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It's that time again when many parents of learners with special educational needs, are being told that the school can no longer accommodate a learner with special educational needs. Then, why in the first place, was the learner offered a place? If these schools were not able to cope with providing special education, then, why take thousands of ringgit from parents and deceive them into enrolling their kids at the mainstream schools? Using special education, and the existence of learning support teams / units as a marketing strategy to increase profit is pure deception!!
When the economy takes a plunge or there is just too much competition for student enrolment, it is typical for private and international schools to offer enrollment to learners with special educational needs. However, they do not hire properly trained staff who are capable of providing equal learning opportunities and learning support. They hire psychology graduates who are NOT teachers nor psychologists, they hire people who have done 6 months to 1 year diploma courses that do not provide adequate specialist teaching skills, they also hire the "experienced" - those who claim they have worked in the field long enough and therefore, are qualified to teach your children!!!
Am I grumbling? Yes! Unlike others, I am trained to do my job! I do it well! I take pride and joy in doing my work. I stay updated by attending professional development courses overseas, so that I learn the latest techniques and methods. How many others do that?
To loose students to some untrained team is just horrible, because invariably, as the economy picks up, and the regular kids start coming back, learners with special educational needs get thrown out, one by one. It breaks my heart, and it upsets me that the learner should have to go through that!
The latest excuse I have been hearing from distraught parents, is to say that they cannot cope with the learner's "behaviour"! So, the schools beautifully cover up the fact that their staff are incompetent and untrained and are therefore, unable to deal with students with learning difficulties. Just blame the kids!
How can a learning support staff who cannot even speak proper English be providing literacy learning support???? Most of them will not even be able to define "dyslexia" let alone any other type of specific learning difficulties.
When a "specialist teacher" is untrained, how on earth do you expect them to be able to understand and interpret educational assessments?? If they cannot interpret the assessment reports, then, how on earth are they going to draw up an effective intervention or support protocol???
I write this for parents to be aware of what is going on.. and for you to understand that while the idea of the mainstream school is wonderful, the reality of it in Malaysia is not so wonderful!
The learners who get "chucked out", have to endure that feeling of being useless and inadequate compared to their peers! Who is supposed to deal with this damage to their self esteem, and self worth? How do you explain to a child that they aren't good enough and that's why they cannot stay at this school??
I have first hand experience in seeing what schools do. No accommodations are made during the school day, because the "specialist teams" are incapable and lack the knowledge and skill to put such protocols in place!
Instead of acknowledging the fact that they have hired the wrong people and rectifying it, by hiring properly trained personnel, international and private schools maximize profits by constantly giving parents negative feedback about their kids. This goes on and on until the parents get fed up and make a decision to remove their kids from the school. For the school, this tactic, means that they get to keep all monies paid!! Easy money!! Now that some parents are aware of this, and insist on refunds when learning needs are not met, they have modified the excuse and now say the "behaviour" is what they cannot deal with. So, the problem becomes behaviour related and no longer learning related.
Parents, please check the qualifications of the learning support staff working with your child. If they cannot even speak proper English, it is safe to assume that they will not be able to provide literacy or academic support to your kids. Choose a school which can provide what they say they can provide. Keep a close eye on what is going on. If nothing nothing specific is done, then you can assume that the learner is being treated just the same as his peers without any additional accommodations due to the special educational needs.
How are lessons modified for the dyslexic learner? How are lessons modified for learners with other learning difficulties? Is homework reduced? Is there any special effort to teach language skills? Any effort to teach a secondary aged learner how to make notes? How to write essays? Are homework assignments modified? How often is literacy and numeracy support provided on a one-to-one basis? Once a week? Once a month? Neither is enough to be honest! How often are learning outcomes assessed and strategies modified? All these should be done if there is appropriate and effective learning support. These are just some of what you should be looking for if a school administration tells you that they can accommodate a learner with special educational needs.
I am all for inclusive educational practice but not when it is done like this. It is just unfair, unethical and downright wrong!
When the economy takes a plunge or there is just too much competition for student enrolment, it is typical for private and international schools to offer enrollment to learners with special educational needs. However, they do not hire properly trained staff who are capable of providing equal learning opportunities and learning support. They hire psychology graduates who are NOT teachers nor psychologists, they hire people who have done 6 months to 1 year diploma courses that do not provide adequate specialist teaching skills, they also hire the "experienced" - those who claim they have worked in the field long enough and therefore, are qualified to teach your children!!!
Am I grumbling? Yes! Unlike others, I am trained to do my job! I do it well! I take pride and joy in doing my work. I stay updated by attending professional development courses overseas, so that I learn the latest techniques and methods. How many others do that?
To loose students to some untrained team is just horrible, because invariably, as the economy picks up, and the regular kids start coming back, learners with special educational needs get thrown out, one by one. It breaks my heart, and it upsets me that the learner should have to go through that!
The latest excuse I have been hearing from distraught parents, is to say that they cannot cope with the learner's "behaviour"! So, the schools beautifully cover up the fact that their staff are incompetent and untrained and are therefore, unable to deal with students with learning difficulties. Just blame the kids!
How can a learning support staff who cannot even speak proper English be providing literacy learning support???? Most of them will not even be able to define "dyslexia" let alone any other type of specific learning difficulties.
When a "specialist teacher" is untrained, how on earth do you expect them to be able to understand and interpret educational assessments?? If they cannot interpret the assessment reports, then, how on earth are they going to draw up an effective intervention or support protocol???
I write this for parents to be aware of what is going on.. and for you to understand that while the idea of the mainstream school is wonderful, the reality of it in Malaysia is not so wonderful!
The learners who get "chucked out", have to endure that feeling of being useless and inadequate compared to their peers! Who is supposed to deal with this damage to their self esteem, and self worth? How do you explain to a child that they aren't good enough and that's why they cannot stay at this school??
I have first hand experience in seeing what schools do. No accommodations are made during the school day, because the "specialist teams" are incapable and lack the knowledge and skill to put such protocols in place!
Instead of acknowledging the fact that they have hired the wrong people and rectifying it, by hiring properly trained personnel, international and private schools maximize profits by constantly giving parents negative feedback about their kids. This goes on and on until the parents get fed up and make a decision to remove their kids from the school. For the school, this tactic, means that they get to keep all monies paid!! Easy money!! Now that some parents are aware of this, and insist on refunds when learning needs are not met, they have modified the excuse and now say the "behaviour" is what they cannot deal with. So, the problem becomes behaviour related and no longer learning related.
Parents, please check the qualifications of the learning support staff working with your child. If they cannot even speak proper English, it is safe to assume that they will not be able to provide literacy or academic support to your kids. Choose a school which can provide what they say they can provide. Keep a close eye on what is going on. If nothing nothing specific is done, then you can assume that the learner is being treated just the same as his peers without any additional accommodations due to the special educational needs.
How are lessons modified for the dyslexic learner? How are lessons modified for learners with other learning difficulties? Is homework reduced? Is there any special effort to teach language skills? Any effort to teach a secondary aged learner how to make notes? How to write essays? Are homework assignments modified? How often is literacy and numeracy support provided on a one-to-one basis? Once a week? Once a month? Neither is enough to be honest! How often are learning outcomes assessed and strategies modified? All these should be done if there is appropriate and effective learning support. These are just some of what you should be looking for if a school administration tells you that they can accommodate a learner with special educational needs.
I am all for inclusive educational practice but not when it is done like this. It is just unfair, unethical and downright wrong!
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