The primary goal of the study presented in this paper is to investigate the relationship between teacher collaboration and job stress of school staff. Two subordinated objectives are pursued: First, we focus on the relationship between teacher collaboration and job stress. Second, we set out to explore the collaboration between teachers and additional educational staff (e.g., social workers). Our project connects research on collaboration and on job stress in schools, which seems to be less regarded so far. In the literature, we only find few studies about the association of teacher collaboration and job stress and these studies often have heterogeneous results: On the one hand, positive effects of teacher collaboration in the context of job stress are described. On the other hand, results of some studies suggest that teacher collaboration is not associated with or even leads to higher job stress. In particular, there seems to be little knowledge about collaboration between teachers and additional educational staff. With regard to recent research, elaborated concepts of collaboration contain different types of collaboration. In our research, we distinguish three levels of collaboration (Graesel, Proebstel, & Freienberg, 2007) as well as pre- and post-conditions of collaboration. These different aspects of teacher collaboration are embedded into a model of stress and strain in schools (Boehm-Kasper et al., 2000). This model derives from stress-strain-models in occupational science and is also influenced by transactional models of stress and coping. Based on this model, we assume that certain types of collaboration are dependent on certain characteristics of schools, groups and individuals.

In our study, we combine both quantitative and qualitative methods. In our quantitative approach, about 1800 secondary school teachers in Germany were examined. We used a standardised questionnaire that included measurements of collaboration, school specific stressors, personal factors (e.g., self-efficacy) and health outcomes (e.g., burnout). Applying structural equation models, the empirical results are compared to our theoretical model. In our qualitative study, we interviewed a smaller set of teachers as well as additional educational staff on the basis of a structured guideline. Up to now, collaboration between different professional groups in schools is not well examined. The interviews aim at contributing to a deeper understanding of collaboration and its conditions in schools.

Our quantitative analyses reveal low associations between the levels of collaboration and health outcomes (e.g., low burnout). Accordingly, direct positive effects of teacher collaboration on certain health outcomes exist, but they have little practical significance. Further analyses are performed to reveal more complex connections including work-related and personal factors. Our qualitative analyses reflect what types of collaboration between different educational professions are performed. School stressors and resources as well as individual costs and benefits are determined. Our analyses can contribute to the deeper understanding of collaboration between different educational professions with regard to costs and benefits for instruction. Furthermore, our study also addresses current job demands in schools and aims at indicating positive and negative aspects of work environment.