This paper is a result of a coordinated research carried out by three Spanish universities: the Universities of Vigo, Cantabria and Seville . The aim of this paper is to show what changes are made by fostering collaboration among primary-school and secondary-school teachers, students, families and the community through collaborative formats vis-á-vis teacher development and a school’s culture. This paper, based on three specific collaborative experiences obtained from each university’s research, will answer the following questions: - What traits characterize inclusive collaborative formats between teachers and other agents? - What changes to professional development and a school’s culture can be expected based on the inclusive-collaboration experiences between teachers and other agents? The three inter-university coordinated studies are grounded on the principles of Educational Inclusion (Ainscow, 2004) and have been inspired by School Improvement movement (Hargreaves et al, 1998) to test models that deal with collaboration between teachers and diverse agents, reinforcing equity in educational systems. In particular, in this paper we explore and analyse how some formats of teacher-student collaboration (Fielding, 2007), teacher-family collaboration (Hedeen, Moses and Peter, 2010) and teacher-community collaboration (Bottrell & Goodwin, 2011) contribute to promote educational inclusion. Our work has been developed through a collaborative and participative research model (Bergold & Thomas, 2012), taking on research development through a critical, participative and transformative analysis of practice. Participative research in our studies aims to improve practice through a combination of systematic reflection and strategic innovation that encourage stakeholders to collaboratively research their own situation and practices. This process involves groups of individuals (teachers, students, families and community agents) rethinking, interpreting and improving their own practice, considering the complementary role between research outsiders and insiders. Each university’s analysis of individual, collaborative-format data is the basis for analyzing the collective results, which is currently in development. The originality of these unusual collaborative formats increase the possibilities made possible by professional collaboration among teachers. What we call inclusive patterns of collaboration generate new scenarios and new relationship patterns, which contribute to the strengthening of an inclusive school culture, thereby promoting participation and democracy. At the same time, teachers demonstrate new abilities that modify some aspects of classic professional development and lead to a critical and reflexive professional model, essential to promoting change and significant educational improvement.
