Effective Classroom Teamwork: Support or Intrusion?

The nature of classroom practice is undergoing change as more and more adults are being brought into classrooms in response to such trends as parental involvement and the integration of children with special educational needs. The parents, teachers, ancillary staff and support workers comprising these new groups probabley fail to recognise themselves as teams, but nonetheless they are characterised by the same stresses which mark teamwork in any oter setting. This book is a guide to working together as an effective team, designed to show that they are part of a team, and employ strategies to minimise chances of failure. Gary Thomas identifies key areas of concern, including poor communication, status barriers and inadequate role definition, and offers guidelines for dealing with these stresses and tensions in teamwork.

Gary Thomas is a Senior Lecturer at Oxford Polytechnic and has taught in primary and secondary schools. He has worked as an educational psychologist in Manchester, and, from University College London, as a staff tutor to two psychological services. He has jointly edited two other books, Planning for Special Needs and Tackling Learning Difficulties.