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Developing inclusive practices through collaborative action research Vassilios S. Argyropoulos a; Magda A. Nikolaraizi a a Department of Special Education, University of Thessaly, Argonafton & Filellinon, Volos, Greece

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To cite this Article Argyropoulos, Vassilios S. and Nikolaraizi, Magda A.(2009)'Developing inclusive practices through collaborative action research',European Journal of Special Needs Education,24:2,139 — 153

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European Journal of Special Needs Education Vol. 24, No. 2, May 2009, 139–153

Developing inclusive practices through collaborative action research

Vassilios S. Argyropoulos* and Magda A. Nikolaraizi

Department of Special Education, University of Thessaly, Argonafton & Filellinon, Volos, Greece Taylor and FrancisREJS_A_379528.sgm10.1080/08856250902793586European Journal of Special Needs Education0885-6257 (print)/1469-591X (online)Original Article2009Taylor & Francis242000000May [email protected]

This paper highlights the framework and discusses the results of an action research network which aimed to promote academic access in two general educational settings within which a pupil with blindness and a deaf pupil were educated respectively. The persons involved in this collaborative scheme were general teachers, a school counsellor, academic staff and student teachers. The findings of the study indicate that the implementation of the action research network resulted in the development of inclusive and collaborative thinking and the adoption of relevant teaching practices which promoted the children’s access to the curriculum and supported the teachers’ and student teachers’ professional development. The outcomes of this action research network raise concerns about the access and the status of membership of children with special needs in general educational classroom and provide insights for the pivotal role of action research in understanding educational contexts and situations from a number of different perspectives.

Keywords: action research; inclusive and reflective practices; collaboration; co- teaching; deaf; blindness

Introduction

Today, the notion of inclusion and its multi-level structure is high on educational agendas and has led to many educational reforms. Clifton (2004, 77) argues that ‘inclusion, and thereby participation, in the educational system, is more than simply access to education’. Since inclusion refers to a wider community which embodies a number of cultural and linguistic diversities, educators have to strive to highlight the complexity of inclusion and encourage the development of an ‘inclusive ethos’ accompanied with a flexible curriculum and classroom management (Armstrong and Moore 2004). This perspective has led to the necessity of changing classic techniques and strategies and reflecting on collaborative research projects (action research projects) conducted by teachers, pupils and researchers which seek to advance an agenda for inclusion bringing or conveying changes to institutional cultures and practices (Ainscow et al. 2003; Argyropoulos and Stamouli 2006; Langerock 2000; Lloyd 2002; Schoen and Nolen 2004).

At the same time, inclusive education challenges issues of classic pedagogy and as such leads to conflicts between different set of values and goals (Armstrong and Moore 2004). According to Rodney (2003), inclusive education is not just a matter of inaugurating a new term in the educational terminology. It is a shift from one set of

*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]

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beliefs to another. Principles that are underpinned by notions such as empowerment, emancipation and equity are embedded in the context of inclusion and often practitio- ners and their co-researchers confront dilemmas and difficulties (Armstrong and Moore 2004; Thompson 2004).

In particular, Greek national and local policies seem to diverge from the principles of inclusion and as such they are open to challenges, dilemmas and critical analyses by researchers and practitioners. Many cases are reported where children with special needs are integrated or included in regular educational settings ‘due to lack of any special education facilities’ (Vlachou 2006, 42) and not due to inclusive policy prac- tices. Integration in Greece was supported to a greater extend by the latest legislation (Law 2817/2000) ensuring the right of every single child with special educational needs to be educated in regular educational settings. More specifically, there are three main models adopted for the integration of Greek blind and deaf pupils in primary and secondary regular schools. The first refers to the simple placement of the pupils with special needs in the general classrooms without a particular kind of support. The second model refers to the usage of resource rooms which are located in the general schools and a special education teacher responsible for the pupils with special needs who are enrolled in the resource rooms. The third model describes a context which consists of two teachers in the same classroom – the general teacher and the special education teacher, who is normally qualified in issues pertinent to special education. The theoretical perspectives of the latter model are underpinned by the notion of co- teaching or team-teaching, a teaching model that occurs when two or more profession- als collaborate to plan, decide and deliver instruction to a certain number of students in the same physical place (Luckner 1999). A co-teaching model allows general and special education teachers to share their skills and knowledge, to face difficulties and solve problems together enabling them to respond more effectively to the diverse needs of their students (Luckner 1999), facilitate their access to learning (Jiménez- Sánchez and Antia 1999; Kirchner 1994) and as such promote ‘inclusive thinking’.

