MORE THAN LOVE AND PATIENCE Teaching pupils with special needs requires more than just love and patience. It takes in-depth knowledge of the special needs you are dealing with as well as differentiated and specialised teaching strategies. The lack of understanding of special needs not only causes frustration to both the teacher and pupil involved but also to the pupil’s parents and classmates. Realising that well-trained teachers are needed to effectively teach pupils with special needs, some schools try to get around the problem by cramming as many children with special needs as they can into the classroom of a particular trained teacher. Not only would this teacher need to balance a normal classload looking after 30 - 40 children and the usual school duties, he/she has to manage the diverse special needs of as many as 5 – 10 (or more) special needs pupils placed in her class. While the other classes charge ahead, this overtaxed teacher is left trudging on an uphill path. Sounds familiar?
Teaching pupils with special needs should not be pushed to the one
or two trained teachers in the school or solely supported by the SNOs.
Pupils with special needs are equally entitled to have the best educational
opportunities and this calls for greater collaboration between teachers in the
school. Every teacher should be equipped with a good working knowledge of
learning disabilities and special needs, as well as effective teaching and
behavioural management strategies to meet the needs of these pupils. It
must be a shared responsibility among all teachers, regardless of their
teaching experience. This is an integral part of education and upholds
the spirit of the Teachers’ Pledge.
WORKSHOPS FOR TEACHERS AND PARENTS To help schools achieve the goals of having every teacher trained to identify and deal with special needs as well as a comprehensive parent-education programme, we offer school-wide teacher-training and parenting workshops on the following:
If you
would like to book or find out more about our training programmes, please email
us or drop us a line. Our consultants will be glad to schedule
an appointment with you to discuss your requirements as well as
to go over some of the administrative details with you. ©2010 The Butterfly Cove |
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