Interprofessional Collaboration and Students’ Agency: Baseline Conditions for Establishing Communities of Practice for Inclusive School Development

Intentional and structured collaboration is increasingly recognised as a cornerstone of inclusive school development, enabling schools to respond to students’ diverse and evolving needs. As part of the I CO-COPE: Inclusion through Interprofessional Collaboration in a Community of Practice in Education project, which aims to develop guidelines and resources for establishing Communities of Practice (CoPs) for inclusion in European schools, this study explored professionals’ current collaborative practices and perceived needs within school communities, with particular attention to students’ role as partners in addressing inclusion-related dilemmas. Building on a previous cross-national survey and the indicators underpinning the Index on Communities of Practice for Inclusion (iCoPi) self-reflection tool, focus groups were conducted with 71 professionals from eight schools across Austria, Belgium, Portugal, and Slovakia. Findings indicate that sustainable collaboration depends on professional networks established within and beyond the school, shared professional practices, common values and language, staff stability, school autonomy, and a school culture that intentionally cultivates students’ self-determination and participation. Although opportunities for listening to students were widely established, their involvement in implementing decisions remained confined to punctual and structured initiatives. Overall, professionals’ reflections on collaboration converged towards a common architecture that closely reflects the constitutive principles of CoPs. The findings highlight the need to strengthen collaborative coordination, embed collaboration within school culture, and systematically cultivate students’ self-determination as baseline conditions for establishing Communities of Practice and advancing inclusive school development.