Collaboration in Glasgow's primary school language units

The quality of collaboration between teachers and speech and language therapists (SLTs) in Glasgow's four primary language units is discussed with reference to a scale of three levels of co-operation: nominal, convenient and committed. Although there are some aspects of the relationships that exist between teachers and SLTs which would be typical of committed co-operation, the overall quality appears to be at the level of convenient co-operation. In particular, inadequate role definition and a lack of structure are discussed with reference to joint work on language development and several suggestions are included as ways forward in this area. The need to evaluate models of working critically is discussed in relation to collaborative working.