ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on professional collaboration as the interaction between teachers and other professionals when engaged in collective problem-solving and joint action. Professional collaboration is defined as a process where two or more professionals work towards a common goal by sharing responsibility and contributing professional expertise in the spirit of reciprocity and trust. Professional collaboration is explicitly named within a range of professional standards and clinical-guideline documents in Australia. Professional collaboration takes place with two goals in mind: to enhance the school experience of students, and to contribute to the professional development of the professionals involved. Criticisms of co-teaching reflect the pervasive confusion over what co-teaching is and how models of co-teaching are labelled and enacted. Specifically, the term ‘co-teaching’ is often used interchangeably with ‘collaboration’. Collaborative consultation is an interactive process between professionals who work together to address complex issues in a student-centred framework.
