Co-Teaching: An Illustration of the Complexity of Collaboration in Special Education

Abstract

Although collaboration among service providers has been a hallmark of special education almost since its inception, co-teaching, the sharing of instruction by a general education teacher and a special education teacher or another specialist in a general education class that includes students with disabilities, is a relatively recent application. As a result of recent federal legislation and related policy changes, co-teaching has evolved rapidly as a strategy for ensuring that these students have access to the same curriculum as other students while still receiving the specialized instruction to which they are entitled.Despite considerable enthusiasm expressed by those who write about co-teaching and those who implement it, co-teaching illustrates the complexity of conceptualizing and studying collaboration in special education. Most inquiry on co-teaching has emphasized co-teachers' roles and relationships or program logistics rather than demonstrating its impact on student achievement and other key outcomes, and far more literature exists describing coteaching and offering advice about it than carefully studying it.Contributing to the admittedly equivocal evidence base for co-teaching are factors such as the still emerging understanding of this special education service delivery vehicle, inconsistencies in definitions and implementation, lack of professional preparation, Correspondence should be sent to Marilyn Friend,

Ser dos en el aula: las parejas pedagógicas como estrategia de co-enseñanza inclusiva en una experiencia de formación inicial del profesorado de secundaria

“…Para finalizar, nos gustaría destacar como este trabajo muestra cómo la enseñanza no tiene por qué ser una actividad individual, apostando por poner en acción distintos tipos de co-enseñanza, en concreto la de observación, de apoyo, complementaria, en estaciones y en equipos (Friend et al, 2010) en el contexto de la formación del profesorado de secundaria. Se ha podido apreciar tras los análisis, como la articulación de parejas pedagógicas recibe una valoración positiva de los-estudiantes del MAES ya que, como propuesta didáctica enriquece tanto el contenido de su formación, como la gestión del aula, la diversidad y la convivencia.…”

“…De un lado, desde su potencial como estrategia de apoyo en el aula (Bauwens, Hourcade & Friend, 1998;Friend, Cook, Hurley-Chamberlain & Shamberger, 2010) orientada a ofrecer una respuesta educativa más ajustada al alumnado que precisa una atención particular, ya sea puntual o sostenida en el tiempo. De otro, como estrategia de andamiaje en el desarrollo profesional del profesorado, partiendo de la reflexión compartida sobre la propia práctica que ayuda a transformar el currículum (Duran & Miguel, 2003;Kroegera, Embury, Cooper, Brydon-Miller, Laine & Johnson, 2012).…”

Benefits of teaching interdisciplinary subjects collaboratively in Jordanian pre-vocational education

“…Neither is considered the main teacher of the class; they are equals" (Murawski and Dieker, 2008, p. 29). Friend and Cook (2010) have mentioned coteaching as a form of approach to provide advanced and specialized services to each student in a broad education classroom (Conderman, 2011). It includes two or more teachers working collectively to convey directions to a heterogeneous gathering of students in the instructional space.…”

“…It includes two or more teachers working collectively to convey directions to a heterogeneous gathering of students in the instructional space. Educators share their aptitude, offer materials, and create regular instructional objectives (Friend and Cook, 2010cited in Scribner-MacLean and Miller, 2011, Nierengarten, 2013. As co-teaching requires more than one teacher to be implemented, it may also take the form of team teaching.…”

“…The most universal ones are those that have been made prominent by Friend and Cook (2010, p. 7) and incorporate one instruct/one watch, one educate/one aid, station instructing, parallel educating, option instructing, and group educating. Different elements that influence the adequacy of coshowing incorporate the substance mastery of the educators, their level of showing background, accessibility of joint arranging time, and co-educator similarity (Friend and Cook, 2010;Mastropieri et al, 2005).…”