Collaboration for Inclusive Practices : Teaching Staff Perspectives from Finland

Abstract

Collaboration between educators is considered to be the key issue when implementing inclusive practices within schools. An open-ended questionnaire and semi-structured interviews were used to extend the current understanding of collaboration between teaching staff. The questionnaire was administrated to 167 classroom teachers, subject teachers, special education teachers and teaching assistants in primary, secondary and special education public schools in Finland. Also, semi-structured interviews with 20 participants were used to deepen the understanding of the elements included in the teaching activity in diverse classrooms. The results indicate coordination, cooperation, and reflective communication as modes of collaborative action in the participants’ teaching. By combining the perspectives of the activity theory framework and modes of collaboration, the results illuminate how educators often wished to have collaboration but usually played their traditional positions in the multilayered teaching activity. The implications for preparing educators to enhance reflective collaboration for more effective inclusive practices are discussed.