Teamwork in the Classroom

In inclusive classrooms, it should be possible for all students to learn in their own local neighbourhood (Slee, 2014), with education that enables them to reach their full learning potential (Booth & Ainscow, 2011), and feeling a sense of belonging to their school community (Qvortrup and Qvortrup, 2018). However, this is not without its challenges, and a teacher can face many difficulties, such as lack of time, material, learning spaces and personnel (Lingard & Mills, 2007). A teacher may also find it challenging to consider students’ individual needs (Joseph et al., 2013) and students may be left without appropriate support (Lumby & Coleman, 2016).

In this chapter, we focus on teamwork in the classroom. It is one solution to the challenges that a teacher may confront in everyday school life when working with diverse students. The core of our chapter is to describe what kinds of professional competencies teachers need when they are working in teams.

Teamwork and collaboration are at the heart of inclusive education; collaboration among adults, professionals and parents/carers and, above all, collaboration with and appreciation of the pupils. Inclusive education is values-led. The European Agency for Special Needs and Inclusive Education (2012:11) identifies the values which form the foundation for all teachers in inclusive education.

“These four core values are:

Valuing learner diversity – learner difference is considered as a resource and an asset to education.
Supporting all learners – teachers have high expectations for all learners’ achievements.
Working with others – collaboration and teamwork are essential approaches for all teachers.
Continuing personal professional development – teaching is a learning activity and teachers take responsibility for their own lifelong learning.”
In this chapter we focus on value 3 Working with others and how collaboration and teamwork are vital for teachers. However, teamwork also overlaps with the other core values, especially valuing learner diversity and developing personal skills in continuing personal professional development.

In order to value learner diversity and support all learners, multiple methods and perspectives are needed (Diana Jr., 2014). In this way, the benefits of teamwork become apparent. It is also important to recognise that teachers are lifelong learners and continuing personal professional development is important to improve our attitude and ability to work in teams and to learn skills for effective teamwork (Lindsay, Proulx, Scott, and Thomson, 2014).