Team-reflection: the missing link in co-teaching teams (original) (raw)

2016, European Journal of Special Needs Education

In literature co-teaching is mostly defined as an instrumental and pedagogical means delivered by collaborating special and regular teachers, from which students with and without special educational needs benefit in regular schools. The importance of a shared vision on the part of members of co-teaching teams as to what they consider as good education for students, is not mentioned in definitions of co-teaching. The authors argue that sense-making by reflection about what can be considered as good education-good teaching and good learning-is essential when co-teachers want to understand or change their practice or relationship with their partner. We reviewed seventeen articles about co-teaching teams' professional development and identified that challenges to co-teachers' professionalization mostly were directed to interpersonal and normative aspects of development in co-teaching teams. We elaborate on five distinguished movements that can bring about change in teacher professionalism. These movements correspond to the challenges retrieved from the literature review and can be used to contribute to move toward a new perspective on professionalism of co-teachers. A contemporary definition of co-teaching is proposed, because former definitions do not suffice to express the value of constructing a shared vision on good teaching and learning. We argue that team-reflection is the missing link in terms of enhancing normative professionalism of co-teaching teams and recommend that further research should be conducted to value team-reflection as a means to overcome challenges of co-teaching teams. KEYWORDS co-teachers, co-teaching, team-reflection, normative professionalism 'Co-teaching is an instructional delivery model used to teach students with disabilities and those at risk of educational failure in the least restrictive, most productive, integrated classroom settings, where both general and special educators share responsibility for planning, delivering and evaluating instruction for all students' (Arquelles, Hughes, Schumm, & Villa, 2000). 'A collaboration between general and special education teachers who are responsible for educating all students assigned to a classroom' (Gately & Gately, 2001). 'An instructional delivery approach in which general and special educators share responsibility for planning, delivery, and evaluation of instructional techniques for a group of students' (Sileo, 2003). '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' (Friend, Cook, Hurley-Chamberlain, & Shamberger, 2003). 'A co-teaching team is a general and a special educator who teach the general education curriculum to all students and who implement Individual Education Plans (IEPs) for students with disabilities' (Thousand, Villa, & Nevin, 2004). 'Two teachers (teacher candidate and cooperating teacher) working together with groups of students; sharing the planning, organization, delivery, and assessment of instruction, as well as the physical space' (Bacharach, Heck, & Dank, 2004). 'Two or more professionals delivering substantive instruction to a diverse or blended group of students in a single physical space' (Murawski & Swanson, 2005). 'General and special educating teachers work collaboratively within the general education setting to teach students with disabilities and those at risk for academic difficulty' (Murawski, Lochner, & Sileo, 2011). 'Co-teaching is a service delivery mechanism. Two or more professionals with equivalent licensure and employment status are the participants in co-teaching. Co-teachers share instructional responsibility and accountability for a single group of students for whom they both have ownership. Co-teaching occurs primarily in a shared classroom or workspace. Co-teachers' specific level of participation may vary based on their skills and the instructional needs of the student group' (Friend, 2015). Co-teaching is a model that emphasizes collaboration and communication among all members of a team to meet the needs of all students' (Dieker, 2015). The definitions share five similarities. First, students are generally taught by two or more teachers in a co-teaching team. Second, teachers are affiliated to the teaching of students with and without disabilities. Third, these teaching teams mostly consist of a special and a general teacher. Fourth, co-teaching is generally described as a form of collaboration. Fifth, co-teaching commonly takes place in a classroom within a general education setting. Three differences in the definitions can be found. The first difference is found in the description of the composition of the student group: in some definitions students with special educational needs are addressed as persons with disabilities (Arquelles et al., 2000) while in other definitions, as students at risk due to academic difficulty (Arquelles et al., 2000; Murawski et al., 2011). In some definitions reference is made to a heterogeneous group of students in an integrated setting (Bauwens, 1989), a diverse or blended group (Cook, 1995) or a general education class that includes students with disabilities (Friend et al., 2003). Two definitions refer to all students in the group (Dieker, 2015), including students with Individual Education Plans (Thousand et al., 2004). Friend (2015) finally addresses students as persons with educational needs. The second difference is that collaboration sometimes is described as sharing responsibilities (Gately & Gately, 2001; Sileo, 2003; Friend, 2015) or sharing physical space (Cook & Friend, 1996), but at other times as a way of sharing instruction delivery or sharing an instruction technique (Friend, 2015; Murawski & Swanson, 2001; Sileo, 2003). The third difference refers to co-teaching as a model. Bauwens et al. (1989) regard co-teaching as an educational approach.