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Tearing down the invisible walls: Designing, implementing, and theorizing psychologically safer co-teaching for inclusion

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Abstract

Collaborative (Co-) teaching is an increasingly popular model of instructional used to improve inclusive education outcomes. The woefully under theorized and researched arrangement involves multiple certified teachers—a general and special educator—sharing a classroom space and increased spectrum of student learning needs. Our multiyear Design-Based investigation of and intervention with co-teachers revealed the need to view co-teaching as an activity system. The focus of this paper includes the emergent themes uncovered and theoretical findings from the investigation, including the advancement of a novel sociocultural-oriented co-teaching framework, the Co-Teaching Implementation Framework. Also discussed is the key role of psychological safety and risk-taking within co-teaching teams and their capacity for learning to successfully implement instructional changes. Participants emphasized how performance is undermined if the risk of voicing disagreement or a deviation in the curriculum is too great, leading to silence, confusion, and resistance.

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Adapted from Armenakis and Bedeian (1999)

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Funding

The funding was provided by Office of Special Education Programs, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (Grand No. Personnel Preparation Grant, 84.325D, IABS Leadership Project).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Education and Human Development, Georgia State University, 30 Pryor Street #633, Atlanta, GA, 30303, USA

    Jacob Hackett

  2. University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

    Jean Kruzich

  3. Highline Public Schools, Seattle, WA, USA

    Arielle Goulter & Maritess Battista

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  1. Jacob Hackett
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  2. Jean Kruzich
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  4. Maritess Battista
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Correspondence to Jacob Hackett.

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Appendix 1

Appendix 1

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Table 2 Psychological Safety Scale Questionnaire (question #10 is adapted from original)
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Hackett, J., Kruzich, J., Goulter, A. et al. Tearing down the invisible walls: Designing, implementing, and theorizing psychologically safer co-teaching for inclusion. J Educ Change 22, 103–130 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10833-020-09401-3

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