Understanding STEM Teachers’ Power Distance Values from a Sociocultural Perspective on Interdisciplinary Collaboration

School STEM education thrives on the quality of interdisciplinary pedagogical approaches, which inherently require science teachers to engage in productive and collaborative efforts with their colleagues from other disciplines. The sociological forces that shape the performance of teacher interdisciplinary collaborations have been relatively understudied in the existing body of research. Among these factors, power distance value (PDV) stands out as a key determinant of successful teamwork among teachers from diverse backgrounds. This issue takes on heightened importance in high PDV societies, such as China. To address this gap, our study delves deeper into the unexplored dimensionality of PDV, thereby shedding light on how teachers’ PDVs manifest in their collaboration for interdisciplinary STEM (iSTEM) education. The finding derived from our data analysis of 523 Chinese primary and secondary school teachers involved in iSTEM programmes supports a three-dimensional PDV model that comprises decision-making power inequality, asymmetric social distance, and hierarchical cultural value. This contrasts with the common practice of assigning individuals a one-size-fits-all PDV score in literature. Using a novel network model, we further provided a refined understanding of how teachers’ differential PDV orientations could give rise to conflicts that may stymie team efforts at advancing iSTEM initiatives. This enables informed decisions on the formation and management of iSTEM collaboration teams, ultimately supporting the enhancement and sustainability of interdisciplinary teaching practices.