Teamteaching, eine Leadershipaufgabe der Schulleitung?

Einblicke in eine qualitative Interviewstudie mit Schulleiter:innen

Abstract

Since 2012, team teaching has played a central role in core subjects at Austrian secondary schools. High expectations are placed on this concept, especially with regard to improving teaching in heterogeneous learning groups. From a school organisational perspective, the literature often refers to school leadership and its actions for the implementation and realisation of successful team teaching settings. With this in mind, this article examines how school leaders perceive their role in implementing team teaching in their schools and what they see as the conditions for successful implementation. In order to answer this question, a qualitative interview study was conducted with seven school leaders, which was analysed using structured content analysis. The results show, among other things, that the principals interviewed see their role primarily as an organiser and conflict solver rather than as a (co)creator. For them, the selection of suitable tandems and the provision of sufficient time resources for planning and organising team teaching are key success factors. Furthermore, it is clear that a systematic integration of team teaching into school development planning and a stronger orientation of school leadership towards pedagogical innovation processes can contribute to a sustainable improvement in the quality of teaching. This requires that team teaching is understood not only as an organisational element, but also as a strategic instrument of school development, closely linked to overarching goals of school quality and teacher development. The study thus shows the potential of a stronger focus on team teaching in the context of broader school development processes that go beyond pure organisation. Finally, in the light of the results of this study, implications for the further development of team teaching settings are discussed, both from the perspective of school leadership and from the perspective of teacher education and its elements of collaborative professional theory.