Collaboration and support

Swart and Pettipher (2011) state that the cornerstone of successful inclusive education is support and collaboration. This represents one of the proximal

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processes (p. 21) that form an important part of Bioecological Theory. If this is lacking in a school it will affect the staff negatively. Only one of the schools seemed to have some kind of collaborative plan in place. This particular school also had a psychologist and occupational therapist as part of the support team. Applicant 6 stated:

"Well, there is … the Student Development Unit, which has been developed over the last number of years into something that I think supports a huge amount of the students in a very good way …"

And also: "the teachers of the specific student would be called together and be

given information about the situation and so forth. And, yes, it also happens with emotional things, you know, if there's a family crisis or something that information will also be shared …"

In the other two schools, it seemed as if it was expected from the counsellors to coordinate efforts of supporting an incoming learner with a barrier to learning. It seems as if the counsellors either did not have the time, or did not have appropriate knowledge to coordinate collaborative initiatives. The following responses were given to a question regarding the inclusion process in the schools:

"We are told that we have now got a blind child or an Asperger's child… or something… and so we'll have one lecture and some notes and we'll try, as much as we possibly can, to deal with this because you are told you will deal with this. And off we go…" (Participant 7)

Participant 2 responded:

"Wel daar is eintlik nie 'n proses nie. Hy word nou net ingeskryf … So dis ons verantwoordelikheid om eintlik dit te gaan uitvind en te gaan kyk wat is die agtergrond."/Well there is actually no process. He is just admitted … So it is our responsibility to go and find out and to look at the background."

A specific question was asked about collaboration in the school to accommodate the learners with barriers to learning, and the responses of participants 8 and 5 were:

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"Sterkte!"/"Good luck!"

Participant 8 referred to an incident where a new child entered the school and the principal asked for a report from the previous school, but the report never reached the counsellor or the teachers. There was a question whether it was a priority for the principal regarding his role in the collaboration process, as well as the importance of providing teachers with the necessary information:

"Van die ouers, wat die inligting het, soos wat jy nou sê, het ek geen gekry – niks gekry. Ek weet nie of jy ooit 'n verslag gekry het van die vorige skool nie. So ons het met hierdie kind, wat hierdie 'lable" as jy dit so kan sê … gekry in ons klasse en that's it!"/"From the parents who gave the information, I got nothing. I do not know whether you ever received a report from the previous school. So we had this child, with this label if you can put it like that … got him in our classes and that's it." (Participant 8)

Participant 6 referred specifically to the effect that "not being informed" had on a teacher's approach when a student diagnosed with AS was included in the class:

"… and nobody had told me about him and the way in which he would respond and react and so forth … so it was tremendously difficult for me to deal with … there was that mixture of amusement and shock and I remember I didn't do half as much with that group than I did with the others because of this boy …"

On the other hand, the value of "being informed" and equipped with appropriate knowledge regarding the characteristics and behaviour of the specific learner with AS is demonstrated below:

"… then I found out afterwards that he was coming to my class … fortunately at that point, I had been given information … so I felt more confident … because I could see the child in that light, I could see more of his ability and how to use it … I could deal with his behaviour much better than I did that first time." (Participant 6)

Participant 7 also emphasised how helpful it was when information regarding a learner with AS had been passed on by one of the teachers in the group:

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"Or, if you see him going red or things … But it was tough, like, I had no idea! Like you told me that you actually need to say to him, 'You can come and speak to me if you …' You know, he needs permission to do that. Now, I have no idea about that, so I did that …"

And it came as a surprise that the teachers participating in the focus group interview were not aware of the fact that they were all part of a particular learner's (with AS) 'team'!

"Um, but the other thing is it would be quite nice if there were connections made between, like I didn't know that you taught (… the boy with AS) … I didn't know he was doing art …" (Participant 7)

The same participant suggested the following to improve collaboration in their school:

"The teachers who are involved in teaching this boy (with AS) and … whether we all swop cell phone numbers or we all have our gmail Google chat open. And, I mean, luckily, touch wood, nothing has happened yet where I've had him in the class and he has had an explosion … but it would just be nice to be able to say, 'Heads up! This has happened'. Or 'Just watch out, this has unsettled him'. Just that little, you know, two seconds of warning and I can warn other people to say, 'Just watch for this', or 'Watch for that'. That for me is collaborative working. Collaboration, all just sitting together, doesn't always work!" (Participant 7)

As described in Chapter 3, Myles et al. (2005, p. 20) emphasise the importance of

collaboration (Step 5) and of teachers being part of the planning of the individual

support plan (ISP) for the learner with AS. On top of that, they add that the general education teacher is responsible to report back to the institutional level support team (ILST) regarding the progress towards academic, behavioural and social goals and objectives set for the particular learner. There has been no evidence of an ISP in any of the schools, but there have been some elements of collaboration at the schools.

