Team learning in teacher teams: team entitativity as a bridge between teams-in-theory and teams-in-practice

Abstract

Team learning in teacher teams: Team entitativity as a bridge between teams--in--theory and teams--in--practice Katrien Vangrieken, Filip Dochy, & Elisabeth RaesAlthough teams are increasingly prevalent in practice and research on teams and team learning is constantly rising, current research appears to focus on 'real teams' that meet certain strict and pre--defined criteria. However, not all teams in all contexts appear to meet these criteria. Teacher teams for example are often not real teams as defined in contemporary team literature and thus this context is underexplored in research on team learning. This paper focuses on these ambiguous teams. It uses the term 'team entitativity' to describe this ambiguity and to present the team concept as a continuum ranging from a mere aggregate of individuals to a real team. This makes it possible to apply 'team learning' frameworks to teams that do not strictly meet predefined team criteria. As such, we investigated the Team Learning Beliefs & Behaviours model to teacher teams in colleges for higher vocational education. The model indicates relations between the team's beliefs about the interpersonal context, team learning behaviours and team effectiveness. Here, team entitativity was included as it shows considerable overlap with the included beliefs. Data were collected from 105 teams (total N = 488 members) and analysed using three--step multilevel analysis that showed that the suggested research model applied to our data.

The role of VET Colleges in stimulating teachers’ engagement in team learning

“…It is not enough that different ideas and information are clarified and that there is mutual understanding: ideas and information also need to be accepted in the team before actions can be taken. If this is the case, teacher teams have reached a mutually shared cognition (Van den Bossche et al, 2006;Vangrieken, Dochy, & Raes, 2016).…”

“…Although team learning seems important for VET teacher teams, simply combining individual teachers in groups such as the formal teacher teams in VET colleges is no guarantee that team learning will occur (Van den Bossche et al, 2006;Vangrieken et al, 2016). For team learning to take place, it seems crucial that teacher teams are not only a formal team in an organisation, but also a real team (Vangrieken et al, 2016).…”

“…For team learning to take place, it seems crucial that teacher teams are not only a formal team in an organisation, but also a real team (Vangrieken et al, 2016). Cohen and Bailey (1997) define a real team as 'a collection of individuals who are interdependent in their task, who share responsibility for outcomes, who see themselves and who are seen by others as an intact social entity embedded in one or more larger social systems ' (p. 241).…”

“…For these reasons, teachers mainly collaborate on practical matters, such as work schedules and existing materials, and are less likely to engage in deeper levels of collaboration such as team learning (Vangrieken et al, 2016;Vangrieken et al, 2015). However, as teachers engage more in team learning if they feel and act more as a real team (Vangrieken et al, 2016), it is important to examine to what extent and how teachers can be stimulated to feel and act as a real team.…”

“…However, as teachers engage more in team learning if they feel and act more as a real team (Vangrieken et al, 2016), it is important to examine to what extent and how teachers can be stimulated to feel and act as a real team.…”