This study refers to a collaborative teaching model which was developed within an action research network that lasted for one school year in Greece (November 2006–June 2007). The aim of this network was to promote the academic access of two children, a child with blindness and a deaf child, in two general classrooms. The members in this network involved two general teachers and a school counsellor of the particular local education authority, two researchers and two student teachers who all collaborated in order to facilitate the aforementioned children’s access to learning and classroom activities. The research questions which can best shape these collaborative action research projects are the following:

(1) What was the impact of the action research project on the general teachers’ professional development?

(2) What was the impact of the action research project on student teachers’ profes- sional development?

(3) What was the impact of the action research project on the academic access of the two pupils with special educational needs?

Method

Action research is a methodology that fulfils two important conditions; one is that it seeks the improvement of teachers’ practice in order to improve their students’

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understanding, using any appropriate tool, and the other is that it seeks an under- standing of the educational setting and context in general (Feldman and Minstrell 2000; Kemmis and McTaggart 1988). The aforementioned conditions were apparent in both projects and led us to believe that the framework of action research was the best choice to shape our collaboration.

According to Kemmis and McTaggart (1988) there is a group of four fundamental aspects in action research: planning, acting, observing and reflecting. They highlight the dynamic complementarity of the four aspects in action research which end up in a cycle, and ultimately in a spiral of such cycles. These aspects were present in the projects of the present study and converged to the fulfilment of the ultimate target of action research which is ‘change’.

Participants

The collaborative action research network consisted of two projects that concerned a nine-year-old pre-lingually deaf girl (Anna) who attended the second grade of a general primary school with 17 hearing children, and a 12-year-old girl (Maria) with blindness who attended the sixth grade of another general primary school with 18 sighted classmates. The action research network group consisted of the school coun- sellor, who took the initiative for these projects, two academic researchers and two student teachers from the Department of Special Education, University of Thessaly and two general teachers from the two different general schools within which Anna and Maria were educated.

Procedures – preliminary stages

The overall strategy of the collaborative action research network involved three inter- linked cycles. A number of meetings took place during which all the members of the action research network group discussed the children’s and the general teachers’ needs and the most appropriate type of support for them. Also, the researchers obtained information about the children’s and the general teachers’ needs as well as the inter- actions between them through classroom observations. All these collected data were very useful in order to ‘map the process of change in schools’ (Ainscow, Hargreaves and Hopkins 1995). The action research network group ended up with a cyclical collaborative planning and reflecting network, consisting of two projects which would take place in the classrooms within which the two pupils were integrated. Also, when the baseline data were determined for both schools the action research network group was divided into two validation groups. The first validation group consisted of the school counsellor, one researcher specialised in the education of the deaf, one student teacher and Anna’s general/classroom teacher. The second validation group consisted of the school counsellor (same person in both validation groups), one researcher speci- alised in the education of the blind, one student teacher and Maria’s general/classroom teacher.

