TeamReflex – Towards an Inclusive School Culture

Does everyone at school feel equally valued? What unconscious assumptions shape my attitude as a teacher towards students or colleagues from different sociocultural or religious backgrounds? How can we, as a team, work together to build an inclusive school culture?

An inclusive school culture recognises and values the diversity present in the school as an asset and contributes to a climate in which both students and teachers feel safe to grow.

While (pre-service) teachers are willing to work towards a more inclusive school culture, they often lack the tools and insight to do so. Their preference for schools with less diversity is one indicator of this need. A team-based approach—centred on shared dialogue and reflection—is identified as the most effective way to build an inclusive school culture. Although several initiatives have been developed by partner institutions for secondary education, there is currently no dedicated support available for primary schools.

TeamReflex addresses this gap by developing a dialogic reflection tool for primary school teams and for students in primary teacher education programmes. TeamReflex consists of a structured reflection methodology designed to explore and challenge stereotypical beliefs held by (pre-service) teachers at the team level. In a second phase, schools use these insights to co-construct a feasible and sustainable action plan to support the transition toward an inclusive school culture.

Throughout the iterative cycles of development, research, and evaluation, (pre-service) teachers are actively involved as co-researchers who engage in dialogue to generate knowledge and understanding. TeamReflex is developed and implemented in close collaboration with a multidisciplinary expert group, including field practitioners and colleagues from teacher education institutions. It is embedded both in primary schools and in the curriculum of primary teacher training programmes.