Collaborative consultation practitioners' perspectives

Date

1993

Authors

Wilson, Sheila Anne

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Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine teacher's opinions and experiences, addressing a variety of issues relating to consultation as it is practiced as a special education service delivery model. Definitions, service descriptions, perceptions, identified benefits and barriers, as well as personal, professional and process development were investigated from practitioners' perspectives. This examination was intended to provide a beginning stage in the process of implementing consultation on a school-wide basis. This study reveals what it is like to be a teacher practicing collaborative consultation as a means of serving special needs students in integrated settings. The subjects were primary teachers in a small, isolated, rural community. Research articles, opinion papers, and teachers' observations are examined. A phenomenological orientation is used to make interpretive sense of collaborative consultation. Surveys, interviews, journals and conversations were used to describe, interpret, and analyze teachers' experiences. Themes of searching and hoping, difficulty and doubt, time constraints, support and reassurance, and reflection are revealed. This study provides insight into the lived-world experiences of practitioners as they strive to collaborate to meet students' needs.

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Keywords

UN SDG 4: Quality Education

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