Action research project 1: assisting the deaf student

The general teacher had many concerns about Anna’s performance in school, espe- cially in the area of literacy. She mentioned that Anna had low levels of reading comprehension and could not write even a simple sentence. Also, the teacher felt that

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she could not communicate with Anna or support her effectively. Through discus- sions, the researcher went on to elucidate that a general educational classroom is a challenging environment that does not consider a deaf child’s needs, such as visual communication, visual educational material and a normal rate of speech and conver- sation (Jiménez-Sánchez and Antia 1999; Stinson and Antia 1999). Hence, there was a consensus about the importance of additional teaching support and the development of educational material according to Anna’s needs.

The following collaborative teaching model was suggested. Initially, the researcher would write down some guidelines regarding general educational practices and techniques which could facilitate Anna’s access to the curriculum (Easterebrooks, Stephenson and Mertens 2006, Luckner, Bower and Carten 2001; RNID 1999). Following this, the student teacher in collaboration with the general teacher (team- teaching situation) would support the child on a daily basis in the academic area of ‘language’. Finally, the textbooks that are used in Greek schools in the academic area ‘Language’ would be adjusted by the researcher and the student teacher in collabora- tion with the school counsellor and the general teacher in order to meet Anna’s needs and specifically enhance her reading comprehension and creative writing skills. According to the team meetings and the observed data during the ‘preliminary stages’, Anna had poor skills in the aforementioned areas, which were considered as very important for her access to the curriculum.

Action research project 2: assisting the blind student

The second validation group reached a consensus about the implementation of team- teaching (general teacher and student teacher) in the classroom where Maria was integrated. It was also agreed to inform the staff of the school about the project on a regular basis. The selected interventions were the following: the student teacher in collaboration with the general teacher would support Maria on a daily basis, mainly in mathematics. The researcher in turn would give some notes and written sugges- tions regarding modifications of the activities planned by the two teachers. These suggestions were based mainly on the principles of haptic apprehension (Argyropou- los 2002; Millar 1994) and on data obtained from literature review (Millar 1997; Roberts and Wing 2001).

The road map of action research project 1

First cycle – planning

The new material included the following adjustments: (a) the reading texts in the text- books were reduced but not simplified and visual information (pictures, diagrams) was added, mainly in the title of each reading text, in order to help Anna activate or acquire prior knowledge before reading the main text, based on schema theory princi- ples (Schirmer 2000); (b) reading comprehension exercises were added to check whether Anna understood the new reading texts; (c) the grammatical and vocabulary exercises were enriched with visual information.

Apart from the preparation of the material, the general and student teacher got prepared for their new role, since neither of them had a similar teaching experi- ence of a team-teaching situation. The researcher asked the two teachers to write down their comments, based on the their daily observations, providing feedback about the appropriateness of the material, the child’s behaviour and interaction

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with the rest of the hearing children and their role as they experienced it in the classroom.

First cycle – acting and observing

The student teacher supported Anna in the following way: (a) repeated or explained what the general teacher or the hearing children were saying in class; (b) gave infor- mation about the adjusted educational material; (c) explained unknown words or grammatical issues; (d) monitored Anna’s reading comprehension level; and (e) encouraged Anna to participate in the classroom’s activities.

The whole project was under continuous assessment. Unfortunately, only the student teacher provided a daily written feedback, whereas the general teacher never did so. As a result the researcher suggested an alternative way to get the general teacher’s feedback. At the end of each lesson, the student teacher had a short meeting with the general teacher (informal discussions) and kept notes regard- ing: (a) the appropriateness of the material; (b) their roles as teachers; and (c) Anna’s behaviour and performances in class. Then, the student teacher shared all this information with the researcher, who kept weekly telephone contact with the general teacher to discuss the progress of the project. Based on the assessment during the first cycle, the following observations and the subsequent changes were made.

The reading texts appeared to be difficult and Anna could not answer the reading comprehension questions. There was a need for a further reduction of the reading texts and enrichment with more visual information to facilitate Anna’s reading comprehen- sion. Also, it was difficult for Anna to understand what to do in some exercises, since the adjusted material presented the exercises in a different way to that which Anna was accustomed to. Therefore, one or two examples had to be included in each exercise and the student teacher would devote some time to explain analytically the exercise to Anna.

