Proffesional_Practice

DTTLS Context Related Learning 1 PC1017 Gail Hickman January 2010 Part 3 (summative) Written report (1500) The report should include the following:- 1. A description of the selected key pedagogic issue. 2. A brief outline of the learners on whom the issue impacts ie. Subject area of study, level of study, key characteristics etc 3. An outline, with examples, of the nature and range of barriers that the issue creates for students learning in the subject specific area selected. 4. A discussion of the positive and negative aspects of TWO selected teaching and learning strategies commonly used to address the issues. 5. References: the text will be fully and accurately referenced using the Harvard Reference System. The pedagogic issue I wish to discuss is that of the barriers to learning Special Educational Needs students have, after they have attended a mainstream school. The students will have issues surrounding their education experiences in mainstream schools that will leave them with low self esteem, low confidence and unmotivated to learn. These are the barriers to learning that the students have and the barriers that I, as their teacher, have to find strategies for to enable learning to take place. The Special Education Needs and Disability Act 2001 states that:- “SEN of children to normally be met in mainstream schools”. This basically means that all disabled children should normally receive their education in a mainstream school. The Disability Discrimination Act 2005 defines a disability as :- “a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and adverse affect on his ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities”. This definition includes “invisible” disabilities such as ADHD, Aspergers and Autism. These are the types of disabilities that my students have been diagnosed with and they will also have previously attended a mainstream school before attending the college where I work. The college is a Special Education college that specialises in the types of disabilities mentioned above as well as other forms of learning, social and behavioural difficulties. I believe that inclusion of SEN students in mainstream schools is not always the right and best option for these students. The most discussed issues regarding the SEN students needs are * Children loosing services when placed in a regular education classroom * The staff being inadequately trained * Children not receiving proper support to succeed. All of these issues lead the SEN student in mainstream education to lose motivation, self esteem and confidence and the student may well suffer depression as a result. The very nature of the SEN students disabilities make education in mainstream schools almost impossible for the student. Most Autistic students do not learn in groups. The nature of Aspergic students make it difficult for them to make friends and they find social circumstances very difficult. These two examples alone make the students a target for bullying from other students simply because of their differences. SEN students will know that they are different but may not understand why, either because they are not aware of their own diagnosis, or because they have not been taught by specialist for SEN students who understand how they learn best, which may well not be in a mainstream arena. There was recently a program on television entitled “Who wants to be a Teacher” hosted by Chris Tarrant, himself a teacher previously. The program highlighted SEN students in mainstream schools and the difficulties of that learning environment for all concerned, the SEN students, their peers and the teachers. One school in Stockton-upon-Tees have set up a nurture group for SEN students who have emotional and behavioural problems. The nurture group is a small group of 12 students being taught separately and as well as academic lessons, they are given focus on their developmental and emotional needs. This is a micro special school and shows that mainstream education does not suit all SEN students and that they are more suited to an environment that focuses on their special requirements with other children that they can relate too. A SEN student who is intrinsically different to a classroom of their peers will be a target for bullying. Bullying can have a disabling effect on sufferers of Autism or Aspergers which can stay with them for many years even after leaving school. The child with Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD) will know themselves that they are different and placing them with thirty other students who do not have this condition will only alienate them more as they struggle to understand why they are different. Clare Sainsbury, who has Aspergers, in her book about her own mainstream experiences says :- “One particularly painful aspect of mainstreaming is the isolation from other people with Aspergers. Many people reached adulthood without ever having met anyone like themselves and believing that they were the “only one” that had a problem. Often meeting others with the same problems is a key benefit of diagnosis”. My students are aged between 16 and 25 and will have been diagnosed with a learning, social or behavioural difficulty. Such disabilities may include Aspergers, Autism, Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Pathological Avoidance Disorder (PDA), depression and other syndromes or a range of these disorders. They have sought to attend the college as it provides education in a creative environment specially designed to meet the needs of these challenging students and to help them come to terms with their diagnosis and help them to become more independent. The mere fact that the student is surrounded by peers who have similar problems and diagnosis, will alleviate alot of the bullying. Students are actively encouraged to speak openly in sessions about their disabilities and how they are affected by them. They are also given the opportunity to express how they cope with these difficulties in the session and we also discuss different strategies that they could use to help them deal with these difficulties in social circumstances outside the classroom. The subject that I teach is Living Skills. I teach third years in their final year at the college and help them with practical skills such as finding a job, budgeting and living on their own. The students will have attended the college for two years already having undertaken a programme of practical study in creative arts and crafts and horticultural pursuits, as well as more industrial skills such as glass blowing, bronze casting and blacksmithing. I have heard many accounts from students of their time in mainstream schools and how it has affected them. It is for this reason that I believe the inclusion of these students in mainstream schools is thereafter a barrier to learning. Quinton and Rutter (1988) found that positive school experiences seemed to be connected to a later capacity to approach decisions about work. SEN students having negative experiences at school are less motivated to work and to further education. The barriers to learning that I find are that the students do not see the relevance in any learning and that they are very unmotivated and lack confidence in their own ability. The key strategy in place in helping these students during their time at the college is a basic humanistic approach to teaching them. The college is based upon the principles of Rudolf Steiner that give priority to educating the “whole child” with a strong emphasis on creativity. In How Children Fail (John Holt 1964) he claimed “the school system could destroy the minds and emotions of young children”. The humanistic school believes