Co-teaching as an answer to the challenges of inclusion

In this theme, the participants’ perceptions on how co-teaching answers to the challenges caused by inclusion and how useful co-teaching is are presented. Inclusion is closely related to co-teaching because co-teaching is one of the methods that are used to ensure every student’s learning in inclusive classrooms. All teachers except one felt

that co-teaching is needed, for example, when trying to overcome challenges caused by inclusion. Laura commented on the matter like this in example 20:

Example 20. Laura

Joo on se varmaa ihan tarpeellista varsinki, kun tää inkluusiohan on päivän sana, et jos siihen mennää enemmän ja enemmän niin kyl mun mielest varsinki sitte tällänen erityisopettajan kanssa tehtävä yhteistyö luokassa alkaa olemaa ihan välttämätöntä.

Yea, I think it is quite needed especially as inclusion is so trendy nowadays that if there is more and more of it, I think that then this kind of co-operation with a special education teacher in a classroom becomes completely necessary.

In Laura’s opinion, the importance of co-teaching increases the more inclusive the groups become over time. In example 21, Raili saw the need for co-teaching but expressed, also, some negative realities related to conducting it in weaker groups.

Example 21. Raili

Kyllähän siinä on hirveen tarpeen. Sit voi miettiä taas toisaalta yhteiskunnan kannalta, et se rahallinen panostus, mitä menee niitten vitosen kutosen poikien ruotsiin niin eihän sille tuu mitään tuotosta, et siihen laitetaan kahen aikuisen palkka niinku siihen, et vedetään kivirekee perässä niin siitä vois olla semmosille taitavammille lapsille enemmän hyötyä, mikä yhteiskuntaaki hyödyttäis.

It is very needed there. But then you can think about it from society’s point of view that that money that is put to teaching Swedish to boys who have grades 5 and 6, it doesn’t give anything back. Salary of two adults is put to dragging them behind and that money could benefit talented children more and that would benefit society, too.

Raili was not entirely sure if, forcefully, trying to make everybody learn very well, is worth the teachers’ time and administrators’ money. She felt that there should be more focus on giving opportunities for the talented students, as well. Heidi was the only one who did not, completely, see the need for co-teaching as can be seen in example 22:

Example 22. Heidi

Ehkä joskus olis parempi se, että sieltä otetaan jotkut tietyt pois erilliseen tilaan, et turhaan tulee semmosta monesti siihen työrauhaan liittyvää ongelmaa. Et jos aina sokeasti ajatellaan, et tää on se paras vaihtoehto tää samanaikaisopetus, koska se ei aina oo kuitenkaan ihan paras. Et jos on oikeasti sellainen tilanne, et muuten ryhmä toimis hyvin, mutta siel on vaikka jotkus kaks, jotka pelkästään vaa häiritsee, sillo musta välillä on parempi et ne otetaa sieltä pois.

Maybe sometimes it would be better that some students are taken to a separate room as, often, there is problems with peace in the classroom for no reason. If we always blindly think that this co-teaching is the best option even though it is not always quite the best. If there is, for example, such a situation that the group would, otherwise, function well but there are, for instance, two students who, only, disrupt then I think it is sometimes better to take them away from there.

In Heidi’s opinion, co-teaching constantly to be able to be inclusive is not the best possible situation for the students who are bothered by the special education students’

behavior in the classroom. Niko commented on the matter saying, that he thinks that co-teaching is not necessary in good groups because the students will study well regardless.

Five of the eight teachers thought that co-teaching had a positive effect on the students’

learning. Some of them did not, necessarily, see a difference in the students’ grades but more in how they behaved during lessons and that better behavior lead to more progress. In example 23, Antti tells about the positive effects of co-teaching in his groups.

Example 23. Antti

Kyllä ihan karuimmissa tapauksissa sillä, että tuloksia tuli eli luokassa oltiin ja saatiin koe tehtyä. Mutta kyllä ihan sellasissakin tilanteissa, että oppilaalla oli haasteita x y, mut olis tehny ne laput muutenki niin kyllä ihan käytännössä huomattavissa kyllä koetuloksissa oli parempia havaittavissa. Sitte kun kuunteli heitä, kun he puhu, heidän lukutahtinsa parani aika suoranaisesti kerta kerralta.

Ei tule mieleeni sellasta tilannetta, että erkka olis luokassa ja olis tilanne menny huonompaan suuntaan.

In the most severe cases it showed in such way that there were some results, so the students were in the classroom and got the exam done. But, also, in such situations that a student had problems x and y but would have done the tasks anyway, there was improvement in the exam results. Then when I listened to them speak their reading speed got better every time. I don’t remember such a situation that the special education teacher would have been in the classroom and the situation would have gotten worse.

According to Antti, without co-teaching some students did not get anything done so they really benefited from the additional attention co-teaching provided them.

Furthermore, Antti had noticed improvement in some students’ exam results. Three teachers said that they did not notice any difference in the learning results compared to traditional teaching. Many teachers, also, mentioned that it was difficult to estimate co-teaching’s effect on the students academical results as they could not compare the same students’ performance before and after co-teaching.

Overall, the English and Swedish teachers considered co-teaching as a useful tool when teaching inclusive groups. The special education students needed co-teaching the most according to the participants.