School development through team learning: exploring the potential of teams in a learning community

Purpose Teachers’ professional learning and development plays a critical role in implementing change and driving individual-, team- and school-level development. This study aims to investigate teachers’ and principals’ perceptions of team learning and team leaders’ personal development in a school community within the framework of learning community development. Design/methodology/approach This study used a qualitative research design to investigate team learning in a two-year collaborative development project with a comprehensive school community in Finland. This project was a collaboration between school- and university-based researchers to investigate team learning aimed at supporting the school’s transition to a unified comprehensive school. In this study, five team leader teachers and two principals were interviewed at the end of the collaborative development process. Findings The findings indicated that the development teams increased their members’ understanding of the school community and how differently people think in the workplace. Team leader teachers saw their role as facilitating dialogue between teachers and encouraging reflection to support the development of the school community. Originality/value This study investigated a new collaborative approach within a single school community. It contributes to the fields of team learning and organizational learning by providing new insights into how development teams can support change within a school community. This study provides new insights into how contextual factors shape collaborative learning processes and school development initiatives. It explores the timely topic of learning community development and offers practical implications for team learning in comprehensive school settings.