Following shifts in education policy and ideology, school buildings in Aotearoa New Zealand have in recent years been built and refurbished in line with principles of connectedness and flexibility. Also called innovative or flexible learning environments, the new large, open learning spaces call for teachers to work collaboratively with larger cohorts of students. This represents a significant disruption to established teacher practice, particularly in the secondary school sector, where teachers have traditionally been subject specialists teaching a range of classes and year levels. This thesis sheds light into a blind spot in the literature base, by exploring the secondary teacher experience of teaching collaboratively in open, shared teaching and learning spaces.

The research approach includes both theoretical and empirical elements. A conceptual model is proposed, locating the collaborative teaching experience within a complex ecology, where socio-cultural, spatial and organisational factors have both constraining and enabling effects on collaboration. Five cases of teacher collaboration across two secondary school sites were explored through a multi-site, phenomenological, interpretative case study. Data, sourced primarily from interviews, were analysed thematically, through an iterative, largely inductive process. The intrinsic qualities of each case are described and themes across the cases are elaborated. Teachers’ social and spatial practices are discussed in relation to Lefebvre’s (1974/1991) spatial triad and Giddens’ (1984) theory of structuration, illuminating the ways in which teachers who work collaboratively in open learning spaces both shape, and are shaped by their environments.

The findings of the study show that the complexities of enacting collaborative teaching in secondary schools are not captured in the existing conceptualisations of teacher collaboration available in the literature. Neither are they well accounted for in Ministry of Education policies and support materials. While teachers enjoy working collaboratively with colleagues and perceive it to infer a number of benefits, they also face some significant tensions and challenges. Those working in multiple collaborative teams carried a relational burden associated with huge student numbers and diverse, complex working relationships with colleagues. The large learning spaces were busy social environments where teachers found it difficult to respond to and manage challenging student behaviours in ways that maintained a positive environment conducive to learning. Furthermore, findings highlight a misalignment between notions of flexibility. While building policy has focused on the physical flexibility of learning spaces, teacher participants placed more value on pedagogical flexibility.

The thesis makes a theoretical and empirical contribution to the field of research into innovative learning environments and argues that to realise the potential of collaborative teaching in secondary schools, spatial, socio-cultural and organisational factors all need to align. Drawing on the findings, a number of implications are identified which have relevance for secondary school organisation and learning space design.