that emotional factors, and personal growth and development, are the highest values. This is the heart of the teaching at the Glasshouse College and it aims to increase the self esteem and confidence of the students in order for learning of any topic to take place. The pressure of testing and exams is taken away from the student so they do not have the expectation of failure. Geoff Petty 2004 states “learning is easiest, most meaningful and most effective when it takes place in a non threatening environment”. The students will not be forced into traditional academic testing and instead will embark upon a program of self directed creative education where they learn more about themselves and increase their confidence through intrinsic rewards by producing products and art pieces through these tasks. According to Rogers, the Humanist theorist, students learn best when :- * The student participates completely in the learning process and has control over its nature and direction * It is primarily based upon direct confrontation with practical, social, pastoral or research problems * Self evaluation is the principal method of assessing progress or success. The Living Skills subjects that I teach are not primarily creative but I do try to make them as practical as possible by such activities as going to the Job Centre to look for jobs or preparing their own CVs. The path that the students take at college is towards their independence and they chose the direction that they wish to take towards this independence. They will say what job they would like to find, whatever that job may be, and the teaching program is based around this dream. For instance, if the student would like to be a rock star, then discussions will take place about how they will fulfil that ambition. It may well be that the student will need to find a part time job first to fund the guitar lessons before he can embark upon his career. This reinforces Rogers theory that learning needs to be experiential with meaning to the student and this certainly needs to be the case for students with ASD. The subject to be taught has to be relevant for the student to access it successfully. It may well be that such aspirations that the student had in secondary school will have been mocked by other students and deemed as unrealistic by teachers. This will make the ASD student withdraw and not want to tell people of their dreams and ambitions. I would want the student to trust me enough to tell me what they would like to do in the future and actively encourage this dream. It is this dream and motivation to achieve this dream that will inspire the student to learn more fundamental tasks in order to achieve their long term goal. If the task is relevant to them achieving the goal, they are more motivated to learn and see the reason and relevance to that learning. This strategy also increases the students confidence in that their dreams and aspirations are taken seriously. I will give the students examples of famous people who have achieved their own dreams and who also suffer from learning difficulties, such as Richard Branson and Robin Williams. It can be argued that it is unfair and unrealistic to allow the students to carry on with the unreasonable aspirations that they may have, as some of their dreams will never be realised. However, I see the students wishes to be a useful starting point to get them focused on the work that we have to do when job hunting or looking at relevant jobs that they could do. The students dreams to be a rock star may have previously been seen as unrealistic and the student may well have heard such points of view many times before. This will only lessen the students motivation to engage in learning of any sort. Maslow, a humanist psychologist, has developed a model on the circumstances of human needs and educationists have used this model to base it on how learning can best take place. The first needs are the basic fundamental needs such as food, water and shelter. The second level of needs would be safety needs. This basic need will have been missing from the students education in mainstream schools as the student will have been bullied by their peers. Bullying is a problem that ASD students in mainstream schools will have been subjected to causing them to lose confidence, self esteem and motivation. When this element of bullying is significantly reduced and the students are surrounded by peers who have the same kind of problems, the safety need of Maslow is realised and the student is more open to learning. The next need on the hierarchy is that of belonging, which again the student will not realise in a mainstream school but will in a specialised establishment. Maslows hierarchy shows the basic needs that a student needs to allow learning to take place. More of these needs can be catered for in a SEN college than a mainstream school and this is why learning is more likely to take place in a SEN educational environment. When the students enter my sessions, they are likely to be depressed, have low self esteem, low confidence and very little motivation to learn due to past experiences in mainstream schools. One strategy that I use to increase their confidence in themselves is to allow them to talk and for me to listen and validate their views. This may well be the first time that a teacher has actually listened to their point of view and this will increase their confidence and motivation to continue to speak and point forward their views. I will enable learning by allowing the student to decide the career paths they wish to follow and make the learning student centred. The pressure of testing is eliminated and all tasks are practical based on real life experiences to make the sessions relevant to the student for future independence. The scheme of work will be delivered to the students needs. For instance, one student may have already compiled their own CV and I will focus their learning using practical approaches such as practicing interview techniques. Another student may not have any qualifications or work experience to put on a CV and I will concentrate on personal attributes that they have. This strategy in its self is powerful. It is very difficult for these students to see their own positive attributes. A few sessions will be given to increasing their self awareness and self esteem by talking solely about themselves and what they are good at. Other students will be asked what the student is good at and also asked to give positive personal opinions of them. Often this is the first time that the student will hear anything positive being said about them and their condition. I will ask the students to collect all this information and to write it down and this will go on to form the Personal Profile of a CV where they can explain themselves and what they excel in. This peer supervision type of personal assessment is very rewarding for the student and also myself as it is a pleasure to see such positive things said about students by fellow students. This increase in self awareness will lead to an increase in self belief and self confidence which will in turn lead to the student wanting to work harder towards their goal as they see the dream become more achievable through measured steps. I believe this system works best for SEN students due to their very individual learning needs and styles and that they need to be with like peers to be able to understand themselves and gain strategies for leading their own lives, instead of being pressured to fit into a mainstream environment. References BBC News (2009) Steiner Schools could help (on line) accessed 11.12.09. Available at

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