Critical Look At The Contributions Of A Special Educator In Co-teaching Settings In A us Secondary School: A Case-study

Abstract

Co-teaching occurs between two or more professionals who are actively involved in providing substantive instruction in a shared physical space to a diverse student population in inclusive settings. It is often compared to "professional marriage." Research has established various benefits o f co-teaching for children with and without disabilities, both socially and academically. In addition, co-teaching provides opportunities for general and special educators to collaborate and learn from each other's expertise. However, most o f the time special education teachers adopt a supportive role in co-teaching rather than one of equal professional status, thus highlighting the limited contributions of special educators in the instructional partnership. The focus o f the study was on the contributions and the roles of the special education teachers in co-teaching in content areas. Data sources were interviews; observations; artefacts and field notes. The characteristic of this high performing team, and the way their relationship evolved confirmed many o f factors that have been identified as contributing to successful co-teaching. The special education teacher contributed both in planning and in teaching biology; in addition to a supportive role, he also took a lead role in teaching, thus; providing meaningful learning experiences to both students with and without disabilities.