Abstract
The Dutch Law Passend Onderwijs (2014), and the Flemish M-Decree (2015) have a common goal: offering more inclusive education to all students under 18 years old. A policy objective is that students should participate in mainstream education. This dissertation attempts to discuss co-teaching as a substantive practical approach to create
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a powerful learning environment that meets the specific educational needs of students. The general goal is to understand the conditions of co-teaching regarding good collaboration and good teaching in education. In addition three specific goals aim to understand the implications of co-teaching: (1) clarifying the way co-teachers make their pedagogical approach visible in daily practice, (2) identifying the challenges in co-teaching and the relating professionalization needs of co-teachers, and (3) clarifying the meaning of sense making in co-teaching teams by structured team-reflection. To meet the research goals we formulated several research questions. 1.a. What are the thoughts of novice, experienced and supporting co-teachers about good teaching and good collaboration? What do co-teachers consider as important in regard to good teaching and good collaboration? 1.b. Which joint needs for professional development come forward from novice, experienced and supporting co-teachers? 1.c. How do novice, experienced and supporting co-teachers value the use of an instrument for structured team-reflection? 2. What conditions promote the creation of a more inclusive educational environment by means of co-teaching? The results of the studies reveal among other the following findings: (1) The meaning of co-teaching: from a technical instruction and collaboration model to a values-conscious pedagogical educational model. We propose an adapted definition of co-teaching that describes the need of a shared vision on good teaching and the mutual responsibility to the developments off all students in the classroom. We conclude that a small network of teachers working closely together in co-teaching teams can be regarded as an sustainable educational innovation and effective strategy to successful implementation of the Law ´Passend Onderwijs´ (2014) and M-Decree (2015). (2) Co-teaching shows an overlap and interaction between the professional educational domains of qualification, socialization, and subjectification (Biesta, 2015), in which we identify sixty-five supporting competences and attitudes to good collaboration and good teaching in co-teaching teams. (3) In co-teaching practices we recognize six movements towards a normative professionalism (Bakker & Wassink, 2015). We propose a seventh movement to realize more inclusive school environments: From alone to together. (4) Good collaboration is a precondition to good student achievement (McLeskey, et. al, 2017). In addition to the four phases of collaboration in co-teaching teams (Petrick, 2014, 2015), we propose the phase of pro-activity: co-teaching teams are acting proactively in teaching and organize their own development and the phase of resilience: co-teaching teams are able to deal with unexpected and difficult situations, are willing to experience complexity as a challenge and are acting based on their mutual moral beliefs.
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