In the field of education of students with special needs, the cooperation of special education teachers with teachers in primary school is already an established practice. In most cases, the special education teachers provides additional professional assistance outside the department, which enables individual and appropriate professional assistance. Some foreign authors, in the field of working with students with special needs, point out the greater advantages of team implementation of additional professional assistance in the classroom or. team teaching of special education teachers and teachers in primary school before the individual approach. Research shows that the interdisciplinary teamwork of professionals has many advantages, both for students with special needs, for professionals themselves and for the educational institution. In teamwork, special education teachers and teachers in primary school in practice often face various obstacles and problems, and use different strategies to solve them. These are insufficiently researched in practice. In teamwork, special education teachers and teachers in primary school in practice often face various obstacles and problems, and use different strategies to solve them. These are insufficiently researched in practice. In the empirical part of the master's thesis, we used a questionnaire to investigate whether the pedagogical experience of professionals affects their motivation and competence for teamwork, how often special education teachers work in teams with teachers in primary school, how they experience their teamwork with classmates and subject teachers, how teamwork took place during the COVID-19 epidemic, what obstacles and difficulties they encounter, how they deal with them and how they solve them. The sample included 54 special education teachers from all over Slovenia, who provide additional professional assistance in regular primary school. We found that special education teachers with more than 10 years of work experience feel more motivated to work in a team than those with less than 10 years of work experience. Stages of team work are performed statistically significantly more often by special education teachers who have 10 years or more of work experience than by those who have less than 10 years of work experience. The research found that special education teachers, no matter how many years of work experience they have, feel competent enough for teamwork. During the COVID-19 epidemic, when distance learning took place, special education teachers, compared to the period before the epidemic, worked with subject teachers less often as a team. Based on the obtained data, we also gained insight into the most common obstacles and problems that in practice accompany the team work of special education teachers with teachers in primary school. The surveyed special education teachers stated that they most often encounter organizational barriers, time constraints, overload and inaccessibility and lack of interest of teachers in primary school in teamwork with them. The most common problems were also related to lower motivation of students due to the COVID-19 epidemic, stress and also the fact that the work of special education teachers by teachers in primary school is understood only as instruction. As the most common strategies used by special education teachers in overcoming obstacles and solving problems that accompany teamwork, they mentioned participation in various trainings, making compromises, creating a schedule for regular team meetings and open conversation of all team members. The mentioned strategies are also assessed by the respondents as the most appropriate.
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