Interprofessional collaboration between teachers and speech and language therapists (SLTs) is widely recognised as a critical enabler of inclusive education. Addressing diverse learning needs requires coordinated expertise that extends beyond the capacity of any single profession working in isolation. Interprofessional collaboration, defined as sustained partnerships in which professionals from different disciplines work collectively, drawing on complementary expertise to enhance outcomes (Skyberg & Jenssen, 2023), has therefore become central to inclusive education agendas across Europe and internationally (European Agency for Special Needs and Inclusive Education, 2022).

This study is situated within the changing conditions of knowledge production and use highlighted in the ECER 2026 theme, Knowing and Acting. Inclusive education is inherently knowledge-intensive, requiring the integration of pedagogical, linguistic, clinical, and contextual expertise. As education systems increasingly rely on interdisciplinary collaboration and practitioner-led knowledge, questions arise regarding whose knowledge is valued, how it is shared, and how it informs action. Interprofessional collaboration between teachers and SLTs offers a productive lens for examining these questions, particularly at the interface of education and health, where professional epistemologies and institutional priorities may differ (Kazmierczak-Murray et al., 2025).

In Ireland, these issues are especially timely. SLTs are increasingly working in school settings, with recent policy developments proposing a substantial expansion of in-school therapeutic provision through the National Council for Special Education’s Therapy Service in Schools (NCSE, 2024). Similar developments internationally reflect the expanding scope of SLT practice and the growing recognition of the centrality of language to literacy, academic achievement, and participation in schooling (Serry & Levickis, 2021; Stephenson et al., 2023). While these developments offer potential to strengthen inclusive provision, they also raise questions about how interprofessional collaboration is structured and whether it supports equitable participation across professions.

Without attention to equity, these expanding models of school-based provision risk reinforcing traditional professional hierarchies, with collaboration reduced to consultative rather than genuinely shared practice (Skyberg & Jenssen, 2023). Research across health and education contexts identifies equality of relationships, shared decision-making, and non-hierarchical knowledge exchange as central to collaboration (Armstrong et al., 2023). In teacher-SLT partnerships, inequitable collaboration has been shown to contribute to role ambiguity, fragmented practice, and reduced impact on learners with additional needs (Archibald, 2017).

In our previous work, we proposed that literacy, and in particular structured literacy, offers a promising and equitable domain for interprofessional collaboration between teachers and SLTs in Ireland (Kazmierczak-Murray et al., 2025). Literacy is inherently cross-disciplinary, requiring pedagogical expertise alongside specialist linguistic knowledge. Widely recommended for supporting learners with dyslexia and literacy difficulties, structured literacy foregrounds the interdependence of pedagogy and linguistics through its focus on the linguistic foundations of reading and writing (IDA, 2023). As such, it represents a domain in which neither profession can claim sole authority, enabling shared ownership, reciprocal learning, and joint problem-solving.

This paper reports on the implementation of an online interprofessional Community of Practice (CoP) for Irish teachers and SLTs, focused on structured literacy as a shared and equitable domain of practice. By examining how interprofessional learning is enacted within this virtual space, the study contributes empirical insight into how equitable partnerships can be developed to support inclusive education. In doing so, the study responds to the Inclusive Education Network’s emphasis on collaborative and systemic approaches to diversity and participation by examining how teachers and SLTs jointly enact literacy practices that support curriculum access for students with literacy difficulties. It also aligns with ECER’s broader focus on Knowing and Acting by foregrounding interprofessional CoPs as sites of knowledge production and mobilisation, where disciplinary, practitioner, and research-based knowledge are negotiated and translated into inclusive educational practice within changing policy and institutional contexts.

The interprofessional CoP was developed to support collaborative professional learning in structured literacy for teachers and SLTs. The rationale drew on social learning theory and professional learning literature, which emphasises that effective learning is social, situated, and reciprocal, enabling participants to share expertise and solve problems collaboratively (Brennan & King, 2022; Kennedy, 2014; Wenger et al., 2002). The CoP aimed to foster equitable interprofessional partnerships and enhance inclusive literacy practices for students with diverse learning needs. Proctor et al.’s (2011) taxonomy of implementation outcomes was used to guide this study. The taxonomy identifies intermediate outcomes, including acceptability, adoption, appropriateness, feasibility, fidelity, implementation cost, penetration, and sustainability, that shape whether an initiative achieves its intended objectives. This framework provided a structured lens for evaluating the CoP and for analysing how implementation processes influenced interprofessional learning and collaboration. Six of the ten CoP participants, comprising three SLTs and three teachers, took part in exit interviews conducted via an institutionally licensed Zoom platform. Participants were selected to represent a balanced mix of professions and experiences within the CoP. These interviews, together with post-CoP qualitative surveys, formed the data corpus for evaluation. Framework analysis, a structured qualitative approach, was employed to generate actionable insights by categorising codes according to Proctor’s Taxonomy while also allowing inductive identification of emergent themes (Gale et al., 2013). This approach provides systematic outputs, supports comparison across professions, and is both efficient and transparent. Each transcript and survey response was independently analysed by two members of the research team. Deductive coding identified examples aligning with Proctor’s implementation outcomes, while codes not directly captured by the taxonomy were analysed inductively, allowing identification of additional factors relevant to interprofessional collaboration. This combined deductive-inductive approach ensured the analysis was both theory-informed and open to emergent insights. Applying Proctor’s framework enabled systematic evaluation of the CoP, including whether intended interprofessional learning processes were achieved, how participants engaged across disciplinary boundaries, and which factors facilitated or constrained collaboration. By linking implementation outcomes to inclusive literacy practice, this method demonstrates how structured, theoretically grounded evaluation can inform the design of equitable interprofessional initiatives and guide future inclusive professional learning programs in education.

This study demonstrates that an interprofessional CoP can provide an acceptable, appropriate, and feasible model for interprofessional learning between teachers and SLTs, with potential to influence practice (penetration). Evaluated through Proctor et al.’s (2011) implementation outcomes, the findings show that structured interprofessional learning can move collaboration beyond consultative models towards more equitable, shared forms of professional practice within educational contexts. Crucially, the findings indicate that equitable interprofessional collaboration does not emerge organically but depends on intentional and carefully designed learning structures. Three interrelated elements were central to the success of the CoP: a clearly defined topic-based focus in structured literacy, the use of shared and enduring resources that supported continued professional learning, and active facilitation that enabled research translation and sustained engagement. Together, these elements supported reciprocal knowledge exchange, strengthened role clarity, and fostered mutual recognition of professional expertise. As a result, the CoP created conditions in which teachers and SLTs could collaborate as equal partners rather than as hierarchical experts and consultees. These findings speak directly to the Inclusive Education Network’s emphasis on collaborative and systemic responses to learner diversity. Literacy difficulties represent a significant barrier to participation for many learners and require coordinated pedagogical and linguistic expertise to be addressed effectively. By positioning structured literacy as a shared domain of practice, this study contributes to understanding how interprofessional learning can be intentionally designed to foster equitable collaboration between teachers and SLTs in support of inclusive education. More broadly, this research responds to ECER 2026’s focus on Knowing and Acting by illustrating how interprofessional CoPs function as sites of knowledge production and mobilisation. As therapeutic supports are increasingly integrated within school systems internationally, the study highlights the importance of interprofessional learning structures that enable knowledge to be jointly constructed, critically examined, and situated within educational contexts.

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