Abstract:

Cooperation appears to be one of the priorities, an emphasized part of strategy in different countries, including Poland (e.g. Strategy “Poland 2030”), as foundations of capital development of the state. Undertaken efforts within the frame of reforms embracing education, including new solutions concerning arrangement of work in teams within organising psychological-pedagogical assistance. First attempts of implementation of the reform have been undertaken in a pilot project conducted by the Ministry of National Education in 2011 focused on elementary, primary and secondary schools. It became the subject of a qualitative research conducted by the Institute for Educational Research in 16 provinces in primary (ISCED 1) and lower secondary school (ISCED 2). Results of the study indicate a large variation of approaches towards organisation and teamwork course in identifying needs of students. It turned out that readiness of schools for implementation of changes varied from schools that have already implemented psycho-pedagogical assistance in a similar shape to that was outlined in the regulations, to schools which have not got any experience in this field. Nevertheless, the fact that the Ministry of National Education paid attention to special educational needs and to create more opportunities for children to get specialised assistance in school, was appreciated. Teaching staff valued the possibility of cooperation and communication between them and a psychologist and an pedagogue. Furthermore they could learn about a student from different perspectives, how does she/he operates, including those opinions derived from observation of the child outside the school. From psychologists and pedagogues perspective, the hardest part of teamwork was to develop templates of documents, carry out diagnosis, design solutions and find time for meetings. Headmasters identified other difficulties: how to plan the teaching staff schedule meetings, how to complete documentation and how to raise additional funds to guarantee regular posts for specialists for the new school year. Key findings relate to the cooperation and organisation of work in teams as well as disclosing difficulties and ways to overcome them. Do the undertaken efforts at school can bear name of full collaboration? What are the difficulties associated with organising and work in teams aimed at diagnosing of students’ needs? We will try to find an answer to these questions in the present article.

Keywords:

Cooperation, teamwork, psychological-pedagogical assistance, educational law.