Teamwork and leadership: Manifestation five years after the completion of the induction process of a professional learning community

Abstract

From August 2009 to December 2012 a professional learning community was inducted and developed in a new urban primary school. Simultaneously, an action research study was carried out in the school, in cooperation with external parties and the school leaders. The aim of the research was to establish the effects of leadership on professional development and factors which support this leadership. The research was based on leaders’ ref lections, field observations, interviews and evaluation, and examination of data available at the school. At the end of the research period, results showed that teamwork characterized the work at the school and that teams took on leadership in many ways, together with the school leaders. Many teams could be defined as learning teams characterized by a commitment to collaboration, emphasizing the professional as well as the learning process of their members. This work met with some obstacles but leaders took on their role with resilience, feedback and problem solving as their main resources. Five years later, during the school year of 2017–2018, a follow-up study was carried out at the school, based on focus group interviews with all the teams at the school and an assessment tool for learning communities. The following research questions were posed: What characterizes teamwork and leadership at the school five years after the completion of the induction process of a learning community in 2012? What are the main challenges? Since the original study, the number of pupils at the school has increased at the same time as there have been considerable changes in staff, including a large number of new recruits. Furthermore, a new headmaster has taken over and the team of school leaders has grown. There are now 380 pupils and teachers are 29 at the school. Three of the 11 teachers who were hired when the school was first opened still work there. The school is still characterized by teamwork and its internal structure supports mixed-age teaching and collaboration. Team meetings focus on discussions of, and work on, confidential matters, together with issues regarding trust, teaching plans and student-related issues. The results indicate that the f low of information between teams is limited, as is the involvement and formal support of leaders in teaching. The informants in the study are generally happy with the emphasis on teamwork and believe that the ideology of the learning community is tangible in the school even though the term as such is not used much. Teaching in teams is regarded as a manifestation of a learning community. The study reveals two main trends with regard to the current situation in the school and its main challenges. These are, on the one hand, teamwork, the professional isolation of teams and challenges in leadership, and, on the other, workload, recruitment of new staff and lack of formal mentoring. The teams differ from one another and have developed in various ways. Some of them are quite strong and can be defined as learning teams, while others still have some way to go. Efforts are made at the school towards professional and dispersed leadership but salaries, lack of time and unclear messages from leaders only allow teachers to take on leadership to a limited extent. Constant changes in staff, teaching in mixed-age groups, the fight for improved employment conditions, and challenges to the role of leaders and others increases the pressure on many of the teachers and diminishes their commitment to leadership. School leaders meet once a week with each of the teams. They have also sought external support and advice to solve problems regarding the development of teamwork. However, they take little direct part in teaching and provide limited pedagogical feedback. Teachers are unfamiliar with the science and practice behind the teamwork, and need mentoring. There is a call for formal and professional support in the field, and for opportunities for cooperation in the school, both within teams and between them. The main challenges indicated by the study are: 

• The general strengthening of leadership and the formalisation of flow between teams
• The direct involvement of school leaders in teaching and their provision of feedback toteachers
• Teams’ use of opportunities provided by the structure of the schoolwork to work andlearn with one another
• Ensuring that someone at the school is specialized in mentoring and leads the inductionand development of mentoring in the school.

Even though teams are base units in a PLC and the school is a team school, the teamwork requires further improvement to fulfil the demands for a PLC, which is a high and complicated goal to achieve. Working on the challenges indicated above is a big step towards that goal.