Research on teachers’ soft skills is an interesting and important field of research that has attracted the interest of experts in recent years (Vasanthakumari, 2019). An important soft skill that teachers should have been collaboration, which is one of the social skills. Collaboration refers to the action that is jointly planned (Vangrieken et al., 2015). A more recent definition of collaboration refers to the process of exchange in which individuals share information, material, or knowledge (Bush & Grotjohann, 2020). Through collaboration, teachers can observe and rethink everything that is done, change strategies, and aim to improve themselves, the students, and the school in general (Giakoumi & Theofilidis, 2012).

In the international arena, surveys focus on secondary school teachers and students (Onabamiro et al., 2014). In Greece, studies on social skills are limited. The present research investigates the skill of collaboration adopted by general and special education teachers, its contribution to the educational process, but also in the development of their own, as well as the ways of cultivating it. The research questions posed were:

-       How do general and special education teachers conceptualize the soft skill of collaboration?

-       In what ways does a general and special education teacher develop the skill of collaboration?

-       How is the contribution of collaboration skills to the educational process assessed?

-       How is the contribution of collaboration skills to the development and progression of general and special education teachers assessed?

This study constitutes qualitative research, and particularly a systematic literature review. Regarding the sample, the literature search was focused on the following databases: Science Direct, Heal Link, Google Scholar, Research Gate, PubMed, Wiley Online Library, ERIC, Taylor & Francis, Elsevier, and the National Documentation Centre. The criteria for the inclusion of the studies in this literature review were the following: a) The language of writing should be one of the following: English and Greek, b) the articles should be published in reputable journals, c) the articles should focus on the soft skill of general and/or special education teachers’ collaboration, d) the access should be either open or through the University of the Aegean (academic access). The exclusion criteria were as follows: a) the articles to be duplicates, b) articles written in a language other than the above, c) unpublished studies, and d) the content of the studies should not be related to the research questions. Thirty (30) titles were identified in the international literature. However, seventeen (17) scientific articles were relevant to the topic in terms of content and the research objectives of the study. Therefore, the study constitutes a systematic literature review of seventeen (17) articles published in reputable international scientific journals during the period 1997–2020. The results were extracted using the PRISMA flow diagram (PRISMA Flow Diagram, 2009). The data analysis was qualitative, and it was a thematic analysis.

The purported outcomes of this study are to explore whether teachers perceive the importance of collaboration and to what extent. Additionally, to highlight its contribution, its development, and most importantly, its utilisation for the individual and professional development of teachers, but also the development of the educational process. Finally, to suggest ways of cultivating the skill of collaboration. The findings of the study indicated that most research focuses on the fact that the skill of collaboration is valued as significant by general and special education teachers. Regarding the contribution of this skill to the educational process, teachers point out its importance as well as the difficulties that may arise from various factors that limit its implementation, such as the heavy workload of teachers, the large number of students in the classroom, the lack of awareness of the importance of collaboration, the lack of pre- and in-service training, and the negative attitudes of teachers. In most of the studies under review, collaboration is found to contribute mainly to the teacher’s professional development. In addition, teachers mention further training and the support required from the school environment and the students’ families as ways of developing collaboration. The general conclusion of the study is that teachers, overall, perceive the skill of collaboration as highly assessable. According to the above findings, the need for more research on the soft skill of collaboration is underlined, focusing on general and special education teachers and the way it emerges between teachers, students, and families.

Bush, A., & Grotjohann, N. (2020). Collaboration in teacher education: A cross-sectional study on future teachers’ attitudes towards collaboration, their intentions to collaborate and their performance of collaboration. Teaching and Teacher Education, 88, 102968. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2019.102968 Giakoumi, S., & Theofilidis, C. (2012). Collaborative culture as a supportive tool in teachers’ work. Proceedings of the 12th Conference of the Cyprus Pedagogical Society (pp. 474 - 483). Cyprus Pedagogical Society. [in Greek] Onabamiro et al. (2014). Teachers’ perception of teaching and assessing soft skills in secondary schools. Education, 4(5), 2014, 109-115. https://doi.org/10.5923/j.edu.20140405.01 Vangrieken, K., Dochy, F., Raes, E., & Kyndt, E. (2015). Teacher collaboration: A systematic review. Educational Research Review, 15, 17-40. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2015.04.002 Vasanthakumari, S. (2019). Soft skills and its application in work place. World Journal of Advanced Research and Reviews, 3(2), 66-72. https://doi.org/10.30574/wjarr.2019.3.2.0057