Professional cooperation in all-day schools

Several studies have confirmed that multi-professional cooperation (Fischer et al., 2013; Olk, Speck & Stimpel, 2011) influences the optimization of organizational processes at all-day schools. Furthermore, it relieves teachers and strengthens the self-perception of their profession. Finally, it facilitates a successful development of all-day schools.
However, multi-professional cooperation is also described as a field of tension (Merten / Kaegi 2015) and high expectations are placed on a fruitful cooperative culture of teachers, social work staff and third-party providers at all-day school.
The present symposium focuses on two aspects of multi-professional cooperation: First, we examine the meaning and understanding of professional cooperation from the perspective of the involved professionals on an abstract level. Second, on a concrete level, we consider the arrangement, the design and experience in all-day schools gained so far.
Based on four research papers from Germany, Switzerland, Sweden and USA with qualitative and quantitative methodological approaches, the two aspects mentioned above are addressed and discussed.
Germany already has a 15-year experience of all-day schools. Against this background, the first contribution focuses on the research project MuTiG in the field of teacher training. The goal of this project is to enhance the prerequisites for productive collaboration between teachers and social workers, who are often part of the multi-professional teams in all-day schools.
The city of Zurich is the first Swiss municipality, which has started to introduce comprehensive all-day schools. The SNSF research project AusTEr examines processes of negotiating pedagogic responsibilities in multi-professional teams in the transformation of regular schools to all-day schools in the city of Zurich. This second contribution is based on the assumption that multi-professional cooperation does not gain relevance simply because of proximity in space, but because it is a declared goal to build strong partnerships between educators and teachers.
Another concept of all-day schools exists in Sweden, where the Swedish Leisure Time Center (LTC) cooperates with the compulsory school on different levels. This third contribution focuses on the concept of transition between the different pedagogical practices and shows how it is perceived from a teacher’s perspective.
The fourth paper presents findings from a study on all-day schools in socially disadvantaged areas in New York (Children's Aid Society Community Schools). This contribution analyses the collaboration between teachers and social work staff and third-party providers.
The aim of the symposium is to address and explore questions about successful and unsuccessful types of multi-professional cooperation in different all-day school concepts. It will access and evaluate their benefits and limits with regard to professional self-perception and understanding.