Learning Support: An Introduction for Newly Appointed Learning Support Teachers WALT WILF What Are we Learning Today? What am I Looking For? 2 WALT •  Context for Learning Support: Current Provision •  Inclusion •  Planning: Iden9ﬁca9on of Caseload •  Staged Approach Circular 02/05 •  Language Support •  Sharing of Resources •  Documenta9on and Record Keeping 3 Deﬁni-ons of Special Educa-onal Need (SEN) Educa-on Act 1998, 2(e) “the educa9onal needs of students who have a disability and the educa9onal needs of excep9onally able students” Educa-on for Persons with Special Educa-onal Needs (EPSEN 2004) 'A restric9on in the capacity of the person to par9cipate in and beneﬁt from educa9on on account of an enduring physical, sensory, mental health or learning disability, or any other condi9on which results in a person learning diﬀerently from a person without that condi9on'. SeGng the scene: current support provision •  Children who receive Learning Support •  Children who receive Low Incidence Teaching Hours (LITH)/Resource Hours •  Language Support •  Other •  Similar •  Dissimilar •  What dis9nguishes one group from another? •  Labelling, how useful is it? Language of SEN •  ShiU in emphasis on the language used for labelling children •  ‘Normal’ v ‘Special’ •  Resources and extra provision are s9ll largely 9ed to labels and categories of need (NCSE 2010) Model for Alloca-ng Support (NCSE 2013) •  Students with special educa9onal needs do not have equitable access to formal assessments which means in turn that they do not have equitable access to teaching, care and other supports. •  The alloca9on of addi9onal State educa9onal resources should not depend on a parent’s ability to pay for professional assessments or the proximity to HSE supports. •  The level of addi9onal supports provided should be in line with the needs of the child rather than being linked to a diagnosis of a par9cular category of disability. •  At a 9me of scarce resources, all teaching posts should be allocated in line with proﬁled educa9onal need within a school rather than the number of class teachers or students within a school. 7 Inclusive Educa-on Framework (NCSE 2011) 8 What is it? •  The Inclusive Educa.on Framework can be used to assist schools plan, measure and improve how pupils with special educa9onal needs are supported. •  It provides an opportunity for every school to discuss and assess the way pupils with special educa9onal needs are included in their schools (NCSE 2011 p.5) 9 The Framework invites school to… •  •  •  •  Show what they are doing well Iden9fy areas where they need to improve Rate their levels of inclusion Put plans in place to address the areas for improvement NCSE 2011 p.5 10 Planning in individual schools •  Iden9fy all pupils in need of addi9onal support WALT TIB •  Circular 02/05 Staged Approach to SEN •  Stage One: Class Teacher •  Stage Two: referral to support teacher – IPLP •  Stage Three: referral to outside agencies – psychologist … 12 Stage 1 •  Class Teacher in conjunc9on with the parent(s) •  Screening measures •  Draw up simple plan •  Review •  No further ac9on required/monitoring/refer to Learning Support Teacher (Stage 11) Stage 1 Documenta9on Learning Support: 2nd Term Junior Infants 2013: L & N Strategy 2011: 81 Stage Two: Referral to Support Teacher – IPLP Referral to LS teacher with parental permission Further diagnos9c tes9ng Supplementary teaching if indicated Parental involvement and class teacher involvement in drawing up plan •  Regular review •  Persistent or on-‐going concerns aUer adapta9ons to learning programme •  Stage 111 •  •  •  •  Stage Three: Referral to Outside Agencies •  School requests consulta9on and possibly an assessment from a specialist outside the school •  Draw up learning programme •  Parental consulta9on throughout the process •  Regular review •  Some children with very signiﬁcant special educa9onal needs will require interven9on at Stage 111 on school entry Na9onal Educa9onal Psychological Service (NEPS) Model of Support Planning in individual schools •  Iden9fy all pupils in need of addi9onal support •  Circular 02/05 Planning in individual schools Having iden9ﬁed all pupils in need of addi9onal support, we next: •  Iden9fy level of interven9on required •  Iden9fy all members of teaching staﬀ •  Allocate staﬀ to the pupils •  Cross-‐reference the programme needs of pupils with learning needs •  Tracking and monitoring system (Circular 02/05: 43) 20 Supplementary Teaching: Selec-on   Stage 11   Stage 111 Low incidence   Stage 111 High incidence   10th / 12th percen9le in English   Early interven9on in English (LSG, 2000: 22)   10th / 12th percen9le in Maths   Early interven9on in Maths (LSG, 2000: 56–60) Preven'on: (LSG, 2000: 47) EAL (L & N Strategy, 2011) Circular 07/2012 •  •  •  Circular 07/2012 