Using dialogue as a means to promote collaborative and inclusive practices

Abstract

This study discusses the results of a collaborative action research project in a multi-disciplinary school for children with disabilities. The aim was to alter practices and views of the professionals concerned in order to promote the inclusion of four children in mainstream schools. Three interrelated programmes were designed and implemented over two years in order to foster the process of collaboration and inclusion. The main purpose was to prompt the different professionals to adopt new roles, and the dialectic method was used as the main means to this end. To collect data, a systematic research diary, a number of participant observations and interviews with the professionals were used. The findings indicate that the result of collaborative action research that integrated the dialectic as a method of interpreting and deconstructing the practices and the views of professionals was to promote the children’s inclusion through the enhancement of effective and just practices.

Keywords:

• inclusion
• dialectic
• collaboration
• special school
• multidisciplinary
• action research