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Collaboration and Conflict Resolution in Special and Inclusive Education

Presented by Fiona King

Overview

Collaboration and conflict resolution in special and inclusive education

INTRO

Collaboration... do I have to?

'engage professionally with colleagues, parents/carers and the community'

- AITSL, 2011

Collaboration:

do I have to?

'require educators by law to work in partnership with the parents or carers of students with disability'

- DSE, 2005

The Dilemma

teachers feel underprepared to manage sensitive interactions with parents and colleagues

- Mutton et al., 2018

The Dilemma

Home-school partnerships play an integral role in the development of our students...

Figure 1. Parent-teacher collaboration is a source of worry for many beginning teachers (https://edu.glogster.com/glog/collaboration-to-promote-student-learning/23cxtcqp174)

Collaboration

What is it?

Special and inclusive education is dependent upon effective communication and collaboration for its success.

all things COLLABORATION

Def: Collaboration [noun]

1. the action of working with someone to produce something

2. traitorous cooperation with an enemy

How does it work?

A student's learning support team collaborates to design an individualised education plan

Special Educator

General Educator

How does it work?

CHILD

Parent / Carer

Family-school collaboration

  • integral part of student development
  • intentional effort by educators
  • relationships based on trust
  • respect for families
  • welcome family input
  • invite caregivers to be active partners

- LaBarbera, 2017

Family-school collab

the BENEFITS

BENEFITS

of family-school partnerships

Improved...

...parent-teacher relations

...teacher morale

...school climate

...school attendance & behaviour

...student mental health

...parental confidence & satisfaction

-de Bruine et al., 2014

-Hornby & Lafaele, 2011

the BARRIERS

Nothing worth having comes easily!

There exists a gap between what is said in the literature, and what is done in schools in relation to parental involvement

-Hornby & Lafaele, 2011

BARRIERS

to family-school partnerships

the responsibility lies in our hands to identify suitable strategies to handle the contrasts

BARRIERS

cont.

Hornby & Lafaele (2011) have identified four categories for barriers to forming effective family-school partnerships

Figure 2. model of factors acting as barriers to parental involvement

Understanding PARENT PERSPECTIVES

Challenges to meaningful parent involvement:

understanding PERSPECTIVE

• parent and student involvement in IEP meetings are focused on compliance with the law

• parents assigned a passive role in planning

• Students’ interests and strengths were secondary to the need to “pass”

• student goals and opportunities for career preparation not part of the conversation

• parent and student attendance in IEP meeting

• jargon-heavy language used

-cavendish & Connor, 2018

Insights

“What I didn’t anticipate was that the partnership with the professionals who supported Micah could sometimes be more challenging than having a child with a disability”

-Fialka & Fialka-Feldman, 2017

Insights

“although families care deeply about their child, they didn’t have a choice about being in this partnership”.

Figure 3. Micah with his mother Janice Fialka (https://throughthesamedoor.com/circle/)

So, how DO we collaborate effectively with families?

COMMUNICATION

effective COMMUNICATION

Maintaining good communication with parents involves sharing resources, being clear, tactful and honest and using active listening

-Department of Education & Training, 2015

Active Listening

  • provide feedback to the speaker

  • 'be in the moment’ and focus on what the speaker says

  • paraphrase the speaker’s statement

  • acknowledge their feelings on the issue

-Comstock, 2015

Non-verbal cues

  • facial expressions
  • gestures
  • tone of voice
  • body language
  • posture
  • personal distance
  • eye gaze
  • touch
  • appearance

Questioning Techniques

Questioning

Probing

Parent: Katie has been so aggressive at home lately.

Teacher: What exactly does Katie do at home?

Open-ended questioning

eg. Is Katie aggressive at home?

VS

How does Katie behave at home?

-Gordon, 2013

Can you spot any great communication techniques in practice here?

See it in practice

Figure 4. The LAFF don't CRY strategy employs active listening and open-ended questioning to enhance communication (McNaughton & Vostal, 2010).

