Following AdvanceHE’s Employability Case Study Series 2025, Nigel Page shares his insights on the complexities of facilitating teamwork.
In this blog, I explore the challenges of facilitating and evaluating teamwork within authentic employability experiences and assessments. From student perspectives to lessons learned, I’ll share the drivers of change, the progress made, and the unresolved complexities that continue to shape this journey.
Progress made
At Kingston University London, I’ve implemented a structured, empathetic approach in the biosciences to foster inclusivity, improve teamwork, and enhance student confidence, engagement, and satisfaction. While we’ve made significant progress, managing and assessing teamwork remains an ongoing challenge. Balancing individual accountability with collective ownership – and ensuring fairness along the way – requires constant innovation and reflection.
Despite these efforts, achieving perfection feels like chasing a moving target. Yet, each step forward has yielded valuable lessons and new strategies for improvement.
Challenges of teamwork
Encouraging students to value teamwork is often an uphill battle. Many perceive it as tangential to their academic or career goals. As one student put it, ‘This is not something all of us want to do or is applicable to our future careers’.
A major hurdle lies in the vulnerability of relying on peers. Building trust and respect within a team takes time but can be quickly undermined by uneven contributions, clashing priorities, or disagreements. Common complaints like, ‘Some students didn’t do the work and left others to pick up the slack’, reflect this tension.
Teamwork also demands diverse perspectives, effective communication, and conflict resolution – skills not everyone possesses. Cultural differences, varying levels of motivation, and disparities in skills or knowledge further complicate group dynamics, creating an environment ripe for frustration.
Drivers for change
Recognising the need to foster early peer connections and a sense of belonging in the biosciences, I introduced a peer support network within the personal tutor scheme. Small, diverse teams were created to bring together students from various backgrounds and identities. This initiative was complemented by a personal development programme designed to:
- Help students understand themselves, their peers, and their aspirations.
- Encourage the sharing of values, goals, and experiences.
- Support inclusivity while enabling teams to work on small tasks together.
For first-year students, I focused on creating safe, low-stakes environments to foster positive teamwork experiences. These experiences scaffolded into higher-stakes teamwork assessments in later years. As students progressed, I prioritised authentic, relevant, and choice-driven teamwork activities to improve their confidence, understanding, and appreciation of team dynamics.
Complexities and lessons learned
1. Balancing individual accountability and fair assessment
Teamwork relies on shared accountability. Teams need to create outputs collaboratively, which fosters a sense of unity and purpose. However, balancing individual and group accountability when assigning marks can feel like walking a tightrope. Students prefer grades that reflect their own efforts, but purely individual grading can undermine the collaborative spirit of teamwork.
Assigning a shared mark for group work raises ethical concerns by overlooking individual effort, while a blended approach of group and individual marks is generally better received by students providing more ‘individualised’ grading.
Recently, I trialled a pass-fail marking scheme for team outputs, complemented by:
- Post-evaluation surveys.
- Written author statements and reflections.
- Engagement evidence.
This approach was well-received for ensuring individual marks weren’t dragged down by team issues. However, it risks oversimplifying the nuances of team contributions if used in isolation.
2. Building empathy and inclusivity
Empathy has proven vital to successful teamwork. To encourage this, I introduced a “design thinking for life” strategy, emphasising understanding and valuing teammates’ perspectives. This approach has been particularly effective in first-year tasks, and since its implementation three years ago, negative feedback on teamwork has disappeared.
However, challenges persist at higher levels, where the stakes are higher, and stress levels rise. Cultivating empathy in these settings remains a work in progress.
3. Understanding teams
Training students to navigate team dynamics, ensure fairness, and build trust has been essential. A scaffolded approach across levels 4 to 6 has progressively built students’ confidence and skills. I’ve implemented workshops, alongside pre- and post-evaluation checklists, to help students:
- Review their team’s progress.
- Report concerns or seek help.
- Confidentially self- and peer-assess.
About 10% of students have sought help through these systems, and reported confidence in teamwork has doubled.
I’ve also noticed better team dynamics when students choose projects they’re genuinely interested in and see the relevance of teamwork to their discipline and careers. However, effective teamwork requires time for teams to develop, and equal opportunities for all members to grow their skills. This demands careful planning and consistent support.
Food for thought
Despite clear criteria, structured frameworks, and ongoing support, the dynamic nature of teamwork ensures it’s never without challenges. Teaching teamwork effectively requires adaptability, resilience, and empathy – skills that can’t always be taught through traditional methods.
This raises critical questions:
- How can we design assessment strategies that balance individual and group accountability?
- Can we ensure fair grading while addressing ethical concerns and maintaining student satisfaction?
- Is achieving a perfect balance even possible?
Your thoughts and insights are welcome to support the community navigate this ever-evolving challenge.
Nigel Page is Employability Lead for the Life Sciences, Pharmacy and Chemistry at Kingston University London, where he has developed innovations in personal development, employability, and enterprise to enhance career readiness. He is recognised as a National Teaching Fellow and been shortlisted for national employability awards.
Access the 2025 case study compendium, Strengthening the student experience: Distilling the 3 Es.
Join us at our upcoming Employability Symposium on 30 April 2025, where you can hear of more cutting-edge examples of how employability can be embedded at school, faculty/college and/or institutional levels.
