TeamReflex. Building an inclusive school culture
How can we work together as a team to build an inclusive school culture? Primary school teachers and students in teacher education are willing to contribute to an inclusive school culture, but often lack the tools and insights to do so. This research project develops a team-based approach, grounded in shared dialogue and reflection, to support inclusive school culture both in primary schools and in primary teacher education. Throughout the various cycles of development, research, and evaluation, (student) teachers are involved as co-researchers. Together with an expert group and colleagues from teacher education programmes, the tool is developed and implemented in schools in the field as well as in the teacher education curriculum.
Do all pupils feel equally valued at school? What unconscious beliefs shape my attitude as a teacher toward pupils or colleagues from different sociocultural or religious backgrounds? And how can we, as a team, work together to build an inclusive school culture?
An inclusive school culture recognises and values the diversity present in schools as an asset, contributing to a climate in which both pupils and teachers feel safe to grow. While (student) teachers are generally willing to work toward such a culture, they often lack the tools and insights to do so. Their preference for schools with less diversity is a telling indicator. A team-based approach—grounded in shared dialogue and reflection—is considered the most effective way to foster an inclusive school culture. Although some initiatives have already been developed for secondary education, there is currently no structured support for primary education.
TeamReflex addresses this gap by developing a dialogue-based reflection tool for primary school teams and students in primary teacher education.
TeamReflex offers a reflective methodology that helps teams explore the stereotypical assumptions held by (student) teachers. In a second phase, schools translate these insights into a feasible and sustainable action plan for transitioning toward an inclusive school culture. Throughout the development, research, and evaluation cycles, (student) teachers act as co-researchers, engaging in dialogue to generate shared knowledge and understanding.
In collaboration with a multidisciplinary expert group—including field partners and colleagues from teacher education—TeamReflex is being developed and implemented both in schools and within the teacher training curriculum.
TeamReflex builds on insights from previous PWO projects (WetenschapsBalans, BurgerschapsReflex and WaardenBurger) by research centre ExploRatio, which supported secondary school teachers in engaging pupils in dialogue on sensitive topics to foster an inclusive classroom climate. TeamReflex zooms in on a specific need that repeatedly emerged in these projects: How can we move beyond the classroom level and transform this into a sustainable trajectory that builds an inclusive school culture at the team level?
Key words: inclusive education, primary school, teacher education and professional development, dialogue formats, sense of belonging, educational design research
Project Team
