Collaboration and Shared Responsibility in Team Teaching Scale (CSTT)

Abstract

The Collaboration and Shared Responsibility in Team Teaching Scale (CSTT), developed by Decuyper et al. (2023), is a rigorous survey instrument designed to quantify the levels of collaboration and shared responsibility exhibited within the specific context of team teaching practices. The initial draft of the scale comprised 20 items distributed across two primary dimensions: collaboration (12 items) and shared responsibility (8 items).

The development process utilized existing valid measures, incorporating five items from the Student Teachers’ Team Teaching Perceptions Questionnaire (STTPQ) and seven items inspired by literature on successful collaboration conditions (Baeten & Simons, 2014). The shared responsibility dimension included adapted items from Vangrieken et al. (2017) and four newly constructed items focusing on essential classroom tasks, such as lesson planning, evaluation, and student outcomes. Following an expert review to assess content validity and subsequent data collection in Flemish schools, the scale was refined through rigorous Factor Analysis (EFA and CFA). This process resulted in a final, psychometrically sound instrument consisting of 15 items, confirming its high reliability, structural validity, and measurement invariance.

Keywords

Collaboration, Shared Responsibility, Team Teaching Practices, Teacher Attitudes, Educational Measures, Responsibility, Team Teaching Method.

Authors

Decuyper, Aron; Tack, Hanne; Vanblaere, Bénédicte; Simons, Mathea; Vanderlinde, Ruben

Purpose

The primary objective of the Collaboration and Shared Responsibility in Team Teaching (CSTT) scale is to systematically assess the critical features inherent in the practice of team teaching. It serves as a diagnostic and research tool to quantify the perceived quality and extent of interaction between co-teachers.

The instrument specifically targets the two constructs considered foundational for effective co-teaching: collaboration (the quality of interpersonal and professional interaction) and shared responsibility (joint accountability for instructional tasks and student outcomes).

Construct

The CSTT measures two distinct, empirically validated dimensions of effective pedagogical partnership: Collaboration and Shared Responsibility. These constructs define the nature of professional engagement among teachers working together in the classroom setting.

The Collaboration dimension (10 final items) focuses on relational aspects, including mutual trust, respect, emotional and professional support, open discussion of experiences, and openness to reflection. The Shared Responsibility dimension (5 final items) measures the degree to which teachers jointly assume ownership over core instructional duties. These duties range from the design and preparation of lessons to the evaluation of both the students and the instructional process itself, including accountability for students’ learning outcomes.

Validity

The validity of the CSTT was established through multiple statistical and qualitative methods. Initially, content validity was ensured via an expert review, which examined the clarity, relevance, and overall quality of the initial item pool, leading to the removal of one item before field testing.

Structural validity was confirmed through both Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analysis, which verified that the measure effectively captures the intended two-factor structure. The strong fit indices obtained during the CFA support the empirical distinction between the collaboration and shared responsibility dimensions, confirming the instrument’s structural integrity.

Reliability

The CSTT demonstrated high levels of internal consistency, indicating that the items within each dimension are highly correlated and measure the same underlying construct reliably.

• Collaboration Dimension: The internal consistency was exceptionally high, yielding a Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of 0.949.

• Shared Responsibility Dimension: This dimension also showed robust internal consistency, with a Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of 0.879.

These reliability coefficients confirm the stability and precision of the CSTT in assessing collaboration and shared responsibility among team teaching practitioners.

Factor Analysis

The scale refinement process involved both Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). EFA initially supported a clean 2-factor solution. To optimize the measurement, four items (C10, SR2, SR7, and SR8) exhibiting factor loadings below the established 0.70 threshold were removed, resulting in the final 15-item structure.

The subsequent CFA, using weighted least squares mean and variance adjusted factoring, was performed on the retained 15 items. The resulting fit indices indicated a good model fit for the proposed two-factor structure (Collaboration: 10 items; Shared Responsibility: 5 items). Key fit indices were reported as: X² = 108.094, df = 89, p = 0.082; X²/df = 1.213; CFI = 0.975; TLI = 0.971; RMSEA = 0.028; SRMR = 0.039. Furthermore, the analysis provided strong support for configural, metric, scalar, and strict measurement invariance across diverse groups differentiated by teaching experience, education types, and frequency of team teaching.

