By Owen Erler

Group work is used often by teachers to encourage teamwork and communication skills. Group work sounds beneficial; students can collaborate and share ideas.  However, Group work often becomes more of a source of stress and frustration for academically motivated students. Working in groups often leads to unfairness and unequal workloads.       

The article “I’m a student. Here’s Why Group Work Feels Unfair” written by a high school senior, explains how group projects regularly result in one or two students doing most of the work. This experience is far too common with students who care about their grades and academic future while others aren’t as invested. When these two types of students are placed in the same group the responsibility lands on those who are more motivated.  Results in these students feeling the pressure while trying to carry the project to completion with their grades on the line.

One major problem with group work is accountability. In many cases teachers give the entire group the same grade regardless of the individual’s effort. The grading system allows students who do very little work benefit from the hard work from others. Overtime it becomes discouraging for the responsible students because in a way they are being taken advantage of.  The article explains that the unfair system can create a domino effect where even the motivated students lose the desire to work hard because they feel their effort is not appreciated or rewarded.          

Another issue is that many group projects are assigned to be completed out of school hours.  Students are more likely to procrastinate when working from home. Without a teacher monitoring the work other members can ignore messages, miss deadlines, or even worse, not work on their parts at all. This leads to the students who care feeling forced to step in and do the others work themselves.  Creates unnecessary stress and on the more motivated students.

Scheduling outside of school meetings is very challenging. Many students play sports, work jobs, or are in clubs. Students with busy schedules struggle to find a time to meet that works for everyone making the collaboration even harder. Assigning individual assignments gives students time control over their own time, allowing them to work at their preferred pace without relying on others.

Instead of eliminating group work completely, teachers can think of different ways to assign the work. The article suggests having group projects only take place during class time where teachers can observe the groups and hold certain students accountable. This would reduce procrastination and ensure that all group members are actively involved. Teachers could also add peer evaluations or individual grades to reflect each of the group members’ efforts.

Mr. Jakobsen, a math teacher at Ponte Vedra High School (PVHS) says that “teaching methods are being transformed for a more collaborative future”.   Adding that working on group work can be difficult and “takes a lot of cohesion to make a group work well together and the skill needs to be learned through mass repetition.”  Group work has the potential to be a different and more enjoyable way to get schoolwork done, but it cannot happen without learning the skills to work together efficiently.

Mr. Diab, science teacher at PVHS response was, “The negatives are that some kids don’t want to do the work, The positive side is that group work helps build communication skills and teaches students how to collaborate.”  Making sure students stay on task during group work can be hard and regulations are needed. “I walk around, ask questions, and assign level appropriate work to make sure students stay on task.” These are the regulations Mr. Diab goes by to make sure everyone is on task during collaborative assignments.

Iltaun Alamdari, a senior at Ponte Vedra Highschool said “Group work gives an opportunity to have more than your own insight on work,”. He says there can be some problems when it comes to group work such as “when teachers let students choose groups it often results in less work being completed.”  On the other hand, “when teachers choose groups it resolves into more work focused conversations and topics.”  Participation in teachers when it comes to these collaborative assignments is needed to keep students on track, unfortunately “teachers do not regulate the work fully and don’t actively participate” Iltaun said.

When students are graded unfairly motivation decreases. Creating systems that recognize individual effort while still promoting the idea of teamwork and developing communication skills can make learning fair and more effective for everyone. Group work does not only occur during school but while working as well. Around 60 percent of workers report that their jobs rely on collaboration with 80 percent saying that teamwork is important. Finding a functioning group work system while in school is important so students can learn how to work together properly for their future.

Graphic by Philip Berkwit