can participation in further education for vocational teachers contribute to promoting teachers' professional competence?