The scientific literature (Hallahan et al., 2014; Bednarska, 2014; Mitchell, 2014; Rodrigues, Campos, Chaves & Martins, 2015, etc.) indicates that cooperation is a joint activity in which forces are united for a common goal. According to Berčnik, Devjak (2017), the partnership between parents, teachers and the educational institution encourages to pursue the common goals together – to provide children with quality education, to constantly share information about the child and his/her achievements, to cooperate in a team based on the principles of mutual assistance and trust (Wasserman, Zwebner, 2017). Thanks to the cooperation between the school and the parents, the child’s educational results and the priorities of the whole educational institution are improving (Berčnik, Devjak, 2017).  According to Hallahan et al. (2014), families with children with SEN are very vulnerable and constantly under great stress, therefore, teachers need to know not only the peculiarities of the education of a student with SEN, but also his/her parents’ attitude to the child’s educational opportunities, recognize the experience of the family, take into account the expectations of the family. The results of the research by Rodrigues et al. (2015) showed that teachers, during the cooperation with students’ parents, need to discuss with them the goals of child support, educational strategies, find solutions for the organization of education that are acceptable to all the participants in education. The family must become an equal partner in the education of children with SEN. According to Mitchell (2014), in order to build a successful cooperative relationship, it is important to organize periodic meetings, set clear goals for cooperation, shared responsibility for decisions, their results, solve problems, create an atmosphere of cooperation based on mutual respect and trust, review progress in cooperation agreements.

Cooperation between teachers and parents allows teachers to look at the student’s situation through the eyes of parents, and parents, cooperating with teachers, better understand their role, help students overcome difficulties, failures, various problems they face every day (Azad, Marcus, Sheridan, Mandell, 2018).

The analysis of scientific sources revealed that both parties – teachers and parents – should promote mutual cooperation, nevertheless, teachers should be the initiators of cooperation. It is important to choose the right forms of cooperation for parents and teachers. They are quite diverse, but it is important that the chosen forms of cooperation are beneficial to the learner, that cooperation is based on mutual trust. The analysis of the scientific literature revealed that in the process of cooperation between teachers and parents, problems often arise, which are overcome by sharing responsibilities and learning from each other; this creates better opportunities to meet the child’s special educational needs.

Thus, in the opinion of many authors, successful education of the child is inconceivable without the cooperation of the student’s family and teachers, however, often in the process of cooperation there are challenges for both teachers and students’ parents. According to Dahl (2017), not only for parents but also for teachers, the goals and structure of cooperation are often unclear, their expectations and responsibilities are not defined.

Although the importance of cooperation between teachers and parents raising children with SEN is unquestionable, there is still a lack of empirical evidence about the problems of cooperation between teachers and parents, their causes, and the factors of successful cooperation.

This study analyses problem questions:What are the problems that emerge in the cooperation between teachers and parents of students with SEN? What factors, in the opinion of teachers, determine successful cooperation?

The research aim –to reveal the peculiarities of the cooperation between teachers and parents of students with special educational needs.

A method of quantitative research – a questionnaire survey – was chosen for the study. Referring to the analysis of the scientific literature, a semi-closed questionnaire for school teachers educating students with special educational needs was prepared. Multiple-choice questions were prepared for the respondents; it was also possible to express one’s opinion by entering the answer (“other”). The questionnaire consists of 19 closed-ended and 5 open-ended questions, of four blocks of questions in total: 1 – demographic data of respondents; 2 – questions aimed at revealing the opinion of teachers about cooperation with parents of students with SEN, ways of involving parents in cooperation, the roles of teachers and parents in the process of educating children, meeting special educational needs and mutual cooperation; 3 – questions aimed at identifying the applied and most acceptable forms of cooperation between parents and teachers, areas of cooperation and revealing the problems that arise when teachers cooperate with parents raising children with special educational needs; 4 – questions examining teachers’ views on the factors of the success of cooperation and the possibility of improving cooperation with parents of students with special educational needs. The anonymous questionnaire was submitted electronically. The respondents (574 teachers, educating students with SEN) were explained the purpose of the survey, the anonymity and confidentiality of data were ensured; they were informed of the right to decide whether or not they agree to participate in the anonymous survey. The research data were processed by SPSS-17 software, applying the methods of descriptive statistics. When processing the answers to the questions about forms of cooperation with parents acceptable to teachers (ranking scale); areas of cooperation and factors of successful cooperation (ranking scales), Principal Component Analysis, Rotation Method: Oblimin with Kaiser Normalization – KMO was conducted, in accordance with Measure of Sampling Adequacy for Factor Analysis (MSA>0,7). The results of the factor data analysis are presented in tables indicating the data of KMO, test reliability (Cronbach α), statistical significance (p); factor loading (L) of indicators and factor dispersion (percent). In order to determine the relationship between the frequency of teachers’ meetings with parents of students and the different levels of students’ SEN, Crosstabs/Chi-Square Test was applied: Pearson χ2, df and statistical significance p (Asymp. Sig.(2-sided) criteria, under the condition that the indicators are statistically dependent when p<0,05; the indicators are statistically independent when p≥0,05.

The research data revealed that teachers recognize the importance of cooperation with parents of students with special educational needs, however, many of them are reluctant to cooperate with students’ parents, meetings with students’ parents are infrequent and irregular. It has been found that in some cases, the frequency of meetings with parents of students depends on the level of students’ SEN. A statistically significant relationship was found between the frequency of meetings with parents of students with mild and moderate SEN. A weak statistical relationship was found analysing the frequency of meetings with parents of students with severe and profound SEN. The most important areas of teachers’ cooperation with students’ parents were found to be cooperation in organizing education and cooperation in solving educational problems. According to the data of the factor analysis, the problems of students’ education are the latent factor of teachers’ cooperation with students’ parents. The role of parents in the process of cooperation with teachers is unequal. According to the teachers who participated in the research, parents are mostly passive listeners and observers. However, often teachers do not seek closer cooperation either: they only inform parents about the child’s achievements, perhaps that is why students’ parents are poorly involved in making decisions about the child’s education. According to the teachers, the main barriers to cooperation are parents’ reluctance to take responsibility for their children’s education; different understanding of teachers’ and parents’ responsibility for the child’s education, uncoordinated demands of teachers and parents on each other. The study revealed that a large number of teachers tend to underestimate parents’ competencies and do not consider them as equal partners. Teachers tend to blame parents of students.

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