If A Student Helps Another, Is It Cheating?

One of the thoughts that came out of my most recent observation was the notion that having students help each other was not cheating.

It made me pause a bit.  I had not really given it much thought about how different a test was from real work situations, but it is true.  Throughout my career, in each of the different fields I have worked, we were always encouraged to ask for help and to help others.

But school has always been different.  There we are constantly being measured and observed.  Our work is to be our own, not that of our neighbor.  In this case, it makes sense that we should not necessarily collaborate.  Unless, that was part of the activity.

However, non-collaboration (meaning having someone help you is cheating) does have a place in the real world.  What comes to my mind are job interviews.  There you are on your own, completely, and you need to be able to perform so that your future boss can see that you are exactly what he or she needs.  This working-under-pressure that we learn from tests can go quite far to helping us to get a job.

Now then, when I provide any instruction, what sort of teacher will I be?  Will I want each student to learn alone, be pushed and stretched so they can pass any interview, or would I prefer to let them collaborate, grade them as a group (if necessary), and prepare them for the actual work by teaching them how to work in a team?

Likely a mix of both, leaning more towards the group or team work.  There will need to be some work that they do by themselves, but I intend that people under my instruction learn how to work as a team and to share the responsibility for both good and bad.