Regarding the general and the student teachers’ roles, the general teacher felt awkward, she tried to keep visual contact with Anna, but she interacted mainly with the hearing children. Also, the student teacher felt stressed. She sat next to Anna in order to support her and did not interact with the hearing children. As a result, Anna relied heavily on the student teacher; she did not work on her own and did not participate in the classroom’s activities.

First cycle – reflecting

After two months a reflection meeting took place, where an evaluation of the project was made. Both teachers felt that there was a need for more visual material, smaller reading texts and fewer grammatical exercises, because these were too demanding for Anna. The general teacher stressed that ‘if the educational material is difficult, then Anna will be too dependent on the student teacher, whereas if the level of the material could be better adjusted to Anna’s needs, then I believe that Anna would become more independent and participate more in the classroom’s activities’.

Furthermore, the discussion was also focused on teachers’ roles, because it was difficult for them to adjust to the new situation. The student teacher – as an under- graduate student – was not experienced and it was the first time for her supporting a deaf child in a general classroom in collaboration with a general teacher. On the

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other hand, the general teacher had always been the single teacher in the classroom and had never had the chance to teach a deaf child. Considering and adapting to Anna’s needs and collaborating with a student teacher on a daily basis was some- thing new for her.

Finally, this was the first time that a child in the classroom used adjusted educa- tional material and both teachers could not find a way to exploit this material so as to help Anna and at the same time not isolate her but enable her to follow a similar pace with the rest of the hearing children in her classroom.

Second cycle – planning

The new reading texts were smaller and also included more visual information. Up to now only the title of the reading text was enriched with visual information, namely pictures, aiming to help Anna draw information and make predictions about the forthcoming text. At the beginning of this cycle, new visual information was inserted within the text. Also, a further reduction of the exercises was made in order to enable Anna to complete them within the required time and follow the pace of the classroom.

Finally, the researcher encouraged the student teacher and the general teacher to interact with all children rather than keeping separate roles. Specifically, the researcher suggested that the student teacher should support hearing children too, instead of always sitting next to Anna. Similarly, it was suggested that the general teacher interact more with Anna by asking her simple written questions and checking whether Anna was able to understand what she was saying to her.

Second cycle – acting and observing

The new reading material was helpful for Anna, who gradually seemed to improve her understanding, answering the reading comprehension questions and completing the exercises on her own without asking constantly for the student teacher’s help. Also, she became a more active participant and sometimes raised her hand to answer a question that the general teacher posed.

The student teacher also felt more comfortable and she gradually distanced herself from Anna and dedicated time to the hearing children too. When she supported Anna, she encouraged her: to raise her hand to answer a question, to interact with her class- mates and to ask questions directly to the general teacher when she was confused during the lesson.

The general teacher interacted more often with Anna and also seemed to be less anxious and more comfortable with the presence of the student teacher in the classroom. She encouraged Anna to participate in the classroom’s activities and she dedicated time to check whether Anna had grasped things that were going on in class and, if needed, provide some useful tips to her.

Second cycle – reflecting

The second reflection meeting involved all the team members of the first validation group. The general teacher highlighted that Anna had made major progress during the project and commented that she felt more secure and able to respond to Anna’s needs. According to her, Anna became more self-dependent and she participated more and

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more. Nevertheless, there was still a need for Anna to participate more actively in common tasks with her hearing classmates.

As mentioned in the previous cycle, both teachers were concerned with how to use the adjusted material in such a way that did not isolate Anna from the rest of the class. At that time the researcher and the school counsellor proposed that the adjusted read- ing material could also be shared with the rest of the hearing children. For example, some of the reading comprehension questions or exercises could be administered as handouts to the hearing children1 so that Anna and her hearing classmates could participate in joint activities.

