COLLABORATIVE LEARNING OF SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL INTERVENTION

SPECIALIST IN INCLUSIVE CLASSROOM SETTING: HOW DO THEY CONSIDER

THEMSELVES HELPFUL IN A GROUP?

Chapter I

THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND

This chapter includes the introduction, conceptual framework, statement of the problem,
significance of the study and definition of terms.

Introduction

Collaboration is one of the most significant components of inclusion education (Florian,

2017). Educational professionals have to work together to successfully teach in inclusive education

classrooms. Students have a variety of needs, and, therefore, general and special education teachers

must work together to build an inclusive pedagogy that benefits all students (Nind & Lewthwaite,

2018). In inclusion classrooms, collaboration between general and special education teachers and

student achievement are related (Gebhardt, Schwab, Krammer, & Gegenfurtner, 2015; Khairuddin,

Dally, & Foggett, 2016; Satterley, 2015; Tzivinikou & Papoutsaki, 2016). While there are laws in the

United States to protect the rights of students with disabilities, there are also laws in many places

throughout the world to protect the rights of students with disabilities, by providing them with equal

access to general education curriculum. Administrative support, teacher preparation programs, and

professional development play major roles in teaching effective strategies in inclusive classroom

settings. These supports as well as collaboration help reduce teacher burnout (Fluijt, Bakker, &

Struyf, 2016; Hedgaard-Soerensen, Jensen, & Tofteng, 2018).

Teachers feel more supported when they collaborate and share the workload with other

educational professionals, which in turn reduces teacher burnout because they do not feel overworked

(Fluijt et al., 2016). When some teachers become burned out, they leave the field of education, and

they never become tenured teachers. A lack of experts leads to low student achievement in inclusive

classroom settings (Andrews & Brown, 2015). Teachers’ attitudes and self-efficacy affect how they
perform in the classroom. Coteaching is a collaborative strategy that is used often in inclusion

classrooms to support teachers (Ruppar, Neeper, & Dalsen, 2016). The more supported teachers feel,

the more positive their attitudes are towards inclusion education, which leads to positive self-efficacy.

When educators are confident in their field, they teach more effectively in the classroom (Ruppar et

al., 2016).

Group-related activities aren’t rare in school life. Considering that most teachers in any

curriculum and level use groupings as a method to further enhance the cooperative skills of their

students, throughout the study, the researchers aim to learn how students consider themselves helpful

in a group. Group activities, despite being useful for the near future, seem to make students more

unhappy. Most of the complaints claim that not all participants in the group are doing their fair share

of work, if not any at all. And that kind of attitude is not acceptable, for it defies the purpose of group

work or collaborative work.

As students, we aim to further enhance our intellectual understanding, abilities, and skills. As

well as to heighten our skills such as planning, self-management, leadership, and peer support. Some

of these goals are quite hard to achieve by solely focusing on individual work; thus, we also

participate in small group tasks to reach said goals. Participating in collaborative projects also

increased productivity and performance. Not only will it help you enhance your skills, but it will also

help you learn more about yourself. Collaborating with others will help you identify your own

strengths and weaknesses. Enhanced self-awareness will both help your approach to learning and be

invaluable when the time comes for you to complete job application forms. But merely participating

in any group wouldn’t be sufficient; to maximize these benefits, you will need an effective group.

Despite all the skills and experiences that you can get from tasks involving groups, some may

find this kind of activity troublesome and frustrating. Group work can be a powerful tool for

motivating students, encouraging active learning, and developing critical thinking, communication,

and decision-making skills. But without careful planning and facilitation, group work can frustrate

students and instructors and feel like a waste of time. In some of the students' mindsets, the fate of the

group depends on the hand of a capable leader. This is also based on our experience, but we could say
that the leader is the lifeline of the group. But what about the others? And so, the question arises

again: how do they consider themselves helpful in a group?

This research not only aims to show the positives that we could see by using this method, but

to also see the dark side of it all. One of the goals of this research is to see how students appreciate

their efforts in participating in collaborative works. And to see how much effort a student puts into

doing group work. But most importantly, in what way do students consider themselves helpful at all?

If collaborative work can help us harness our cooperation and, at the same time, our individual skills,

then it’s safe to say that students can also feel insecure while participating in group tasks.
Statement of the Problem

Generally, this study aims to determine and evaluate the different kinds of collaborative tasks

that are commonly used and to learn how the students participate to complete the tasks. Specifically,

aims to answer the following questions:

1. What are the profile characteristics of the students in terms of the following:

1.1 Age;

1.2 Gender;

1.3 Grade level and strand

2. What are the most used types of collaborative work initiated by the teachers?

3. Is there a significant difference in the collaborative learning of the respondents when grouped

according to their demographic profile?

Significance of the Study

This study aims to help the students, parents, future researchers, teachers as well as the

guidance counselors spread knowledge and fill the gap in understanding the collaboration experiences

of senior high school intervention in inclusive classroom settings at Don Mariano Marcos National

High School. Thus, this study is deemed beneficial for the following:

To the students: The result of this study will help them know how important it is to have leadership

skills and the opportunity to work and collaborate to learn from and grow from each other. This will

encourage everyone to improve their attitudes and maintain good relations with each other. It can

serve as an eye-opener for the students about the importance of having the support of other people

with tasks.
To the Parents: The result of the study will help the parents of the respondents to be cognizant of

how their children can do better in school, and the parents will be even more aware of the importance

of the support and inspiration that they can give to their child or children by participating in

collaborative works.

To the teachers as well as the school administration: The result of this study will give school

personnel and teachers an idea of how to raise awareness and seek out necessary actions by

constructing different strategies to motivate students to participate in collaborative works.

To the Researchers: This study can be their basis or reference for their chosen topics related to the

study in the future.

To the Guidance Counselor: The result of this study will help them guide all students in

understanding the importance of collaborative learning in the classroom. Also, the result of this study

will benefit the guidance counselor so that he or she can give proper guidance to the students who are

not enthusiastic about group work.

To the Future Researchers: The findings of the study will serve as reference material and a guide

for future researchers who wish to conduct the same study, or any study related to this topic.

To Everyone—mostly researchers and respondents—will find this helpful in developing and

maintaining cooperation.

Scope and Delimitation

The focus of this study is to determine the rate of student participation and effort produced in

collaborative works. The researchers also determined and mentioned the different aims of

collaborative work to the senior high school students. This study will be limited to the following: the

demographic profile of the respondents in terms of age, sex, grade level; and the positive and negative

effects of collaborative learning in inclusive classroom setting of the respondents. Moreover, this

study will be limited to the senior high school students, some of whom have experience as leaders, are

knowledgeable students, or have personal experiences during collaborative works. The survey will be
conducted at Don Mariano Marcos National High School during the second semester of the school

year 2023-2024.

Definition of Terms

For further understanding, the following terms are operationally defined:

Collaboration: The act of working with someone to produce or create something (Emmons & Zager,

2017).

Collaborative: To work jointly with others or together especially in an intellectual behavior.

Curriculum: The course offered by an educational institution.

Inclusion: Being included with a group or structure (Pearson et al., 2015).

Inclusive education: When students with and without disabilities are educated in the same classroom

environment (Ruppar et al., 2016; Yada & Savolainen, 2017).

Intervention specialist: An educator who is responsible for planning and educating students who

have been diagnosed with a disability (Langher, Caputo, & Ricci, 2017).

Research: Refers to a systematic and scientific investigation of a particular topic or issue.

Researcher: Refers to an investigator; research worker/ the research conductor; the people who lead

the research.

Self-efficacy: The belief in one’s own preparedness to complete a task (Ruppar et al., 2016).