1st Edition

Effective Classroom Teamwork Support or Intrusion?

By Gary Thomas Copyright 1992

    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.

    Chapter 1 THE NEW CLASSROOM TEAMS; Chapter 2 THE DYNAMICS OF TEAMS; Chapter 3 CLASSROOM TEAMS; Chapter 4 CLASSROOM TEAMS; Chapter 5 A MODEL FOR ANALYSING CLASSROOM TEAMS; Chapter 6 INVESTIGATING CLASSROOM TEAMS; Chapter 7 THE EXTENT AND NATURE OF THE NEW TEAMWORK; Chapter 8 TEACHERS, PARENTS AND ANCILLARIES IN TEAMS; Chapter 9 SUPPORT TEACHERS; Chapter 10 DIARY OF A SUPPORT TEACHER; Chapter 11 TEAM PERSONALITIES; Chapter 12 A KEY TO THE PROBLEMS?; Chapter 13 THE EFFECT OF DEFINING ROLES; Chapter 14 OVERVIEW AND CONCLUSION; APPENDIX Extracts from the diary; GLOSSARY; REFERENCES INDEX; SUBJECT INDEX;

    Biography

    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.

    `..of all the books that have addressed specific aspects of present provision Gary Thomas's Effective Classroom Teamwork is the one that makes the most significant contribution to enhancing classroom practice. It is an excellent guide to working in teams and provides insightful pointers to what makes classroom teams effective and how they can work better together ' Graham Upton, British Book News - January 1993