In one school, the participants realised the importance of information sharing as part of the collaboration process. One participant stated:

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"They (the parents) sent me a list of information that I could distribute to the rest but it was just … ja … all those helpful things, working together."

(Participant 4)

Participant 7 applauded how helpful it had been when information was shared by the fellow teacher:

"you sent me that email which was absolutely invaluable. Like, I can't tell you how much that saved me." (Participant 7)

Participants at a particular school seemed to understand collaboration and had suggestions about who should be involved in the process. Participant 11 suggested:

"Parents, the teachers, the child if necessary …"

The importance of the child being part of the collaboration process was emphasised as well:

"… we can actually talk together … we're not playing piggy-in-the-middle, bouncing from, you know, over the child. We're actually all part of the process." (Participant 11)

It also has been suggested that 'outside sources' should be part of the collaborative team:

"… people who have got the know-how … experience in Asperger's … 'We've got this happening and we don't know what to do with it' … And we'd send through, um, a small group and we'd discuss with them, how we could handle … suggestions and things like that." (Participant 11)

The importance of meaningful collaboration was shared by participant 4:

"… collaboration needs to be very well planned. It needs to be the right type of information that needs to be shared … collaboration in a sense of very detailed information … but specific information. Not a long e-mail about the general effects and nah nah nah … that also, but also … teachers, parents, all those things … must be involved." (Participant 4)

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Participant 7 emphasised the importance of collaboration, specifically because of the unique characteristics of every learner with AS:

"Because the parents were telling you … because it's one thing to Google Asperger's to find out that they do this, they do that, dah, dah, dah. But, every child's different and so this was information for him, so when he does this, when he does this, I mean, that was just, I was absolutely so pleased that you did it" (Participant 7)

Participant 7 was upset because there was not an effective collaborative process in the school:

"I can't collaborate with anybody else if I don't know what's going on and that's, for me, one of the major stuff at this school. Nobody knows what's going on in anybody else's life. Everybody's on their own little mission and trying the best that they can but I don't know and then 'Ah, here comes something' and I have to deal with it."

Van Reusen et al. (2000, p. 15) specifically mention the importance of all parties (which include teachers and administrators) having to work "collaboratively" to assist the learner. In the same way, Skrtic (1991, in Ainscow, 2007, p. 3) indicates that inclusive education is "likely to be more successful in a context where there is a culture of collaboration that encourages and supports problem-solving". Cumine et al. (2010, p. 81) include in the multi-agency support team that forms part of collaboration to support the learner with AS a "child or adolescent psychiatrist; speech and language therapist; educational and/or clinical psychologist; teacher or educational specialist" and, in some instances, an occupational therapist and physiotherapist. They also add the special education needs coordinators (known in South Africa as the institution level support team (ILST) (Department of Education, 2008), or the classroom teacher, the support teacher and the support assistant to the key role players in the support network team (Cumine et al., p. 186). As mentioned before, only one of the schools had a support team in place with a psychologist and occupational therapist. The other two schools had counsellors, who were overwhelmed by their responsibilities in the particular schools. In South Africa there are only 'student support teachers' in some schools, and it seems as if they do not

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fulfil the role as coordinator of the support team in the school. Their role is still seen as that of the 'remedial teacher' who will 'pull out' the learner and 'fix' him in order to make the teachers' work easier.

The literature (Attwood, 2007; Cumine et al., 2010; Myles et al., 2007) also emphasises the involvement of the learner and parent as part of the 'partnership' and collaboration for support. Myles et al. (2005, p. 16) state that it is "vitally important to develop a working partnership" with the parent of the learner with AS. Furthermore, they emphasise that the parents are "the best source of information about their child and AS". Furthermore, ongoing communication and collaboration "create a powerful alliance" and break down the effects of any previous negative experiences with schools.

The participants reported some 'liaising, collaborating and reaching out to parents' (step 2) in one of the schools. Participant 4 described how valuable it was to connect with the parents:

"And his parents, specifically, have been very helpful. They sent me a very long e-mail before school started about what to expect and if he gets like this, what to do. And so, for me, they were incredibly helpful because I knew exactly what he needed from me and I feel like I provided it for him from the beginning because that made it so much easier for me."

Participant 7 emphasised the important role of the connection with the parent to obtain learner-specific information:

"I must say the parents have been very helpful. When I first met XXXX, I didn't even know he was Asperger's. I just noticed that he was slightly different, but I thought, well you know ... that e-mail which was absolutely invaluable. Like, I can't tell you how much that saved me … because it's one thing to Google Asperger's to find out that they do this, they do that, dah, dah, dah … But, every child's different … so this was information for him, so when he does this, when he does that …"

There was little evidence of the schools involving 'outside agencies' as part of the collaboration for creating an individual support plan, and providing support and follow

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up to evaluate whether set goals had been reached in the support of the learner with AS.

It became clear that the participants from the school where there had been an ILST felt more supported because of a collaborative approach at their school. The participants from the other two schools felt exposed and left to their own fate.