Inclusive education requires schools to respond to student diversity and to create conditions that foster meaningful learning and social participation for all. Collaboration among teachers and other members of the educational community is increasingly recognized as a key lever for achieving this goal (UNESCO, 2020). This symposium brings together four research contributions that examine collaborative educational practices from different perspectives and explore their potential and challenges in promoting inclusive education, following a progression from macro- to micro-level analyses.

The first contribution investigates Learning Communities in Portugal. A key dimension of Learning Communities is that members of the educational community are willing to collaborate with each other and to develop egalitarian interactions with a view to promoting the success of all students (Flecha, 2009). However, developing collaborative processes is not an easy process. Drawing on large-scale quantitative and qualitative data, the goal of this communication is to explore the practices, potentials and challenges for developing collaboration processes. Results will be discussed in light of ways of organizing the schools and conditions that favour willingness to engage in egalitarian interactions with each other and in joint reflection and learning individual.

The second contribution focuses on team teaching as a goal-oriented form of collaboration (Baeten & Simons, 2014), synthesizing findings from the large-scale ESTAFETT research project in Flanders (Belgium). Results indicate that teachers perceive team teaching as more effective than individual teaching, particularly regarding differentiation and activating teaching methods. Team teaching is also associated with strong practices in creating a safe and stimulating learning environment, classroom management, and clarity of instruction. Considerable variation is observed within teams, especially for more complex dimensions of effective teaching behavior. From the students’ perspective, team teaching offers increased support and a greater variety of explanations, with small positive effects on academic achievement and students’ feeling of competence. These outcomes underscore the importance of clear goals, thoughtful role distribution, and strong school-level support for successful implementation.

The third contribution examines co-teaching from the students’ perspective, a relatively underexplored dimension. Based on semi-structured interviews with primary and secondary school students in Spain, the study explores how students perceive co-teaching practices, the tensions they experience, and their preferences regarding different forms of support. Students value co-teaching for increased availability of help and diverse explanations but report tensions related to classroom climate, monitoring, and supervision. In particular, an excessive emphasis on discipline and control is perceived as conflicting with core principles of inclusive education, such as respect for diversity and the shared construction of norms (Wagner et al., 2024).

The final contribution adopts a micro-level didactic perspective on co-teaching between general and special education teachers in French primary schools. Using video-based analysis and interviews, the study explores how interactions between the main didactic system of the regular classroom and an auxiliary system led by the special education teacher shape students’ access to knowledge. While shared techniques across systems can enhance didactic accessibility, insufficient coordination and partial mastery of techniques may also create barriers to learning, highlighting the complexity of co-teaching practices (Toullec-Théry, 2019).

The four contributions highlight collaboration as a powerful yet complex condition for inclusive education. Collaborative approaches such as Learning Communities, team teaching, and co-teaching can improve teaching quality, student engagement, and access to learning, but their effectiveness depends on supportive school structures, shared professional expertise, and commitment to egalitarian interaction, joint reflection, and continuous professional learning. By advancing the global discourse on how educational research and practices can address contemporary challenges, such as fostering inclusive education, this symposium aims to provide insights to guide future research and practice in an evolving educational landscape.

Baeten, M., & Simons, M. (2014). Student teachers’ team teaching: Models, effects, and conditions for implementation. Teaching and Teacher Education, 41, 92–110. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2014.03.010 Flecha, R. G. (2009). Cambio, inclusión y calidad en las comunidades de aprendizaje [Change, inclusion, and quality in learning communities]. Cultura y Educación, 21(2), 157–169. Toullec-Théry, M. (2019). Le co-enseignement modifierait-il l’articulation générique/spécifique des savoirs en jeu lors de pratiques inclusives? [Does co-teaching modify the generic/specific articulation of knowledge in use during inclusive practices?] [Paper presentation]. First international conference of the Théorie de l'Action Conjointe en Didactique (TACD). https://hal.science/hal-04198195 UNESCO. (2020). Global Education Monitoring Report 2020: Inclusion and education: All means all. https://gem-report-2020.unesco.org/ Wagner, M., Cosand, K., Zagona, A.L. & Malone, B. (2024). Student's perception of instruction in co-teaching classrooms: A systematic literature review and thematic analysis. Excepcional children, 90(3), 313–330. https://doi.org/10.1177/00144029231220303