Abstract
The benefits of working within classroom teaching teams are clear for both students and teachers. Teachers within teams report receiving support, both professional and personal, from their co-teacher, feeling more comradery with their coworkers, and a more positive working climate. Flexibility, commitment to the team, and compatibility in teaching philosophy are essential elements associated with effective teaching teams. Organizational psychology research supports this, as alignment in team philosophy is of particular importance to a successful and effective team.
Given the importance of the ecology of the early childhood classroom in influencing children’s development, we examined the processes that take place within this environment, including the relationships between pairs of teachers. Prior research on early childhood teaching teams was qualitative; however, there remains a need for quantitative work to make evidence-informed policy decisions. The present study, therefore, quantitatively examined whether (1) lead and assistant teachers differ in their teaching philosophy; (2) there is a relation between alignment in teaching philosophy and job stress; (3) there is a relation between alignment in teaching philosophy and quality of teacher-child interactions; and (4) teacher-child interactions mediate the relation between alignment in teaching philosophy and child outcomes. A total of 134 teachers within 67 teaching teams and 1032 preschool children participated in the study.
Our findings suggest that lead and assistant teachers differ in their teaching philosophy and the quality of teams’ philosophy moderates the relation between their team alignment and teacher-child interactions. There was no evidence of a relation between philosophy alignment and teacher stress. These findings can help administrators and policy makers as they make staffing decisions and plan professional development offerings to ensure that teaching teams effectively work together to benefit staff well- being, classroom practice, and child outcomes.