3. Combining General Alloca-on Model (GAM) and EAL (Language Support) The General Alloca9on Model of support to schools is being adjusted to combine general alloca9on and language support into a single and simpliﬁed alloca9on for all primary schools. Addi9onal support will be provided for schools with high concentra9ons of pupils that require language support. These arrangements supersede the alloca9on process set out in (Part 2) Sec9on 6 and Appendix 2 of Circular SP ED 02/05 for the General Alloca9on Model and in Circular 0015/2009 for language support, respec9vely. •  Schools will have autonomy on how to deploy the resource between language support and learning support depending on their speciﬁc needs. Schools should con9nue to use the language assessment kits for the •  accurate ini9al and on-‐going assessment of language proﬁciency of pupils that require language support (see for reference Circular 0015/2009 Schools should also con9nue to refer to the guidance contained in Circular 02/05 (Sec9ons 3-‐5) with regard to pupils covered for learning support by the general alloca9on model, deployment of teaching resources for special educa9onal needs, and planning in individual schools. 22 EAL Current Provision Within Your School Learning Diﬃculty v Language Support Value for Money Review spending would be more eﬀec-ve if a greater propor-on of it was targeted at improving all teachers’ ability to respond to the learning needs of EAL students and a smaller propor-on spent on addi-onal EAL teachers. The study noted that this was the prac-ce in Northern Ireland where there had been considerable success in geGng teachers and schools to understand the importance of all teachers playing their role in suppor-ng language development, EAL Resources hmp://www.integra9on.ie/website/omi/omiwebv6.nsf/page/usefullinks-‐irish-‐ DepartmentEduca9onportaleducators-‐en hmp://www.ncca.ie/en/Curriculum_and_Assessment/Inclusion/ English_as_an_Addi9onal_Language/IILT_Materials/Primary/ Up and Away My First English Book 24 Rainbow Ac-vity Sharing of Ideas •  •  •  •  •  Assessments Literacy Resources Numeracy Resources Websites Early Interven9on Ideas Principles of Learning Support • Eﬀec9ve whole-‐school policies and parental involvement • Preven9on of failure •  Provision of intensive early interven9on • Direc9on of resources towards pupils in greatest need 26 Early Interven-on It is most important, therefore, that all schools implement eﬀec9ve early interven9on programmes to ensure that children with learning diﬃcul9es do not slip through the net at the early stages of their primary educa9on. (Introduc9on to LS Guidelines p.8) Early Interven9on in Your School 27 Tackling low achievement Schools successful in tackling low achievement ü place a high priority on the enhancement of classroom-‐based learning and on the preven9on of learning diﬃcul9es at all levels within the school; ü support pupils experiencing low achievement and/or learning diﬃcul9es through a team approach which involves the pupils themselves, their teachers, parents and relevant support personnel Chief Inspector’s Report (DES 2013) In a number of instances, inspectors advised schools to explore models of in-‐class support instead of relying exclusively on a model of support that involved withdrawing pupils from the mainstream classroom. (DES 2013 p.52) NCSE (2010) Within the classroom, certain teaching strategies have been iden9ﬁed as helpful to the inclusion of students with special educa9onal needs. Examples include co-‐opera9ve teaching, co-‐opera9ve learning, individualised planning, collabora9ve problem-‐solving, heterogeneous grouping and diﬀeren9a9on. NCSE 2010 30 Circular 02/05 “It is intended that the general alloca9on will enable schools to allow for in-‐class as well as out-‐of-‐class teaching support by the learning-‐ support/resource teacher”. 31 Learning Support Guidelines (LSG) •  The learning support guidelines advocate placing a high priority on enhancing classroom-‐based learning through alterna.ve groupings and providing shared teaching approaches in the pupil’s classroom. •  The main role of the learning support / resource teacher is to provide supplementary teaching either in the pupils’ own classrooms or in a learning support room. 32 Individual Pupil Learning Proﬁle (IPLP) What informa9on would you need to know before you can work with the child? 33 Addi9onal Informa9on •  Accommoda9ons •  Implica9ons for Teaching & Learning Guidelines for Teachers of Students with Mild General Learning Disabili9es Weekly/Fortnightly Notes 36 Daily Planning Sheet p.74 LSG Records •  Data protec9on refer to NCCA 2007 •  Storage 38 Further Support •  •  •  •  www.pdst.ie www.sess.ie hmp://www.sess.ie/dyslexia-‐webcast hmp://www.educa9on.ie/en/Schools-‐ Colleges/Services/Educa9onal-‐Psychologist-‐ NEPS-‐/