Co-teaching from the students’ perspective in schools with an inclusive orientation

Abstract

Co-teaching is a pedagogical strategy grounded in collaborative work between two professionals within the classroom. While its implications have been widely documented in relation to attending to diversity, little evidence exists on how students perceive this practice. This study aimed to analyze students’ perceptions of co-teaching and to identify the factors that facilitate or hinder its implementation from the perspective of classroom experience. A qualitative methodology based on focus groups was used, conducted between the second semester of 2024 and the first semester of 2025, with the participation of 37 primary and secondary school students from six schools with an inclusive orientation located in the central zone of Chile. The results show a positive appraisal of this strategy, highlighting its contribution to both learning and classroom climate. In addition, students associate inclusion with a practice that benefits the class as a whole, beyond students with specific support needs. However, they tend to value special education teachers more favorably than regular classroom teachers. Furthermore, in some cases, they interpret co-teaching as an initiative of the specialist professional rather than as an institutional strategy. This perception highlights the need to strengthen collaboration between professionals and to consolidate co-teaching as a shared, sustained practice articulated at the institutional level.