Working beyond disciplines in teacher teams: teachers’ revelations on enablers and inhibitors

Abstract

Introduction Health professions education faces transitions from monodisciplinary to integrated education and from soloist teachers to interdisciplinary teacher teams. Interdisciplinary teamwork has been found complex and prone to conflict. Teachers’ perceptions of why some teams work and learn as a real interdisciplinary team and others do not are lacking in this setting. We studied the factors that teachers perceive as enabling and/or inhibiting interdisciplinary team learning. Methods In this exploratory, qualitative study, we conducted 17 semi-structured, vignette-guided interviews with teachers recruited from diverse disciplines in undergraduate health professions programmes at Maastricht University, the Netherlands, through maximum variation sampling. Team learning research informed data collection and template analysis. Results We identified three themes representing the factors that teachers perceived to influence interdisciplinary team learning: ‘alignment/misalignment with the educational philosophy’ (regarding personal attributes, tendencies and motivation), ‘leadership practices’ (encompassing team vision, responsibility and reflection), and ‘involvement in organisational processes’ (covering organisational decision-making, support and learning opportunities). For interdisciplinary team learning in development of integrated education, teachers emphasised their personal ability to move beyond disciplinary boundaries. Shared team leadership enabled the creation of a shared vision, shared responsibility, and team reflection. Lastly, teacher involvement in educational management, peer support and learning was considered important. Discussion To work beyond disciplines in health professions education, teachers should take an interest in integrated education, share responsibility and work in an environment where people continuously learn from others. Organisations can facilitate this by involving teachers in decision-making processes and providing faculty development aimed to foster shared leadership and team reflection.

Enhancing Team Learning through Leader Inclusiveness: A One-Year Ethnographic Case Study of an Interdisciplinary Teacher Team

“…11 What also came to the fore from our previous research was the crucial role the team leader plays in mediating the team success. 18 We saw a need to explore how team leaders orchestrate successful teamwork in current medical education, allowing team members to unlock their full potential and unique capacities. 19 To address this research gap, we undertook a longitudinal ethnographic case study of a successful interdisciplinary teacher team, zooming in on leadership behavior.…”

“…For instance, the environment must be psychologically safe so that team members feel free to share and discuss, 20 all team members must take an effort to cross their disciplinary boundaries to accomplish tasks, 23 and the team leader must possess qualities that promote team learning. 18 By exhibiting inclusiveness behavior, team leaders can create such psychological safety: 17,20 They can invite and include voices and perspectives that might otherwise be absent in discussions and decision-making, 20,24,25 allowing team members to become engaged and be committed to work together. 18,20,26 The following example from a pioneering study on team learning processes illustrates that, even though team performance relies heavily on team processes, the leader's behavior is just as important: A lead surgeon told his team tasked with implementing an innovative cardiac surgery technology that: "you have to make this work together".…”

“…18 By exhibiting inclusiveness behavior, team leaders can create such psychological safety: 17,20 They can invite and include voices and perspectives that might otherwise be absent in discussions and decision-making, 20,24,25 allowing team members to become engaged and be committed to work together. 18,20,26 The following example from a pioneering study on team learning processes illustrates that, even though team performance relies heavily on team processes, the leader's behavior is just as important: A lead surgeon told his team tasked with implementing an innovative cardiac surgery technology that: "you have to make this work together". Rather than emphasizing experts' individual contributions, he made it clear that it was all about what the team would be able to accomplish.…”

Global Classroom: Internationalization for Undergraduate Students Amid the Pandemic

“…We believe that although the Acceptance of differences was the topic with the lowest mentions in the description of learnings, as some authors named intercultural education and interdisciplinarity require effort and training, besides the motivation to develop empathy (Patterson et al, 2018;Meeuwissen et al, 2020).…”

“…Professional training is regularly done in a specific disciplinary framework, interacting outside those limits is one goal of transdisciplinary (Kiewt & Barrantes, 2018). Achieving interdisciplinarity in learners of the XXI century has become a necessity (Meeuwissen et al, 2020).…”