Talk, planning and decision‐making in interdisciplinary teacher teams: a case study

Abstract

A diverse range of social structures, for instance teacher teams, professional communities and teacher learning communities, are established to advance collaboration among teachers. In Norway, Interdisciplinary Teacher Teams (ITTs) have become a common way of organising teachers in schools, recommended in a national curriculum reform in 1997. This study explores the internal structure, social meaning and potential resources for learning and development inherent in the planning and coordination of work in ITT meetings. Most studies of teacher teams as well as teacher learning communities are based on teachers’ experiences, expressed in interviews or surveys. The focus of this study is not on what teachers say about teams, but on what teachers say in teams. While most studies have addressed within‐department, subject‐specific teams, this study focuses on interdisciplinary teams. Team‐talk in two ITTs in two different lower secondary schools in Norway has been videotaped and analysed. Four patterns of interaction have been identified – preserving individualism: renegotiating individual autonomy and personal responsibility; coordination: assuring the social organisation of work; cooperation: creating a shared object or enterprise; and sharing: clarifying pedagogical motives. The study illustrates patterns in team‐talk, conceptualises the processes of decision‐making that take place in these ITTs and identifies resources for learning and development inherent in certain forms of interaction. The study contributes to the research literature by both focusing on the details of the interaction in team meetings and analysing the dynamics of the group interaction in the perspective of the situatedness and the object‐orientation of team‐talk.