Team Role Dynamics in Collaborative Research Teams: A Key to Participatory School Development

Abstract

In recent decades, schools have faced increasing pressure to meet external expectations for quality and outcomes, requiring school teams, especially when dealing with a (super)diverse student populations, to provide efficient and context-specific responses. Collaborative research emerges as an attractive approach, wherein teams systematically reflect on their educational practices and (should) take data-and evidence-informed action to enhance students' learning. Involving additional stakeholders, such as students and in-service teachers, is considered beneficial, also in preparing pre-service teachers for inclusive education albeit under certain conditions. The current study, therefore, seeks to investigate the complex dynamics and expectations among diverse actors within collaborative research teams engaged in school development processes. This single case study unfolded at the Brussels CityScope Lyceum, where a collaborative research intervention was launched during the 2022-2023 school year to strengthen the student-teacher relationships through the implementation of bimonthly student talks. This school development process involved a diverse team, including teachers, students, pre-service teachers, a school leader and a teacher educator. Individual concept map-mediated interviews, based on Mumford et al.'s (2008) theoretical framework on team roles for school development, were conducted with 13 members of the collaborative research team. These interviews explored participants' perceptions of role allocation and conceptualization within the team, as well as their views on how these roles contributed to breakthroughs in the school development process. The resulting dataset was subjected to a combined deductive and inductive analysis strategy. The results unveil a landscape of both overlapping and diverging perspectives regarding role allocation and conceptualization among the actors of the collaborative research team. Moreover, the analysis delineates four distinct categories of breakthroughs that propelled the school development process forward in this particular case, with the following roles proving crucial: (1) cooperators and communicators foster connected communication and interaction, (2) contributors and critics enhance the enriching diversity of perspectives, (3) the consul role contributes to supportive leadership, and (4) creators and contractors guide processes of co-creation. The findings suggest that although all team roles are fulfilled, actors' expectations towards each other are only partially met, indicating potential for growth in creating truly participatory, reciprocal spaces for collaborative research. Despite these divergences, roles critical to the transformative potential of the school development process are assumed by multiple actors, possibly contributing to the success of the collaborative research in this case. Points of Interest • Collaborative research serves as an approach for school development at CityScope Lyceum in Brussels, focusing on improving student-teacher relationships by setting up periodic student talks. • Apart from teachers, pre-service teachers and a teacher educator, students are active participants in this collaborative research. • Within the collaborative research team, various actors assume distinct roles that complement each other, including those roles that prove crucial to the transformative potential of the school development process. • Yet, there is notable divergence among the actors in their allocation and conceptualization of team roles, suggesting the need to improve alignment in this regard, as well as transparent and intentional role assignment in settings of collaborative research for school development.