University of Kansas

SPED 854 Philosophy Statement of Collaboration

Erica Hankins

Philosophy Statement of Collaboration

Being a special educator requires a reasonable amount of extra time spent with
parents, administrators, students, fellow teachers, and outside entities working together
on supporting the needs of a specific child. In the world of education this is called
collaboration: a style professionals select to employ based on mutual goals; parity; shared
responsibility for key decisions; shared accountability for outcomes; shared resources;
and the development of trust, respect, and a sense of community (Cook and Friend
2010). It is important for all of the key players to to implement this style of working
relationship so that the education of the child remains untarnished and moving forward at
all times.
In order for the child to move forward educationally and continue to break
through barriers in the goal sense; parents, teachers, administrators, and outside entities
must share responsibilities for the act of setting up the success of the child. This requires
a great deal of trust, respect, discussion, and cultural understanding between all of the
players who are locked into this process. These players must have clear lines of
communication and a clear plan of attack as to how they are going to educate a child
through the completion of goals, what tools they are going to use, and how those tools
will tie into one another across boundary lines. Once boundaries lines (school vs. work,
parent vs. teacher) are erased, successful collaboration becomes seamless.
Many times the issue with collaboration is not the style itself; it is the players
involved. Teachers, administrators, and others involved in the process must be totally
committed to the process. Each person must be responsible for understanding the childs
needs, their abilities, what their home life is like, what their culture is like, and what their
basic belief system relies around. When this does not happen, the players fail to

respectfully support the most important building blocks of collaboration. The best way
for the players to collaborate is to sit down together and plan the actual lessons and units
together. This can seem very out of bounds, or like this is not supposed to happen.
Teachers often think they can only plan their lesson on their own and they are the only
ones that know what is going on in their room. Once we open up and cross the boundary
lines of curriculum and titles we find that it is more than just consulting each other on
what to do. We find ourselves providing each other with action plans of educating our
students with the most powerful lessons full of rich material that will last a lifetime.
It is never a bad time to start collaborating with fellow teachers, administrators
and others on a childs education. It is key to watch for changes at important milestones
such as the transfer to middle school or high school and when personal events take place
such as puberty. These things can have a negative neurological effect and behaviors can
impede the success that is taking place. As one gets to know their student, they begin to
form a relationship that has its own identity. This relationship with the student along with
the other players in the collaboration will form a dynamic bond based on trust, respect,
and a sense of community. Collaboration is an important part of education that will
forever be evolving to include the dynamic identities and bonds of those who utilize the
style and one that will forever be a part of my personal arsenal.