Instrument

Test Type: Original Instrument Type: Inventory/Questionnaire

Format: Items are rated using a 5-point Likert scale.

Language Available: Dutch

Population Group: Human (Male, Female)

Age Group: Adulthood (18 yrs & older), Young Adulthood (18-29 yrs), Thirties (30-39 yrs), Middle Age (40-64 yrs).

Population Details: The study participants were practicing teachers with team teaching experience, located in Flemish schools in Belgium.

Test Methodology: The methodology included Test Validity, Content Validity, Test Reliability, Internal Consistency, Factor Analysis, Confirmatory Factor Analysis, Exploratory Factor Analysis, and Measurement Invariance.

Keywords

Collaboration, Shared Responsibility, Team Teaching Practices, Teacher Attitudes, Psychometrics, Educational Psychology.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier:

• Vanblaere, Bénédicte: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2036-4560

• Vanderlinde, Ruben: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4912-3410

Affiliation Email addresses:

• Decuyper, Aron: [email protected] (Ghent University)

• Tack, Hanne: [email protected] (Ghent University)

• Vanblaere, Bénédicte: [email protected] (Artevelde University of Applied Sciences)

• Simons, Mathea: [email protected] (University of Antwerp)

• Vanderlinde, Ruben: [email protected] (Ghent University)

Correspondence Address: Aron Decuyper: Ghent University, Department of Educational Studies, Ghent, Belgium, 9000, [email protected]

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

Permissions: The CSTT may be used for research and teaching purposes.

Commercial Use: No

Fee: No

Test Year: 2023

Reference’s

Decuyper, A., Tack, H., Vanblaere, B., Simons, M., & Vanderlinde, R. (2023). Collaboration and shared responsibility in team teaching: A large-scale survey study. Education Sciences, 13(9), 1–20. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13090896

Items of the Collaboration and Shared Responsibility in Team Teaching Scale (CSTT)

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

The CSTT Scale (English Version)

Item Code	Item	Scale
C1	During team teaching classes, my team teaching colleague(s) and I can rely on each other for questions and concerns.	Collaboration
C2	complement each other very well.	Collaboration
C3	give each other emotional support.	Collaboration
C4	give each other professional support.	Collaboration
C5	mutually trust each other.	Collaboration
C6	respect each other.	Collaboration
C7	support each other.	Collaboration
C8	openly discuss experiences.	Collaboration
C9	are open to reflection.	Collaboration
C11	avoid competition.	Collaboration
SR1	During team teaching classes, my team teaching colleague(s) and I are both responsible for the design and preparation of the lesson.	Shared responsibility
SR3	student evaluation.	Shared responsibility
SR4	teaching and supporting the class assignments.	Shared responsibility
SR5	the evaluation of the lesson.	Shared responsibility
SR6	students’ learning outcomes.	Shared responsibility

De CSTT Schaal (Nederlandstalige Versie)

Item Code	Item	Schaal
C1	Tijdens teamteachinglessen, kunnen mijn teamteachingscollega(s) en ik bij elkaar terecht kunnen met vragen en bezorgdheden.	Samenwerking
C2	elkaar goed aanvullen.	Samenwerking
C3	elkaar emotionele steun geven.	Samenwerking
C4	elkaar professionele steun geven.	Samenwerking
C5	elkaar wederzijds vertrouwen.	Samenwerking
C6	elkaar respecteren.	Samenwerking
C7	elkaar ondersteunen.	Samenwerking
C8	ervaringen in alle openheid delen.	Samenwerking
C9	openstaan voor reflectie.	Samenwerking
C11	vermijden van competitie.	Samenwerking
SR1	Tijdens teamteachinglessen, zijn mijn teamteachingscollega(s) en ik samen verantwoordelijk voor het ontwerpen en voorbereiden van de les.	Gedeelde verantwoordelijkheid
SR3	de evaluatie van de leerlingen.	Gedeelde verantwoordelijkheid
SR4	het geven en ondersteunen van de lesopdrachten.	Gedeelde verantwoordelijkheid
SR5	het reflecteren over de les.	Gedeelde verantwoordelijkheid
SR6	de leeruitkomsten van de leerlingen.	Gedeelde verantwoordelijkheid