sustainability Article Teachers Supporting Students in Collaborative Ways—An Analysis of Collaborative Work Creating Supportive Learning Environments for Every Student in a School: Cases from Austria, Finland, Lithuania, and Poland Suvi Lakkala 1,* , Alvyra Galkiene˙ 2 , Julita Navaitiene˙ 2 , Tamara Cierpiałowska 3 , Susanne Tomecek 4 and Satu Uusiautti 1 1 Faculty of Education, University of Lapland, 96300 Rovaniemi, Finland; satu.uusiautti@ulapland.fi 2 Educational Academy, Vytautas Magnus University, 44248 Kaunas, Lithuania;
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[email protected] (J.N.) 3 Institute of Special Education, Pedagogical University of Krakow, 30-060 Krakow, Poland;
[email protected] 4 Institut für übergreifende Bildungsschwerpunkte, University College of Teacher Education Vienna, 1100 Vienna, Austria;
[email protected] * Correspondence: suvi.lakkala@ulapland.fi Abstract: Many studies have highlighted the importance of community and cooperation in inclusive education. However, traditionally, teachers are trained to manage their classes alone. Along with Citation: Lakkala, S.; Galkiene,˙ A.; the aspirations of inclusive education, there is high pressure to develop school cultures that are Navaitiene,˙ J.; Cierpiałowska, T.; more communal and to reorient school personnel’s work, making it more collaborative, in order to Tomecek, S.; Uusiautti, S. Teachers meet the diverse needs of all students. In this research, we explored and compared the collaborative Supporting Students in Collaborative ways in which teachers supported their students in four schools in Austria, Finland, Lithuania, and Ways—An Analysis of Collaborative Poland. As a conceptual framework, the research utilized theories of interprofessional teamwork. The Work Creating Supportive Learning researchers applied a theory-led thematic analysis to the research data.