DIVERSASIA - Best practices

Public School Padre Jerónimo is an Infant and Primary public school (from 3 to 12 years old) which educates 450 students. There is an average of 30-35 students with different special educational needs: psychological, visual, physical, etc in this school. This school shows how to develop and adapt students’ materials for the classroom in order to enable all students to be included in ordinary schools. It demonstrates how to elaborate work documents which support better coordination of school staff and more effective organization of the school. The school decided to participate in the Integration Programme for Students with Special Educational Needs during the academic year 1987-88. Since then, the school has continuously revised the curriculum, updating it with strategies for students with Special Educational Needs (SEN). These strategies involve the organization of the school staff, as well as the specific work of specialist diversity staff who deal with educational materials. Under these changes the school staff realized how their professional planning contributes to the main aims of the Inclusive School. According to them the inclusive education process depends on each of them: • The school - by providing organizational, professional and material structures; • The educators - by planning methodologies in which the special need students are involved as well as by providing individualized activities that aid their intellectual and social development; • The assistants and families - by being good examples of inclusion; and • The students - by assuming the differences are an enriching aspect of diversity. Another essential factor for developing a professional and coherent environment is the coordination of multidisciplinary team teaching each student with special needs. Once the Public School Padre Jerónimo became aware of the importance of such coordination it developed its own methods of management. At present, they plan specific meetings in which all teachers working with the same child coordinate their work. In order to simplify the coordination of the specialist teachers’ work, the school has invented its own working sheets. The working sheet says how the common or modified curriculum is used and it functions as a real record of learning process of each child. The progress of different skills (for example: motor skills, language, reading, writing…) is being recorded and whether it has been achieved by the student with or without support. The school staff consider that the practices of teaching staff should be as common in mainstream schools as possible, and this is the reason for having support staff for students with special needs in the classroom whenever possible. This could be a difficult way of working at certain levels and in certain subjects, but it favors inclusion of students with special needs and increases the personnel resources in the class. When it is not possible, the teacher creates small groups (about 3-5 children) for specific activities. Even more specialized teachers (physiotherapist and speech therapist) use both practices, using assistants and small groups. In terms of educational material, care is taken to use the same materials as far as possible for students with and without special educational needs. If these materials are far from the student’s competence, they are adapted according to individual needs. Finally, the teachers develop activity books adapted to each student. Their activity books aim to have the same educational outcome as the rest of the students, but are adapted to individual needs. The follow-up of the educational process is undertaken in coordinated meetings involving all staff educating students with special needs. The staff have created special evaluation reports which are updated and checked annually. These evaluation reports collect data on the practices of all those involved in the education process from the professionals to the family. When evaluating educational progress, the staff adapt the evaluation reports in order to make them more realistic according to the education level of the students, but retaining the same form of evaluation for all students. Public School Padre Jeronimo also promotes awareness about the school topics and any other relevant information. Doing so, the school makes the education of students with special needs not only a matter of a single family but also a matter of common interest.