“A chain of interlocking rings”: Preschool teachers’ experiences regarding home-school collaboration with a focus on children with special needs and their parents in inclusive education

•A strong home-school collaboration is affecting the quality of inclusive preschool education.•An effective home-preschool collaboration improves learning of children with special needs.•Home-preschool collaboration is a dynamic and complex process.•Many challenges still await solutions for a quality collaboration.•Bioecological systems theory can guide the collaborative practice of many professionals. The aim of the current study was to explore and describe preschool teachers’ experiences regarding home-school collaboration with a focus on children with special needs and their parents in inclusive education. We depended on descriptive phenomenological qualitative research and conducted focus group discussions with 24 preschool teachers. Theoretical thematic analyses have yielded five themes: (1) the components of home-school collaboration, (2) the vital role of parent and teacher involvement, (3) the contributions of collaboration, (4) the challenges from microsystem to macrosystem, and (5) suggestions and solutions. An effective home-school collaboration contributes significantly to the development and learning of children with special needs. However, many challenges still await solutions for a quality collaboration which has complex nature. The bioecological systems theory is a well-known theory that can guide the collaborative practice of many professionals and policy makers.