Third cycle – planning

As Anna’s performance improved the reading texts became more extended and the exercises more complicated. There was a constant use of visual information within the texts and the exercises because this was an essential element which helped Anna to understand the reading text and also to complete the exercises.

Third cycle – acting/observing and reflecting

The general teacher started to write some of the reading comprehension questions on the blackboard, which pleased Anna and encouraged her and her classmates to partic- ipate in the same activity. An additional observation that was made by the two teachers was that Anna indicated an improvement in her spoken language. More specifically, at the beginning of the project she used to make sentences consisting of one or two words, while now she attempted to make complete sentences. Furthermore, her writing skills were also improved and she managed to make simple complete and correct sentences.

In conclusion, Anna became an independent learner who interacted more with her peers and her classroom teacher and less with the student teacher. The general teacher commented that she felt more confident and alert about Anna’s needs and stressed that both the educational material and the support provided by the student teacher were extremely valuable and important for Anna as well as for her.

The road map of action research project 2

First cycle – planning

As mentioned in the section ‘Procedures – preliminary stages’ Maria faced difficul- ties when dealing with tasks pertinent to mathematics. This information was provided by the general teacher and was also conjectured by the classroom observa- tions. Maria hardly had any modified educational material (such as haptic material, different textures for different representation in a map or geometrical instruments such as compasses, rulers, protractors). The general teacher, in collaboration with the student teacher, produced a number of tactile representations of many sections from Maria’s mathematics textbook. The student teacher would assist Maria throughout the activities using the enriched material, whereas the general teacher would focus on the sighted pupils. Hence, the second validation group decided to focus on the educational needs of Maria rather than on the interactions between Maria and her classmates. Both teachers kept notes in order to reflect on them and make all the necessary changes.

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First cycle – acting and observing

Systematic observation was conducted which revealed the kind of activities that were associated with Maria’s problems, as well as with her preferences and inter- ests. As mentioned in the planning section, most of the chapters of Maria’s mathe- matics textbook were accompanied with tactile diagrams and embossed maps. This was quite demanding for the student teacher because she had to prepare all the appropriate modified material on a daily basis and also had to cooperate at the greatest degree with the general teacher in order to synchronise their interventions in the classroom. Some examples of such accommodations are: exploration of embossed shapes, implications in Euclidean geometry using thermoform and German film, implications in graphics with specialised kits on Cartesian coordinates and use of geometrical instruments such as Braille ruler, compass and Braille protractor. Maria was overwhelmed when she realised that she had at her disposal all this educational material and could participate in class and this resulted in full attention and participation.

First cycle – reflecting

Evidence was obtained via observations and interviews, from Maria’s statements and performances through the activities, from her sighted peers and from the researcher’s and teachers’ own accounts. According to the two teachers Maria was very excited because she felt more active in class and it seemed that her confidence was increased. However, the two teachers felt as if they were doing parallel activities since the student teacher was focused on Maria’s needs, while the general teacher was focused on the sighted pupils’ needs. They felt that there was not a substantial interaction between them and it was something that they did not like and wanted to change. For example:

I think that Maria was happier because she could have the same pace with all in class. (Student teacher)

Maria seems less frustrated in mathematics now. (Student teacher)

This teaching model should be acknowledged to all educational settings within which blind students are integrated. (General teacher)

I like very much the team teaching but still I think that I do not interact very much with my colleague. She’s doing a terrific job but usually there is no time left to discuss and interact. (General teacher)

Maria, on the other hand, mentioned that she did not interact so much as she wanted with her classmates. She was generally familiar with different kind of shapes but she lacked familiarity with geometrical devices. Nevertheless, she wanted to share this new situation with her classmates but never had enough time to do so. For exam- ple: ‘I wish I could show my friends all these new things. I’m sure they will love it’. Also the sighted pupils showed interest in the new material that was entering the classroom and sometimes their curiosity was very intensive.

