The Importance Of Collaboration At School
To provide quality education, there needs to be some participation and coordination between teachers, families and other professionals. In this sense, the existence of a culture of collaboration at school is very important.
Thus, all students are able to achieve the course objectives correctly, since those responsible for their education maintain good communication with each other, thus favoring the children’s development.
The importance of collaboration at school
To play the role of a teacher in a collaborative culture, it is necessary to have adequate training and also have a series of skills. According to Echeita, they are:
- Have a thoughtful and critical attitude.
- Have curiosity and initiative.
- Know how to find and collect relevant information.
- Be strategic.
- Being able to work in a team.
- Maintain good communication, dialogue and listening guidelines.
- Knowing how to ask and offer.
- Show empathy.
- Establish reciprocal and trusting relationships with colleagues and students.
- Take risks and be open to change.
- Knowing how to set goals to be surpassed and be willing to continue learning.
Furthermore, teachers should try to abandon traditional methodology and individualism. On the contrary, they must learn to do educational work together with other professionals and with their families.
For this, it is essential that the school has a team that believes in educational inclusion and that there is good organization and coordination between them, with clear roles to be played by each one.
In this sense, support teachers, advisors, tutors and other technicians who may be needed at the school should work together to:
- The making of teaching material.
- Monitoring and evaluating students.
- The prevention, detection and assessment of students with learning problems.
- Attention to diversity and the provision of educational support.
Families and the duty to collaborate
The group formed by the families must also make efforts and commitment to the development of a collaborative culture. Thus, the quality of your interaction with the school is of great importance for its proper functioning.
Therefore, mothers and fathers must be actively involved in setting up the school they want for their children:
- Participating in activities offered by the school.
- Participating in meetings and private lessons or with other families.
- Answering the questionnaires sent by the school.
- Reading the documents or information leaflets that the school deems appropriate.
- Collaborating in educational innovation and improvement programs.
In this way, the educational system will be able to learn about parents’ opinions, perspectives and ideas for improvement. And, in turn, they will be favored by the fact that the school listens to them in the decision-making process, as they will be able to exercise some control over the actions taken by the school in relation to the students.
Benefits of Collaboration at School
The implementation of a collaborative model by the school has a positive impact for all students. But, mainly, for those with special educational needs, since the teacher must try to maintain a relationship based on communication with students and that facilitates the possibility of paying attention to:
- Behaviors.
- Needs.
- Doubts.
- Conflicts.
- Difficulties.
- Achievements.
- Comments.
Thus, it is possible to encourage the participation and learning of everyone. Furthermore, by following these practices, the teacher creates a dynamic of collaboration and cooperation among students in the classroom.
In this way, students benefit from a climate of diversity, in which respect is promoted and in which they learn to socialize with all types of children.
In short, the existence of collaboration in the school environment involves a series of commitments, implications and practical repercussions that are beneficial to everyone. Therefore, educational improvement and innovation can be achieved through the effort and dedication of each one of us.
