Developing Teamwork Competencies Through Collaborative Technologies in Uzbekistan’s 4+2 Dual Teacher-Education Model

Abstract

The increasing integration of university education and workplace-based learning has created new demands for teacher education systems, particularly in relation to students’ ability to collaborate, communicate, assume responsibility, and respond flexibly to authentic professional situations. This article examines the development of teamwork competencies through collaborative technologies within Uzbekistan’s emerging 4+2 dual teacher-education model. The study conceptualizes dual teacher education not simply as a redistribution of time between university and school, but as a collaborative learning environment in which teacher educators, school mentors, student teachers, and pupils participate in interconnected professional-learning processes. Drawing on an experimental methodological framework involving students enrolled in pedagogy and primary education programs, the study identifies four core dimensions of teamwork competence: active participation, communication, responsibility, and conflict management and cooperation. A combination of observation, peer assessment, reflective journals, role-based tasks, scenario-based activities, interviews, and classroom video analysis was employed. The formative intervention incorporated collaborative learning, peer teaching, project-based learning, flipped classroom, gamification, authentic school-based instruction, and two locally developed methods, “Knowledge Collection” and “Power of the Team.” Two digital tools, the proposed “HamkorTa’lim” mobile application and “GeoEducationBot” Telegram bot, were conceptualized as mechanisms for communication, assignment management, monitoring, feedback, and coordination between universities and schools. The analysis suggests that collaborative technologies are most effective when they are embedded within structured pedagogical relationships rather than introduced as technological tools alone. The study argues that the principal contribution of the 4+2 model lies in creating a “third space” between university and school in which theoretical knowledge, professional practice, peer collaboration, and digital communication are continuously connected. The article concludes with implications for teacher education reform in Uzbekistan and other Asian contexts where dual and work-integrated models are increasingly being explored.