In this phase of the second action research project interventions were deliberately planned based on the theoretical contexts of haptic apprehension (Argyropoulos 2002; Millar 1994) and cognitive theory (Rock 1983) in order to integrate approaches and units of structures and increase Maria’s participation in class.

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From the reflection phase it was decided to continue all the interventions which enhanced Maria’s academic access in maths and also make some modifications to the model of intervention by strengthening the interactions between her and the rest of the pupils.

Second cycle – planning

The second validation group, after reflecting on the obtained data, resulted in reform- ing the way that the pupils were working in classroom so that they would be engaged in a more coordinated collaborative working approach. The two teachers felt that they should facilitate the interaction between Maria and her sighted classmates through structured activities administered in groups. For this an ‘alternating support peer group’ model was suggested to operate according to which the whole class would be divided into small groups and work on activities that the two teachers would suggest. The synthesis of the groups was changing every fortnight and Maria, as well as the rest of the class, had the chance to interact, collaborate, agree and disagree, in other words to build relationships based on dialogue and mutual support and respect. The student teacher was in charge of the different groups within which Maria was included every time and the general teacher was in charge of the rest of the groups.

Second cycle – acting and observing

In this case Maria was coupled with other competent learners in collaborative and adaptive learning environments with all the appropriate educational material, as mentioned in the first cycle of the project. Systematic observations revealed some problematic behaviours which stemmed from the pupils who were sighted because of their ignorance about blindness and its consequences in everyday life. Maria, during the operation of the ‘alternating support peer group’ model, had the chance to explain more about herself, her preferences and interests, which in turn resulted in mutual respect and exchange of information, strengthening the bonds between her and her classmates. We also found ways to encourage the sighted pupils to raise questions regarding Maria’s apprehension and promote creative writing within groups. Maria was using her note taker and given the circumstances she was explaining the features of the hardware she was using. Her sighted peers showed great interest about Maria’s approach and many times they asked questions about Braille notation and some of them started to learn Braille.

Second cycle – reflecting

The two teachers mentioned that the second cycle was very successful in terms of collaboration and mutual understanding between Maria and her classmates. They also reflected on their own assumptions and explored the various dimensions of the project and concluded that the fact that they adopted a more facilitating role in class actually gave more opportunities to Maria and her classmates to interact, thus reducing the barriers to inclusion. For example:

This alternating support peer group idea turned to be not only very useful for Maria but also for all the sighted pupils in class. They begun to have a real communication and this brought an effective collaboration with fruitful results. (Student teacher)

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We realised that we didn’t give the initiative to the pupils but when we did so our rela- tionship also changed to the better. (General teacher)

We learned to value ourselves without fear. (Student teacher)

Third cycle – planning/observing and acting

The researcher and the school counsellor made some suggestions to maintain Maria’s attention and to receive more support in terms of educational material. More specifi- cally it was observed that the ‘alternating support peer group’ model functioned well but the two teachers had roles which were not very flexible. It was decided to proceed to a more collaborative approach which dealt with issues of teaching. The student teacher was mainly in charge of Maria and the general teacher of the rest of the pupils. Since the pupils were functioning into small interactive groups, the teachers would change their scheme of working. Reflecting on this it was suggested to imply a model of ‘interchanging teaching group’. In the second cycle the student teacher was dealing with all the difficulties that Maria was facing during the tasks and activities in class. Now it was decided that the general teacher would take the role of the student teacher and vice versa. In other words, the roles of the two teachers would overlap. The purpose of doing this was to achieve better inclusion by increasing the interactions between the teachers coupled with the interactions between Maria and her sighted peers. The two teachers found this suggestion very interesting to adopt and felt that this proposal would be closer to the ‘philosophy’ of the ‘alternating support peer group’ model. This phase of the project was actually a continuation of the previous one, modifying the shape of collaboration between the two teachers.

