The Effectiveness of Teamwork of National and Expatriate Kg Teachers in Al Ain Schools: A Qualitative Study

Maitha Khalifa Al Mansouri

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate teamwork effectiveness of national and expatriate teachers in Al Ain KG schools. The study was guided by one main research question and three sub-questions and used the qualitative phenomenological research method. Data for this study were collected through semi-structured interviews. The interviews were conducted in five KG schools with ten teachers: five national and five expatriate teachers. Data collected from the interviews had been recorded as audio files. Then, data were cleaned, checked for completeness, coded, and analyzed using the Nvivo program version 10. The findings highlighted the awareness of teachers of the importance of teamwork and its advantages for both national and expatriate teachers. Moreover, the findings confirmed teamwork’s positive effect on student learning especially in helping students gain new language. In addition, the findings identified the factors that contributed to enhancing teamwork effectiveness and the barriers that hindered it. Teachers shared their experiences in working in teams and mentioned many real-life examples. They provided many suggestions to improve the effectiveness of teamwork and overcome the barriers to its effective implementation. After an analysis of these suggestions, the study recommended providing more professional development training for teachers and the administrative staff on teamwork, communication, and English language proficiency. In addition, the study revealed the need for a standardization of teamwork practices or procedures to unify the efforts and results in ways that improve student learning. Finally, the study provided recommendations for conducting more in-depth qualitative research and experimental studies on teamwork effectiveness and strategies in teaching subjects such as English and Arabic.