Our colleague may well be able to help . . . It is important to be able to admit weaknesses of this kind both to students and to colleagues - and to go away and find out the answer for next lesson, if necessary. At the same time, the colleague must be tactful in providing help and do nothing to make the teacher up-front look foolish. This last point is one of the keys to making team-teaching work. No matter what a mess one of the teachers might make, the colleague should never intervene unless invited to.
Discretion is essential .
Most important of all, whatever goes on in the class is between the two teachers concerned and the students. Both teachers must have absolute confidence that the other won't talk behind their back. There must be absolute trust. My thanks to Mary Daly and David Hardisty from both of whom I Learnt a great deal about team-teaching when I taught with them. The British Council, registered in England as a charity no. 209131, is the United Kingdom's international network for education, culture and development services.