Insights into effective partnership in interdisciplinary team teaching

There is a growing interest in collaboration amongst teachers at all levels. One of the most intensive collaborative experiences is “team teaching” a course with one or more colleagues. The authors have been involved in team teaching for a combined total of 25 years. This study investigates the question of how colleagues from different disciplines can achieve an effective partnership in team teaching. Fourteen practicing team teachers were interviewed over a two-year period at a small English-medium liberal arts college in Japan. The interviews were all recorded on videotape and were transcribed for later content analysis. The content of the first set of interviews provided the main themes for a more in-depth exploration in the second interview set. Analyses of these interview transcripts revealed key elements for effective partnership in interdisciplinary team teaching. These elements are presented in the paper through the words of the team teachers recorded in the interviews. The paper concludes with some general reflections on how these key elements of effective partnership in team teaching relate to the wider teaching community.