What characteristics make the best and the worst teacher collaborators? A case study in Serbia

Teaching is one of the most demanding but also one of the most important jobs. Apart from the students who are the main focus of this professional occupation, certain factors can make this job better, or even worse: colleagues. For this reason, professional collaboration between teachers is very important. Teacher collaboration involves teachers working together to lead, instruct, and mentor students to improve student learning and achievement. Effective collaboration is established when teachers work together, which helps boost staff morale and provides teachers with a supportive and enriching working environment. The objective of the research was to detect and analyse the teachers' perception of what is a "good" and a "bad" teacher they would like/dislike to collaborate with. The research methods used in the preparation of the paper were: analytical, synthetic, descriptive, comparative, statistical (SPSS 23.0), and critical. The paper was written based on data obtained from a survey conducted among teachers in October 2021 during a workshop within the Mentor training project in Serbia. The paper shows the characteristics of teachers that make them good for cooperation. Collaborators who do not possess favorable traits are also clearly defined. The data are in line with previous research. The results of the study will be significant for further research that will concern cooperation among teachers, their likeable and dislikeable qualities and the good results they should achieve.