Third cycle – reflecting

The teachers asked the pupils to describe their impressions of this new style of working. All children mentioned that there was a vivid collaborative spirit all over the classroom and this feeling was something that they liked very much. The two teachers reflected better on their work because they had the chance to share mutual feedback and information about their own practices and also administer responsibili- ties equally.

Also, there was a change in the teacher–child interaction. Since the teachers were working on the ‘interchanging teaching group’ model, they felt more confident and able to respond to the children’s needs. Maria had learnt to interact with all her sighted peers and vice versa. Also, she could collaborate and communicate with her class- mates in a very democratic way, increasing her self esteem and confidence. The main problem in all these efforts to improve the inclusive practices was the shortage of time. We realised that we had to take this parameter into account very seriously in our plan- ning because we often ran out of time and did not complete the tasks or the activities we had planned to do in class.

Overall reflections and discussion

In the last meeting an overall reflection took place regarding the evolution of the two projects and all members of the two validation groups conveyed their experience through notes, reports and obtained data from informal discussions.

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The impact of carrying out action research on general and student teachers’ profes- sional development – which were the first two research questions – was as follows. The two general teachers in our study felt that the collaborative action research network helped them to interrogate their practice and teaching models in order to seek a deeper understanding of what these processes involved. For example:

During the action research project I realised that I had to question again and again myself what and how I was helping Maria.

In the beginning I couldn’t communicate with Anna and I couldn’t help it but now I feel different, I think I know the whys and the hows.

The project helped me to reflect on my own methods of teaching and I realised how limited was my knowledge about blindness and all this haptic material and devices.

Both general teachers mentioned that through self-reflection they found out if some strategies or techniques of their teaching methods were working or not. Reynolds (1992) argues that in order for teachers to reflect successfully on their teaching activ- ities, they have to use self-reflective methods such as constant evaluation of their students’ performances, reviews of their classroom lives and maintaining journals of thoughts and feelings. The participants in this action research network demonstrated all the characteristics of self reflection and as a result they adapted the curriculum for their students.

Regarding, the second research question, the student teachers were in the fourth year of their studies and despite the fact they had to attend several courses coupled with exams, they decided to get involved in this project voluntarily. They were very collaborative, responsible and punctual during the whole duration of the projects. For example:

We learnt that participation consists of shared experiences and mutual respect. All these virtues emanate from social interaction and we believe that action research operates as a safe and learning methodological umbrella which prepares you to change and learn from differences.

We are not yet qualified teachers but we think that this experience and knowledge made us ready to challenge and reflect without fear on all our assumptions and beliefs.

The two student teachers described themselves as very lucky for participating in the projects. They believed that they acquired important practical experience and knowl- edge and felt more equipped to respond to a deaf or to a blind child’s needs. Also, they gained experience in collaborating with general teachers in mainstream settings.

At the beginning of the projects, the general and student teachers felt stressed and confused about their roles in the classroom. However, gradually, through their daily conversations and meetings with the corresponding validation groups the two general teachers managed to collaborate effectively with the two student teachers respectively. Team-teaching is a challenging teaching model that requires from teachers flexibility, respect for the other, a willingness to change, sharing responsibilities, relying on the other, stepping back and giving up some autonomy when necessary and in general having strong interpersonal skills. Many teachers who always have their own class- rooms, may face some difficulties with collaborative models, because they may never have had the opportunity to work with other teachers as a team or because they might

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not have the necessary interpersonal skills or other personal characteristics that are important for a team teaching situation (Friend and Cook 1996; Jiménez-Sánchez and Antia 1999; Kluwin et al. 1996; Luckner 1999).

Regarding the third research question, the projects had a positive impact on Maria’s and Anna’s academic access to the general classroom. Maria’s classroom was equipped with many and different kinds of tactile material in conjunction with a learning tools. She began to feel a more active agent in class. It was felt that the diffi- culties that Maria felt stemmed from secondary factors such as lack of educational material.

