Contributions from: Angela Creese - UK, Gerda Hanko - UK, Angeles Parrilla - Spain, Egide Loyale - Canada and Julie Bedward - UK.
Abstract
Many classroom teachers feel that they do not have sufficient training and support to meet many of the challenges presented by children in their classes. There are, of course, informal and formal support structures available in the school for teachers to discuss such issues with colleagues. However, as time becomes more and more of an issue for teachers, even informal talk in the staff room at breaktimes is becoming an increasingly scare resource. In such a climate, there is a need for quality time in which teachers can talk about their professional concerns regarding their classrooms, and through this, indirectly support their students in the learning process.
Peer support teams have been discussed in a variety of professional contexts. Quality circles are used in industry and have been developed in professional education. In the area of mental health consultation, the work of Caplan has been influential and has been extensively applied. Teacher-assistance teams (the origin of the TST idea) have been adopted and even mandated in some States of the USA. In the USA a Department of Education task force recommended that schools establish support systems for teachers as a way of responding to concerns about over-referral rates, misclassification of students, rising costs and the need to maximise opportunities for all students in the least restrictive environment.
Speakers will discuss their experience of setting up and evaluating approaches to collaborative problem solving between teachers: within school teams in the UK; external consultant led support in the UK and Germany; a replication and subsequent development of the UK model in Spain; in actions to support pupils with EBD in Quebec; in the original Teacher Assistant Team movement in the USA; in health care systems.
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