The Impact of Cooperative Group Work on Ethnic Relations in Middle School

Abstract

The potential of an enhanced Cooperative Group Work (CGW) curriculum to increase liking of classmates, reduce sociometric rejection and prejudiced or stereotypically negative attitudes to other ethnic groups, was evaluated with 8and 9-year-olds in three urban middle schools. The main ethnic mix was of white and Asian pupils. In each school, one class followed a normal curriculum (NC) through the school year, another matched class experienced the CGW intervention. The teachers with CGW classes were given in-service training, and used CGW for a minimum of one hour per day. Assessments were made at three time points. The CGW techniques used through the year employed a variety of methods, including trust-building exercises, problem-solving groups, role-playing, discussion groups and reportback sessions. Debriefing sessions were important opportunities for the teachers to discuss difficulties or conflicts and help children resolve them. The results were similar in the three schools. After the intervention, the children who had experienced CGW tended to like each other more, irrespective of race and gender, and to give more positive behavioural nominations to other-race classmates. There were some increased cross-race preference choices from test assessments. There were also some reductions in negative stereotypes of other ethnic groups. These were not generally found in the children in the NC classes. The findings vary in size and significance level, but form a consistent pattern suggesting that the CGW intervention had a positive impact on social relationships in the multi-ethnic classroom.