Around the turn of the millennium student assessment studies like PISA and IGLU triggered a public and political discussion about the strong relationship between social background and school performance in Germany. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities by the United Nations from 2008 further increased the political pressure to act and led to many reform activities by the national government and the federal governments to promote equal opportunities. In this context and after a historic change of government in the German state of Baden-Wuerttemberg in the year 2011, the first inclusive school type of the federal state was introduced. The so called “Gemeinschaftsschule” caters for students with all kinds of ability levels and provides different school degrees. What has long been a reality in other European countries, inclusive schooling was a huge change for the teachers of Baden-Wuerttemberg who were accustomed to a traditionally tripartite school system within secondary education complemented by a wide range of schools for students with special educational needs. The development of this new school type and the increased heterogeneity of the student body brought new challenges to the teaching staff und led to a more complex profile of requirements.

This paper explores the requirement profile of the emerging inclusive schools for teachers and focusses on the role of cooperation which is thought to play an important role in coping with increasing demands in schools and the classroom (Reusser et al., 2013b, p. 188; Schley, 1998, pp. 125ff.). Despite empirically approved advantages for example for the growth of professional competences as well as for school development (Kelchtermans, 2006, p. 220) and being identified as a characteristic of successful schools (Little, 1982, p. 325) cooperation in German speaking countries remains relatively low (e.g. Steinert et al., 2006, pp. 195f.). So far there are no published studies that provide a differentiated view of the profile of requirements in German inclusive schools and of cooperation as a coping-strategy (see Bennemann, Schoenknecht & Wacker, 2015). Based on a purely theoretical analysis of the concept in Baden-Wuerttemberg Trautmann and Wischer come to the conclusion that the central challenges are a beneficial handling of a more heterogeneous student body and the formation of a new school type (Trautmann & Wischer, 2013, p. 48). Accompanying empirical studies on the introduction of inclusive schools in other federal states don’t investigate the subject (see Schmechtig & Melzer, 2015; see Ritter, Krützfeldt & Melzer, 2014), mention it only peripherally (see Senatsverwaltung Berlin, 2012, 2013) or with a focus on personal interpretation patterns when dealing with heterogeneous learning groups (Wittek, 2013). A Swiss study accompanying the introduction of inclusive schools in the canton Zurich states that the competence-requirements to promote individually and in an integrative way are high (Reusser et al., 2013b, p. 4). The study also found that cooperation has been intensified since the introduction of the new inclusive school type (ibid., p. 3) but that the implementation of productive cooperation structures is challenging (Reusser et al., 2013a, p. 17).

This paper tries to get a deeper understanding of how and why teachers cooperate in the new inclusive school type “Gemeinschaftsschule” to cope with the new profile of requirements. It looks at the underlying motives, opinions and struggles of the teaching staff with the aim of giving suggestions for practical improvements. The analysis is based on qualitative research complemented by a quantitative comparison of cooperation practices in inclusive and non-inclusive schools based on Graesel, Fussangel and Proebstels distinction of three different levels of cooperation – exchange, common work organization, and co-construction (2006, p. 209ff.).

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