Walking the talk: the dynamic of sustainable team relationships in teacher education

Abstract

This paper describes the multi-dimensional phenomenon of team work as understood and experienced by the Faculty of Education team at Fraser Coast campus of the University of Southern Queensland. Anecdotal evidence from varied sources and over the past several years suggests that the education team is a highly successful unit that produces quality student learning outcomes. The main aim of this research was to investigate the essence of what makes this an effective higher education team, in order to develop a conceptual model for sustainable team relationships specifically in the context of teacher education, but which could have applicability more broadly to other higher education contexts. This paper begins by examining and evaluating the international and national literature with regards to teamwork in educational contexts. The phenomenon of reflective practice between and amongst team members has to date not been well researched. This paper seeks to provide a perspective on the phenomenon as it is experienced by this group of teacher educators. The study found that effective functioning of this team involved three main dimensions of activity: relaxed informality, dedicated professionalism and supportive respect.