| Description of good practice: |
Supportive teachers are new professionals of the regular educational system. Supportive teacher should have a master degree in education (as teachers). In absence of supportive
teacher, the subject teacher should implement the IEP in class. Supportive teachers can work in more than one education institution, as RED/EO decides. Based on the recommendation of RED/EO commission the school principal in cooperation with school commission for CwD defines the number of hours that a supportive teacher will have to work for each child with disabilities.
The supportive teacher performs several tasks to support the learning and socialization process of CwD in class. S/he collaborates with the class teacher, primary teacher, subject teacher and school psychologist or social worker to ensure inclusion of CwD in regular schools. In cooperation with the teacher of CwD, subject teacher and parents, the supportive teacher designs and implements IEP, which is approved by the school commission for CwD. The supportive teacher collaborates with subject teacher to assess the CwD outcomes as per IEP objectives. S/he assists the CwD in class and out class activities in order to increase child participation in school activities. The supportive teacher pays particular attention to the improvement of social skills. The aim of support teaching is to teach the child to be less dependent and build self-autonomy. Supportive teachers and subject teachers work with parents to implement IEP objectives in home. They inform parents on the existence of
rehabilitation public services for disability.
The supportive teacher works with the CwD teacher in all or several of the teaching hours. She/he works with the CwD teacher in and out of class, on one-to-one basis or in-small-group. In addition to academic objectives, IEP contains self-help and social skills development objectives as defined in the assessment recommendations of the RED/EO commission. The supportive teacher keeps a daily plan on CwD progress. IEP modifications are performed by the school commission, where the supportive teacher is also a member. Supportive teacher reports to the school commission on the progress of IEP implementation and objectives fulfillment level.
Supportive teachers are trained with modules on Inclusive Education aiming at improving their professional development. Many of them are subject teachers with a reduced number of teaching hours, and work as supportive teachers to fulfill the teaching norm. Prior to being hired by RED/EO as supportive teachers, some have been working as volunteers for MEDPAK in Inclusive Education projects. They have additional training compared to other supportive teachers in the region. They have created the network of supportive teachers at the regional level to improve their professional development and practice regarding Inclusive Education in mainstream education. They are hired as supportive teacher due to previous training and work experience as volunteers in the field of inclusion.
“We are two supportive teachers at Komsi School. The school has 24 children with special educational needs, out of which 8 are CWD and only 5 have IEP, whereas 16 students have learning difficulties. We have been working as MEDPAK volunteers since 20114 to carry out the supportive teacher function at Komsi School. We are both trained on autism, intellectual disabilities, and learning difficulties. We have participated in 12 training days, and in the end, we received a training certificate with 6 ECTS from the University of Tirana and Korça. Usually teachers’ pay for their training, but this was not our case as our training cost was covered by Save the Children & MEDPAK. We are both subject teachers; my colleague
graduated in biology and is working both as biology and supportive teacher to fulfill the teaching norm. The number of classes for the biology subject decreased and she risked being unemployed. I graduated as a history teacher, but I haven’t found a job position as history teacher yet. Both of us volunteered to be supportive teacher, and the project provided us with the great opportunity of receiving training on the role of the supportive teacher. Actually, my colleague is paid by EO as supportive teacher. Currently speaking,
only one of us has been hired by EO in Burrel as supportive teacher, although there is a high need for this profession.”
- Interview with supportive teacher of Komsi School, Komsi village, Burrel |