Conflict PREVENTION

Communication –being open and honest, listening and asking questions

Parent Support –parent training, support groups, advisory councils, parent liaison position

Levelling the Playing Field –making the IEP process more parent friendly, providing pre-IEP information, facilitating parent involvement

handling CONFLICT

-Mueller & Piantoni, 2013

Conflict RESOLUTION

conflict RESOLUTION

Intervene at the lowest level –keep the disagreement between teacher and parent, going beyond the parties in the dispute can make things worse

Keep the focus on the child –during issues of disagreement, centre all talk and actions on the child

Find a middle ground –try to find a solution that fits for all parties, take a collaborative approach to problem solving

Understand Perspectives –parents should be regarded as key members of the educational team, valued and respected

-Mueller & Piantoni, 2013

Collaborative skills in co-teaching

Co-teaching refers to the partnership between general and special educator which has come about through the need to support outcomes for students with disabilities in general education classrooms.

CO-TEACHING

&

summary

Make the most of co-teaching PARTNERSHIPS

Keys to success

  • mutual goals
  • parity
  • shared responsibility for key decisions
  • shared accountability for outcomes
  • shared resources
  • development of trust
  • respect
  • sense of community

  • Friend & Cook, 2010

Without the appropriate skills for collaboration, it is likely that special educators will fall in to the trap of becoming classroom assistants, rather than instructional equals

-Friend, Cook, Hurley-Chamberlain & Shamberger, 2010

SUMMARY

gaining a deeper understanding of Collaboration and Conflict Resolution in Special and Inclusive Education

will not only enhance teachers' professional communication skills, but will also ensure educators are equipped to support the needs of diverse learners to promote the future of the inclusive classroom.

References

Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership. (2011). Australian Professional Standards for Teachers [Handbook]. Retrieved from https://www.aitsl.edu.au/docs/default-source/apst-resources/australian_professional_standard_for_teachers_final.pdf

Cavendish, W., & Connor, D. (2018). Toward authentic IEPs and transition plans: Student, parent, and teacher perspectives. Learning Disability Quarterly, 41(1), 32-43.

Comstock, N. W. (2015). Active Listening. Salem Press Encyclopedia. Retrieved from http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.newcastle.edu.au/eds/detail/detail?vid=1&sid=33d6c590-263b-481e-8d50-a5eff490400d%40sessionmgr101&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU%3d#AN=100259199&db=ers

Cook, L. & Friend, M. (2010). The State of the Art of Collaboration on Behalf of Students with Disabilities. Journal of Educational and Psychological Consultation, 20, 1-8.

de Bruine, E. J., Willemse, T. M., D’Haem, J., Griswold, P., Vloeberghs, L., & van Eynde, S. (2014). Preparing teacher candidates for family-school partnerships. European Journal of Teacher Education, 37(4), 409-425.

Department of Education & Training. (2015). Parental Engagement: improving outcomes for students with disability [Factsheet]. Retrieved from https://docs.education.gov.au/node/35945

Dusi, P. (2012). The Family-School Relationships in Europe: A Research Review. Center for Education Policy Studies Journal, 2(1), 13-33.

Gordon, T (2003) Teacher effectiveness training. First Revised Edition. New York: Three Rivers Press

Fialka, J., & Fialka-Feldman, E. (2017). IEP Meetings: Building compassion and conversation. Educational Leadership, 74(7), 46-51

Friend, M., Cook, L., Hurley-Chamberlain, D., & Shamberger, C. (2010). Co-teaching: An Illustration of the Complexity of Collaboration in Special Education. Journal of Educational and Psychological Consultation, 20, 9-27.

Hornby, G. & Lafaele, R. (2011). Barriers to parental involvement in education: an explanatory model. Educational Review, 63(1), 37-52.

LaBarbera, R. (2017). A comparison of teacher and caregiver perspectives of collaboration in the education of students with autism spectrum disorders. Teacher Education Quarterly, 44(3), 35-56.

McNaughton, D. & Vostal, B. R. (2010). Using Active Listening to Improve Collaboration with Parents: The LAFF don’t CRY Strategy. Intervention in School and Clinic, 45(4), 251-256.

Mueller, T. G. & Piantoni, S. (2013). Actions Speak Louder than Words: How Do Special Education Administrators Prevent and Resolve Conflict with Families? The Journal of Special Education Apprenticeship, 2(2), 1-15.

Mutton, T., Burn, K. & Thompson, I. (2018). Preparation for family-school partnerships within initial teacher education programmes in England. Journal of Education for Teaching, 44(3), 278-295.

REFERENCES

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