Creating an optimal environment for inclusive education: co-location and transformation in interdisciplinary collaboration

Abstract

Collaboration between teachers and child support workers is seen as a promising way to effectuate inclusive practice in mainstream education. This paper aims to explore how co-location of services promotes transformation of practice, and to expand an analytic framework for interdisciplinary collaboration. By combining these two perspectives, we intend to contribute to both theory and practice. The data consist of semi-structured interviews that explore the experiences of teachers and child support workers who co-work in three schools for secondary education. A template analysis was used to examine collaboration in co-location, and to further develop the framework with which we began our empirical research. The initial template consisted of dimensions of knowledge sharing in relation to dimensions of trust and dimensions of identity. The results showed that proximity can be divided into three different types, being spatial proximity, organisational proximity and personal proximity. These types of proximity, in turn, can be related to knowledge sharing, trust and identity. The contribution of the expanded framework for practice lies in its potential to shed light on how processes in interdisciplinary collaboration can be shaped.

Collaborative Mentoring as a Way of Meeting Teachers’ Inclusive Teaching Practices Needs: Investigating Learning Outcomes

“…For this reason, it is crucial to make the appropriate material and educational accommodations available for the students with VI who are educated both in schools for the visually impaired and in inclusion classrooms. Literature highlighted collaboration as an important strategy in order to support teachers in dealing with the diversity of students (Gerdes et al, 2020;Hedegaard-Soerensen, 2018;Nochajski, 2002;Suc et al, 2017;Weiss et al, 2017). There is an increasing tendency in recent years to conduct research projects on teachers' collaborative practices related to inclusion (Hedegaard-Soerensen et al, 2018;Ní Bhroin & King, 2020).…”

“…Consequently, considering these factors and the presence of students with disabilities in the general classrooms is an increasing reality (Suc et al, 2017), collaboration becomes indispensable in order to have a better successful IE (Suc et al, 2017;Weiss et al, 2017). In order to improve the educational outcomes in an inclusive setting, it is possible to develop solutions for ongoing problems by combining different expertise in an effective and creative way (Engeström, 2015) which is attributed as a proactive step for tackling inclusive educational practices (Gerdes et al, 2020;Hedegaard-Soerensen, 2018). Consequently, collaboration has been a hallmark in IE practices as different stakeholders try to nurture meaningful learning experiences of students with disabilities (Friend & Cook, 2010).…”

Collaboration between teachers and educational-psychological service counsellors

“…Co-teaching, where teachers collaborate with pupils with special needs in their classroom, has been well explored in research (Cook & Friend, 2010; Cramer, 2010; Friend et al, 2010; Härkki et al, 2021; van Garderen et al, 2012). Cross-professional collaboration in education and across services for children and young people has also been investigated (Fukkink & van Verseveld, 2020; Gerdes et al, 2021; Hynek et al, 2020; Wiedebusch et al, 2022). Cross-professional collaboration is seen by Hynek et al (2020) as collaboration between individuals with different professional backgrounds with a common goal.…”

True partners? Exploring family-school partnership in secondary education from a collaboration perspective

“…The FIC is a dynamic tool that can be used both theoretically and in practice. In an empirical study on collaboration between teachers and child supporters, the initial FIC, which included the notions of knowledge sharing, identity and trust, was extended to include the notions of proximity, availability and agency (Gerdes et al, 2020b). The constructs within the framework apply to situations where stakeholders with different backgrounds, expertise and perspectives try to join forces.…”