COLLABORATIVE TEAMWORK – A FORMATIVE APPROACH OF IN-SERVICE TRAINING FOR SPECIAL EDUCATION PROFESSIONALS IN ROMANIA

The collaborative intervention approach in the Romanian special education is under construction. Related scientific knowledge is usually delivered through academic educational programs, but concrete, practice-oriented teamwork experiences are more likely to be found in the educational research and in nongovernmental sector which implement international social projects.

In the special education system, the educational actors have rather parallel routes than convergent or emergent ones. There are large “grey areas” when speaking of synchronous and holistic intervention design and assessment of the child. Crossdisciplinary approach in multidisciplinary teams is working on paper but needs adjustment in practice.

Implementation of educational programs designed for the development of complex collaborative skills is more and more required by in-service training of teachers and other categories of intervenors, especially of those professionals working with children with special needs. Best results may be obtained only through a systematic, articulated and cohesive intervention designed from the medical, educational and social work levels to vocational, advocacy and quality of life enhancement, within a society oriented toward diversity and equity.

Thus, a program designed to enable collaborative teamwork competencies of special education teachers and intervenors has been developed and implemented in Bucharest, Romania. The program aims to develop complex horizontal skills needed for collaborative work in multidisciplinary team. It consists of thematic active learning sessions of in-service training, completed by a hands-on “Handbook for collaborative teamwork” following the correspondence principle between skills, content, and method.