Teamwork In Schools Research Articles

Translating Teamwork into School Effectiveness: A Systematic Review of Two Decades of Research

<p style="text-align:justify">Over the last two decades, research has reached the conclusion that educator teamwork is necessary to ensure the achievement of school goals. No attempts, however, have been made to provide integrative evidence regarding its contribution to school effectiveness. To fill this void, the authors review two decades of professional team research in the context of schools. Specifically, the article has two objectives: (1) To review the existing conceptualizations of the terms 'team' and 'teamwork' in the school context; (2) To provide a systematic review of the impact of teamwork on school effectiveness. The systematic search resulted in 23 papers reporting three non-empirical and 20 empirical studies. The results of the review revealed a lack of agreement concerning the conceptualization of the terms 'team' and 'teamwork', which may affect comparability among studies. Furthermore, no comprehensive picture emerges regarding the consequences of teamwork for the individual teacher, the team, or the school as a whole. Indeed, studies refer to a wide range of variables within different contexts and configurations. This review contributes several important insights that may set the agenda for the next wave of research on teamwork in schools.</p>

Perceptions of Teamwork in Schools of Nursing.

Characteristics of high-performing teams include shared purpose, clear vision, strong leadership, and the ability to use conflict management when needed. While many individuals who teach in schools of nursing come from the clinical setting where teamwork is normative, that same expectation of teamwork may not be present for the faculty as a whole. This study assessed perceptions of teamwork among faculty members in schools of nursing in 4 states in the Midwestern region of the United States. Perception of teamwork, related to communication, leadership, team structure, situation monitoring, and mutual support, was examined using a modified TeamSTEPPS Teamwork Perceptions Questionnaire. Perceptions of teamwork were highest for team structure and leadership, whereas communication, situation monitoring, and mutual support were lower. In addition, teamwork dimension scores were higher for those who previously participated in teamwork training. There are opportunities to improve teamwork in all domains. Teamwork skills are transferrable to different roles and across various situations; therefore once learned and fostered, these can impact the individual as well as improve the organizational climate.

Social Educator’s Attitude to Team Activity in School

Social educators, by providing social and educational assistance to students and by organizing social education in schools, achieves the best results by working in teams of specialists with appropriate communication and collaboration skills and able to respond flexibly to the changing needs of learners and the specific situation. Social educators in schools usually play role of the initiator of team building. Purpose of this article is to reveal the attitudes of the social educator’s to team activity in school. The method of scientific literature analysis was used. This paper describes research data, which were collected through written survey method. In order to reveal the attitudes to team activity in school of social educator’s a structured questionnaire was developed. The questionnaire consisted of 22 items, demonstrating social educators’ attitudes to teamwork in schools, 11 statements that reveal the school principals’ behavior and attitude towards teamwork in school, 11 statements that reveal the social capacity of educators to work in a team and a block of statements to gather contextual information. Likert scale was used in assessment of statements. The study involved 248 Lithuanian general education school social educators. With each respondent were contacted via email and asked to participate in the study. The questionnaires were sent to the respondents and receive from them by e-mail. The study was conducted in school year 2011/2012. All 248 completed questionnaires have been used by the data analysis.The survey results revealed that:Socio-educational assistance to students in schools or the social process of social educational in schools usually involves teams. Social educator usually plays the team builder’s initiator’s role in schools.Social educators are satisfied with their daily activities. Thy and their opinion are appreciated in school. On the view of social educators, school community is open to teamwork: community discusses and speaks about the problems; the school staff is ready to help and assist their colleagues. School leaders supports team activities in schools; promote the creativity of school community, gives freedom to act.Social educators consider the importance of their personal planning, the proper functioning in unexpected situations and problem-solving skills that are necessary regardless of whether the work is individuall or teamwork. Social educators consider also the importance of ability to help others, to discuss argumentatively, to engage others to common activities, to coordinate the group (a few people) activities. These abilities are very important and necessary for teamwork in school. School educators would like to improve conflict situations solutions skills, engaging others to common activities skills, and proper functioning in unexpected situations skills, that are very important for teamwork.

Education Managers’ Perceptions of Teamwork: A Pilot Case Study in the Nkangala District, South Africa

The objectives of the pilot case study carried out in the Nkangala District in South Africa were two- fold: Firstly, to determine whether a quantitative measuring instrument could be designed to measure the perceptions of education managers on teamwork in schools; secondly, to determine teamwork training needs of school managers through the application of the instrument. The questionnaire administered to 23 education managers determined their perceptions and training needs in ten aspects of teamwork identified through a literature study. The results for five aspects are presented in the article, while the rest are shortly summarised. The analysis results on scale reliability proved it was possible to design and test manager perception trends reliably, which could then be used to determine training needs in effective teamwork.

Resigned Compliance

This article reports on the introduction of performance-related pay (PRP) in schools in Wales. Specifically, it evaluates the attitudes of teachers to PRP by means of a large-scale questionnaire survey. The results suggest a strong antipathy to PRP for school teachers on the basis that it would be divisive and difficult to implement. In particular, teachers felt that it would be problematic to isolate the performance of individual teachers and deleterious to collegiality and teamwork in schools. Moreover, teachers were critical of the methods of assessment, differences between schools, the potential for subjectivity and favouritism, the negative effect on morale and the bureaucratic burden.

Structural antecedents and psychological correlates of teacher empowerment

Empowered teachers participate in critical decisions that directly affect teaching and learning. Empowering work environments may enhance professionalism, facilitate teacher leadership, improve the quality of work life, and enable effective implementation of school reform. Process‐based views of empowerment suggest associations between school organizational structures and teacher empowerment, while psychological perspectives on empowerment suggest potential relationships between the phenomenon and cognitive and affective outcomes. Empowerment is considered in terms of teams and teamwork in schools, and relationships between empowerment and commitment to the school are examined.

Extending teamwork in schools

There is widespread agreement that teams form an increasingly important part of life in schools. Whereas individuals used to assume responsibility for managing resources, planning the curriculum and organising major events, such responsibilities now fall often into the domain of groups of staff. But have schools given sufficient thought to what teamwork involves and how it must be nurtured? This article attempts to answer this question and to examines the benefits that might accrue from adopting team approaches to school management. It suggests there are several critical issues schools, as organisations, must address if they are to enable effective teamwork to take place. Without the right form of support, it is argued that teamwork can be little more than a token form of democracy, and if schools are to optimise their use of teams, they must face up to some of the inconsistencies evident in their structures, systems and processes.