TY - JOUR
T1 - Working beyond disciplines in teacher teams
T2 - teachers' revelations on enablers and inhibitors
AU - Meeuwissen, Stephanie N. E.
AU - Gijselaers, Wim H.
AU - Wolfhagen, Ineke H. A. P.
AU - Oude Egbrink, Mirjam G. A.
N1 - data source: data is not public or retrievable, given privacy with the qualitative raw data. This is also stated in the ethical application.
PY - 2021/1
Y1 - 2021/1
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
KW - Health professions education
KW - Integrated curricula
KW - Interdisciplinary teacher teams
KW - Team learning
KW - FACULTY-DEVELOPMENT
KW - MEDICAL-EDUCATION
KW - PATIENT-CARE
KW - LEADERSHIP
KW - CULTURE
KW - COLLABORATION
KW - CURRICULUM
KW - TEAMWORK
KW - QUALITY
U2 - 10.1007/s40037-020-00644-7
DO - 10.1007/s40037-020-00644-7
M3 - Article
C2 - 33351174
SN - 2212-2761
VL - 10
SP - 33
EP - 40
JO - Perspectives on Medical Education
JF - Perspectives on Medical Education
IS - 1
ER -