Extended teams in vocational education: collaboration on the border

Extended Teams (ETs), in which teachers and workplace supervisors are jointly responsible for the quality of education, were established to solve problems concerning school–workplace connections in vocational and professional education. Six ETs were investigated during their 1st year of collaboration. In addition to recordings of ET meetings, questionnaires, focus groups, and interviews yielded triangulation of data pertaining to dimensions of team work and professional growth of individual team members. Five of the 6 teams showed marked changes for team functioning, especially with regard to social ties and intellectual building as well as needs for new knowledge. Analysis of individual professional growth indicated that working in an ET contributed to understanding the other context, and altering views of what can be achieved by and for students. We conclude that ETs hold potential for strengthening school–workplace connections, but note that they did rely heavily on external support.