On the other hand, Anna could not participate in the classroom’s activities and had a low level of understanding of anything that happened in the classroom. Gradu- ally, as the project was implemented Anna’s behaviour changed. She participated more, she completed the exercises on her own, and her reading and writing skills were improved.

Also it is worth noting that the two projects had the same starting point, aiming at full accessibility in the curriculum, but while the cycles of action research were evolv- ing the academic inclusive characteristic was coupled with social elements. This was evident mostly in the second project because the lack of interaction between Maria and her classmates had a negative impact on her. Rodney (2003) corroborates the dynamic role which occupies the environment by saying that the conditions and the limitations of the environment are often the main cause of many frustrations and delays regarding the education of children with special needs.

The whole process was shaped by the principles of action research (Elliott 1995; McNiff 1994) and in fact crossed traditional or common boundaries in teaching. Both projects had at the centre of their educational attention the academic needs of the pupils with special needs and in the process, via the critically reflective phases, innovative teaching models were applied. It is argued that these teaching models actually borrowed elements from theories such as the social learning theory (Bandura 1976) or the social constructivism (Vygotsky 1978), which place emphasis on learning through responses and behaviours of other persons. For instance, the function of the ‘alternat- ing support peer groups’ in the second action research project or the model of the ‘interchanging teaching group’, which actually took place in both projects bring us to the philosophy of a holistic approach which can be captured by the notion of a ‘connec- tive pedagogy’ (Corbett 2001).

Hence, it is not an exaggeration that through this action research network we high- lighted the necessity of building up a constructivist curriculum which can capture knowledge, culture, interactions, institutional arrangements and personal histories of all the people who are involved in an ‘educational journey’. All this is strongly connected with issues of inclusive educational policy which seems, at least in the Greek educational context, far away or mutually excluded from the broader educa- tional context.

Also this study raised key issues regarding some ideas which are sometimes disregarded in debates on inclusion. Inclusion relates to a dynamic process by which the diversity of the students is respected and acknowledged during their education in their locality (Booth and Ainscow 1998). On the other hand, many school systems are poor examples of inclusive education because they implement programmes with- out using a thorough and considerate planning process (Walther-Thomas et al. 2000). In our view, these contradictory notions of ‘what is inclusive and what is not’ result in confusion about how to interpret inclusive qualities regarding the everyday school

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European Journal of Special Needs Education 151

practice. For this, the present study focuses on practical interpretations and realisa- tions of inclusion rather than on definitions and ideological divisions.

Finally, it is argued that this study contributes to the promotion of inclusive thinking under a specific methodological umbrella which attempts to bridge the teaching role and the researching role aiming at ‘opening up possibilities through a reexamination of taken-for-granted ideas’ and perspectives (Phillips and Carr 2006).

Limitations and conclusions

The present study is entirely qualitative and limited and as such it embodies a degree of subjectivity. The results of this study are pertinent to specific educational contexts and to specific situations with specific participants. As a result one cannot generalise its findings and it should not, therefore, be seen as the implementation of models of ‘ideal practices’. Instead, these models or schemes of inclusive practices should be seen as subject to constant reflection, reconnaissance, interpretation and continuous assessment.

Nevertheless, the issues mentioned earlier should be addressed in future research to arrive at robust conclusions expanding the number of participants, encouraging practitioners in bringing change in their strategies and techniques and developing inclusive practices. Inclusive education enriched with the cyclical nature of collabora- tive planning and reflecting can improve the current educational system, can help pupils become more accepting and can encourage collaboration (Armstrong and Moore 2004). Hence, it may be argued that action research constitutes a valid basis (O’Hanlon 1996) on which to interpret educational contexts in their localities and as such to develop inclusive practices, overcoming barriers and promoting real change in institutional cultures and curricula.

Note 1. The reading textbooks of the Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs did not include

any reading comprehension questions, but the teacher made such questions orally.

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