An Insight into a Whole School Experience: The Implementation of Teaching Teams to Support Learning and Teaching

Abstract

This paper presents some of the emerging outcomes from the experiences of a Maltese school that decided to embrace the philosophy of inclusion using a whole school approach based on the social model of disability. This was a qualitative study based on focus groups. A thematic analysis was used within an interpretative approach of hermeneutic phenomenology. Most schools in Malta now include 'inclusive' settings. This entails the use of a class Learning Support Assistant who is assigned to one or more classes where there are one or more children statemented as having learning difficulties. It is the usual practice for most Learning Support Assistants (LSAs) to follow the same child/children exclusively. All too frequently, teachers work separately. The outcome of the teachers' work has little or no effect on and is not affected by the actions of other educators. Teachers do their own work with their class and LSAs do their own work with the disabled student/s in class. The aim of the research was to generally explore the whole experience of one school in including disabled learners. The specific research questions for this part of the study were the following: 1. How can teaching teams reduce the barriers to education for all learners? 2. What practices within this model support or hinder the inclusion and education of disabled learners in a mainstream environment? Finally, there will be an attempt to expose the idealised notions of the fundamental principle of "schools for all". Social justice, disability, equality and human rights issues that underpin the social model of disability are being responded to within the "Special" Education discourse, creating exclusionary practice and inequalities within education.

Optimizing the quality of Thai education: A comprehensive examination of the whole school approach

“…The findings of this study robustly demonstrate that the implementation of the whole school approach yields substantial improvements in the educational quality of the 408 schools within the Thai educational landscape. This positive outcome resonates with previous research conducted by Ferrante (2017), Mogren et al (2019), and Katikas and Sotiriou (2023), who also identified the beneficial impact of the whole school approach in diverse contexts. These collective findings underline the broad applicability of this approach and its potential to enhance educational quality across various settings.…”

“…Employing a survey involving 256 teachers, their findings demonstrated that schools employing the whole school approach managed their educational processes differently, ultimately resulting in more favorable educational outcomes. Ferrante (2017) explored the consequences of implementing a comprehensive school approach within the framework of inclusion, with a specific focus on disabled students and the social model of disability. Utilizing focus groups and thematic analysis within a framework of hermeneutic phenomenology, Ferrante's qualitative exploration centered on a Maltese school's adoption of the approach.…”

Untitled

“…These relate closely to the improvement of teaching quality in inclusive classrooms (Sokal & Sharma, 2017). Moreover, according to many researchers, it is essential to encourage open debates and discussions in the workplace, among teaching staff (Ferrante, 2017), about all the challenges they face in the daily routine of working with SEN children. Open debates can be the starting point for teachers to enable the learning environments, by feeling free to express their questions and ask for help, and share the best experiences and skills (Tedam, 2013), so they can solve their challenges (Gash, 2006).…”