General and special education teachers' relations within teamwork in inclusive education: socio-demographic characteristics

Abstract

The general objective of this study was to establish the relation between general and special education teachers within teamwork and to define socio-demographic factors that affect teamwork. The sample encompassed 223 general and special education teacher of both genders, age 25 to 60, who are employed in regular elementary schools in Serbia. The general and special education teachers approach data, according to the six dimensions of teamwork, were obtained by means of a standardized questionnaire for teamwork supervision, which contains 60 assertions (Cronbach’s a = 0.907). Our research results indicate that there is no significant difference between general and special education teachers in their perception of the four out of six dimensions of teamwork. They are aware of the environment in which teamwork operates, they have similar behaviour and abilities, and they respect similar teamwork values. However, the transition, from traditional to inclusive education, brings the problem of general education teachers’ professional identity (p = 0.043) and the meaning of interrelations with special education teachers, the significance of teamwork in broader social sense, and the benefits of teamwork outside the institution (p = 0.049). Keywords : general education teacher; inclusive education; inclusive school; special education teacher; teamwork