Do all team members need to be working on the same element or dimension?

Great Teaching Teams can bring colleagues together even when they are working towards different professional development priorities. A team can provide a shared space for collaboration without requiring everyone to have the same development goal.

For example, colleagues might:

• have different individual development goals
• be at different stages of their development cycle
• be working on different techniques
• share an interest in improving their teaching while pursuing different priorities

When you create a team, you can choose:

• a shared element
• a shared dimension
• No shared focus area.

Choose 'No shared focus area' when colleagues are pursuing different priorities.

This allows the team to focus on sharing expertise and supporting professional development, rather than requiring every member to follow the same development pathway.

The Overview tab can show the different development phases of members, while Great Teaching Leads and Coordinators can see further information about connected cycles to support professional conversations.

What if we do want everyone to work on the same thing?

That's supported too. When creating the team, select the relevant element or dimension as the team's shared focus.

A shared focus gives colleagues a common area to explore together, while still allowing each teacher to personalise their development to their own needs and context. For example, team members can:

• Develop a shared language for talking about teaching practice and the area you're working on
• Provide more focused peer support, with colleagues able to share ideas, experiences and feedback
• Share expertise and resources, learning from how others are approaching the same area in their own classrooms
• Set individual goals within the shared focus, allowing each teacher to decide what aspect of the element or dimension they want to develop further
• Explore different techniques and resources that are relevant to their individual goals, subjects, classes and contexts