Changing roles of special education teachers in nsw public Schools

Raising whole of school awareness

The efforts of the DSV consultants are concentrated on raising awareness of the potential for inclusive learning experiences for students with Down syndrome. A form of ‘segregated inclusion’ is likely to occur if the student is largely isolated from the educational work of the rest of the class, and if teachers and teacher aides spend most time occupying students with Down syndrome with limited attention, to the development of learning and life skills. The alternative pursued by DSV experts is to enhance the potential of the student by acknowledging their capacity to learn more than a set of social adjustment skills. This has the additional incidental but valuable effect of raising the expectations of all students in the classroom and creating a positive climate focused on learning.

In addition to informing teachers and teacher aides as to the most effective ways to manage and support students, the consultants work with staff who do not currently have a student with Down syndrome in their class but interact with them outside the classroom. Teachers are advised on agreed strategies to manage student behaviours when the occasion arises in the playground, during specialist lessons, and during whole school functions.

The whole of school approach extends to shaping the attitudes of the wider school community in understanding the needs of students with Down syndrome. It includes informing school practices that can help in the transition of a student with Down syndrome from one class to another, or from primary to secondary school, which presents particular challenges for these students.

One of the most pressing issues for parents of students with Down syndrome concerns the more immediate task of sustaining the gains made in primary school through to the secondary school experience. The management of the learning continuum for students transitioning into a secondary schooling is a significant and ongoing challenge, not least around those of familiar routines and consistency each day. Ensuring the achievement of learning goals for students with Down syndrome in secondary settings is challenging — from the perspective of parents especially — given changing classroom environments and more complex organisational and learning situations. Effective practices include pre-meetings with the student to explain what will be happening in the following year, visiting the new school classroom and meeting teachers, as well as information sessions for the receiving school and class.