Changing roles of special education teachers in nsw public Schools

Key elements and actions

The Down Syndrome Inclusion Support Service (DSISS) was established by Down Syndrome Victoria (DSV) to provide a full-time consultant to assist children of parent members in the mainstream school setting. Under the National Partnership a second consultant was appointed to focus on helping teaching staff to appreciate the special needs of students with Down syndrome in the transition period of enrolment and through the first year of school.

To qualify for this support funded by the MSSD National Partnership, schools must be registered with DSV for the students at the school to receive the service. The service includes:

nine hours of visits annually through day visits of three hours each term

email and telephone support

a periodic journal

access to a specialised library

access to professional development training programmes.

The approach of the DSV consultants is pro-active, emphasising face-to-face discussions involving the child, teachers and parents focused particularly on helping parents to set achievable goals for each student and provide guidance on monitoring progress. The programme provides a significant resource for teachers and teacher aides supporting students with Down syndrome. The professional expertise of the consultants is a critical element, particularly their depth of understanding of the issues, continuous improvement informed by research on best practices, and their commitment to student success in the regular classroom. From their perspective, a notable measure of success is the quality of the relationship between the student, teacher and aide.