Professional Isolation and Imposed Collaboration in Teachers’ Work

Teachers’ work has been looked upon as work in isolation (Sarason, 1971; Lieberman and Miller, 1990). The isolation is said to be one of the reasons why teachers have had difficulties in handling new demands in their work. Many causes have been identified why the isolation started to grow and how it persists and resists efforts to reduce it. One factor which helps the isolation is the architecture of schools; another is the socialization of new teachers (Lortie, 1975).