Teamwork is important in any group of people that work together as it means they share a common goal, each member of the team has there own strengths. Schools have a huge number of staff and whilst you must focus on your own role, it is just as important to have a good knowledge of other roles in your team to create a successful school. To meet all pupils academic and social needs individuals need to work together towards commitments and shared goals. The team should have regular meetings to enable staff to implement new ideas or plans, solve problems, prioritise and accomplish important tasks which in all will benefit the pupils. One of the main benefits of team work is it can speed up the process of accomplishing goals and make things run more efficiently.
You may be part of several different teams within your school, each with different objectives. You should know what these are and how each team works together. Sometimes your team may only be together for a short time e.g., you are organising a production or a fair. Sometimes you may find you are only part of the team for a short time for example, if you are working on a school production or a summer fair. In this sort of situation it is important for someone to take charge and ensure that different members of the team are able to work together effectively. The school may be large and have a number of classes within each year group. Year groups work very closely together and support one another in planning and moderating pupils work. Also members of stff within a school are part of a tram and will support one another. For example the maths coordinator will be able to offer help and advice to any member of staff on any maths activities.
Members of the team will need to understand their role and how it fits in with the role of other members of the team. The most important part of any role within a team is communicating effectively with others . You should attend regular meetings which should give you a clear idea of how what you are doing fits in to the school or team as a whole. If you have a team leader, they should identify action points in any meetings you attend and give a deadline by which they will need to be carried out.
All member of the team are equally important and your expertise and that of your colleagues is unique to each persons experience. You should always respect the opinions and knowledge which others bring. This is because in order to have a good working relationship with them you will need to show that you consider their opinions and expertise. If a member of your team has been working in schools for a long time and a new person comes in and tells them that things should be done in a different way, it will cause bad feelings and resentment. This cam quickly cause problems and unrest within teams. You may find that others come to you for help and advice when you become more experienced. Whilst remaining supportive, you should always think about your role and others within the team when doing this. You may need to refer to someone else within the team , when you feel a particular issue is not appropriate for you to deal with. You must remain non judgemental about others and not allow your own opinions to intrude or cloud any decisions you may have to make.