The work of mobile special and rehabilitation teachers in preschool is key to achieving crucial milestones in the development of children with special needs in terms of early intervention. Due to the complexity of special educational needs, the teamwork approach is required, which involves professionals working together as team members to achieve common goals. The teamwork approach ensures that the treatment of children is more holistic, interdisciplinary and professional as it is based on the combination and development of different skills, experiences and abilities of the team members. In ensuring the effectiveness of teamwork, the impact of numerous factors must be considered, such as personal understanding of teamwork, team members' inclination to participate, motivation for teamwork, trust between team members, division of roles and tasks within a team, team rules, communication within a team, etc. The basic aim of this empirical study was to gain an insight into the views of mobile special and rehabilitation teachers on teamwork with pre-school teachers and assistants. Professionals' views on teamwork influence their personal willingness to work in teams, the frequency of teamwork, as well as its quality and effectiveness. The aim of the empirical research was to investigate how often all three phases of teamwork are implemented, what experiences mobile special and rehabilitation teachers have with teamwork in preschool and how they assess the effectiveness of their own teamwork and the problems associated with it. The study used a descriptive, causal and non-experimental research method based on a quantitative approach. The sample included 27 mobile special and rehabilitation teachers, which means that the research results are purely illustrative and cannot be generalised to the entire population of mobile special and rehabilitation teachers in Slovenia. The data was collected using an online survey that included several rating scales (views, frequency, perception of own effectiveness, problems in teamwork). The research results showed that the respondents had a positive attitude towards teamwork, which had a statistically significant impact on their perception of their own teamwork effectiveness. The analysis results also showed that mobile special and rehabilitation teachers' views on teamwork did not have a statistically significant impact on the frequency of occurrence of problems related to teamwork. In addition, we examined the effect of length of service on views on teamwork and found that length of service did not have a statistically significant effect on views on teamwork. Most of the study participants who belonged to a team perceived their own teamwork as effective, saw themselves as competent enough for it and had positive experiences with teamwork. The majority of mobile special and rehabilitation teachers conducted the teamwork phases twice per year or more frequently per year. It was found that certain research participants and other special and rehabilitation teachers working in the preschool did not implement certain phases of teamwork. The results obtained contribute to a better understanding of the workplace of a mobile special and rehabilitation teacher, facilitate the planning of organisational improvements in this area, especially in terms of making pedagogical responsibilities and schedule more flexible, and highlight relevant professional findings on the training of professional profiles in preschool.
|