Publications

Traveller Community Teaching Resource
Author: Annmarie Collins 

The aim of this resource is to support educators by providing helpful and simple resources to help foster interculturally inclusive learning through easy access to content, lesson ideas and much more.

Click on the link below to download the free Travelling Community teaching resource. 

Authors: Dr Miriam Colum, Annmarie Collins

Supporting children through school-based occupational therapy: A primary school teachers perspective

Autor: Annmarie Collins

Abstract

Collaboration between education and health professionals is considered key to best practice and the application of inclusion policies. An increase in occupational therapy services within mainstream schools in recent years has led to occupational therapists working closely with teachers to integrate a shared goal of supporting the educational outcomes of children with additional needs. However, an increase in occupational therapy-teacher collaboration has also begun to highlight the complexity of a collaboration process formed by professionals with conflicting philosophies of service provision and for whom services are constructed differently. With that, it is imperative that primary teachers are professionally supported and prepared to promote inclusive educational experiences for children with additional needs through occupational therapy-teacher collaboration. Despite this, literature reveals a wide gap between current professional training and the essential knowledge that both the teacher and occupational therapist need to support inclusive education through collaborative practice. Thus, the research question that drove this study was: 'What are primary school teachers' perceptions of occupational therapy-teacher collaboration in facilitating inclusive education?'. Understanding primary school teachers' views on the supports required to facilitate inclusive education through occupational therapy-teacher collaboration is crucial in improving the educational experiences and outcomes for children with additional needs.