Two teachers clash over their teaching styles. How can you help them find common ground?

Meet with each teacher individually to understand their perspectives, priorities, and challenges. Identify areas of overlap, such as desired learning outcomes or effective classroom management techniques. Then, facilitate a collaborative discussion where they can share their strengths and explore how to integrate complementary approaches. The goal is to build consensus on how to deliver the curriculum in a way that benefits all students.

To address the clash between two teachers, first understand their individual teaching styles and the educational needs of their students. Arrange meetings with each teacher to listen to their perspectives and concerns, ensuring both feel heard and valued. Recognize the strengths in each approach and explore how they can be integrated into a cohesive teaching strategy. Identify common objectives and outcomes for their students, creating a foundation for collaboration and improved educational outcomes.

A recent email from a discouraged teacher has me thinking about one particular subject–when teaching styles clash. You know what I mean. You’ve got a tried and true method of teaching but someone you work with, like a supervisor, wants to take a different tack. It’s enough to make you want to drop the Crayons and walk away.But well everyone is different and so are the style of teaching

I think it’s good when teachers have distinct styles even when they clash. It’s not about which one is better than the other, but how can the teaching style be leveraged to support the students. That’s is where the audit come in to its own.

The two styles will most certainly have positive points, a good solution is to highlight them while talking to both teachers, helping them understand that instead of arguing about styles they can work together and combine both styles to come out either way and even better one.

Mediating conversations and helping each person understand where the other person is coming from is crucial. The key objective is to get away from the idea that one style is better than another the other, but to move towards how can we help the students most.

Time is often something which is precious in the school environment, so leaders should recognise the value of giving teachers space to have these discussions. Plus modelling the discussion and the discussion outcomes can be very helpful for teachers who are having difficulty communicating.

After listening to the teacher's opinion regarding the expected goals in the learning being implemented, we need to take steps to get a solution in subsequent learning practices. Apart from the immediate solutions that we can provide after listening to both perspectives, we also need to get various long-term views that can increase teachers' knowledge and creativity in teaching. Of course, this involves carrying out professional development for teachers to gain a broader perspective and hopefully get a long-term solution. For example, about collaborative learning which involves students and teachers or developing teamwork to increase unity in team which is carried out creatively and interestingly.