How can we evaluate collaborative practices in inclusive schools? Challenges and proposed solutions

Inclusive education is endorsed for children with disabilities or special needs attending school. In inclusive settings, support services by health care professionals are essential to support their integration and participation in school life. Collaboration between school health professionals, such as occupational therapists, and school personnel is fundamental and deemed as evidence-based practice in the provision of such support services and is considered as effective practice. However, there are differing views of what collaboration entails. An accurate measurement and evaluation of collaboration among school teams is important to adjust team processes and teamwork skills, and to best support students. In research, the study and the operationalization of the construct of collaboration among team members should also be carefully considered especially in the selected methodology. In this column, the difficulties and pitfalls with current measures of collaboration in the context of inclusive education between occupational therapists (OTs) and educators are discussed. Available measures of collaboration that may be suitable for research use in the school environment are presented. Finally, potential solutions that may be useful to assess collaborative practices and enhance clinical research in the field of school-based occupational therapy practice are proposed.