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For Schools
| WORKSHOPS |
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| INCLUSION SUPPORT | ||
| DISABILITY SUPPORT | ||
| RAPID LITERACY DEVELOPMENT | ||
| FACILITATION | ||
CHALLENGING
BEHAVIOUR |
| About the Workshops Workshops can be held at a school or other venue. While material on all of the topics below has been developed and used with a range of groups, the presentations can be modified to meet the individual needs of audiences. For additional information or specific details of individual workshops, contact us. For information on approximate pricing, see our section on costings.
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About the Presenters. The presenters will normally include Dr Bob Jackson who has extensive experience in disability and education, particularly inclusive education. He has been commissioned to write reports on the Disability Discrimination Act and has carried out considerable research into literacy and rapid skill development. Some workshops may be presented together with Darrell Wills, an educational expert from Bunbury. Darrell Developed some of the key concepts such as "will and skill" mentioned below and the "New IQ" -- Inclusion Quotient for schools. Together Bob and Darrell have written several key articles on inclusion and co-presented a range of workshops and conference papers in WA and interstate. Both these presenters were participants in the Review of the Services to Children with 'Special Needs', conducted by the WA Education Department in 2003. Mr Tony Vardaro is a Senior Officer at TAFE who was put forward as one of the candidates for Australian of the Year from WA in 2004. Tony has experienced both Segregated and Inclusive Schooling so he brings a unique perspective to the discussion. Where appropriate, other WA experts in particular areas may be used to bring out particular areas such as the impact on parents, how teachers can help and hinder and research on literacy and numeracy development. |
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Workshops - General Education Education is rapidly changing. At the same time as we have a society and a family structure that is becoming less supportive of schools through both parents working and increasing levels of marriage failure, we also have increasing demands for educational outcomes. The teaching profession faces the American situation if we don not respond to these pressures. In America, there is enormous pressure to achieve literacy and numeracy outcomes with regular national assessment. School funding and teacher promotion are directly linked to these figures, which forces teachers to 'teach to the assessments' to avoid demotion or cut funds. This is clearly not in the best interests of education as it leads to attempts to exclude children likely to fail national assessments and drastically distorts the teaching process. However it is inevitable here unless teachers respond to the demands for minimal levels of numeracy and literacy. Schools can respond positively and maintain control of the professional and teaching agenda. Include Pty Ltd can help you do it.
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Top Include Pty Ltd will provide direct support in the classroom for teachers to assist with curriculum management; grouping design; positive behaviour development; working with education assistants; working with therapists and other visitors; helping with friendship development; and many other practical teaching issues. The approach taken is always collaborative -- the teacher is the expert in the individual classroom, whereas we can bring expertise in working with children who have been traditionally excluded. This only works when there is a joint problem solving approach rather than a 'professional advice' approach. We work from the belief that the skills and resources to solve any problem resides in the teaching staff and school, provided that the will is present. Our role is to work with you to demonstrate that this is the case. Inclusion depends on two things: the acceptance of the child as a child first who belongs (the will) and the skill to make full belonging happen. Inclusion means presence in the regular school and classroom for the same amount of time as other children; belonging socially; and included in the same curriculum as other children, even if at a different degree of depth. Not sure what you are doing? Not sure that what you are doing is right for a child with a label? Getting confusing or impractical advice from visiting professionals? While we avoid the use of labels and view children as children first, the impairment is still an issue. If a person has cerebral palsy, we can all see that he or she will have difficulty in mobility and/or dexterity and so will adjust our teaching and environment to enable the person to access education in the same way as other children. For some other impairments however, the particular adjustment required is not so clear. For example, children with an intellectual impairment commonly have difficulty with abstract concepts so time, mental maths, object classification and other learning requiring abstract processing is likely to require adjustment to the teaching approach if learning is to occur successfully. Similarly, children labeled as being in the autism spectrum will benefit from adjustments to the teaching approach. Include Pty Ltd can advise on specific methodologies that can be used in the general classroom in a way that will benefit all children without placing additional demands on the teacher. Want to keep ahead of the pack on literacy and numeracy? How is your school doing? While Australian literacy data are fairly positive compared to many countries and are improving, the fact remains that approximately 20% of children are failing to achieve levels of literacy sufficient for them to be able to succeed in the modern society. For indigenous children the rates are close to 80% failing to read, and 50% for children from other language countries. Moreover, if children are not 'turned on' by reading and do not choose to read for pleasure, the difference in practice to a child reading for pleasure by the end of primary school has been estimated at 3 million words. In research carried out over several years, Include Pty Ltd and colleagues have been able to teach children with defined disabilities such as 'autism' to read from as young as age 2 (with the parents as teachers), and have been able to accelerate the learning rate of high school children to 300% on average.That is 3 years development in literacy for 1 year of teaching by regular high school teachers. Include Pty Ltd can:
Want to do some team building? Or are you in a tricky situation with a family? Need someone to run some group sessions with staff? Sometimes in a school situation you need someone to facilitate staff workshops or work with staff on resolution of issues. Similarly, there are occasions where a dispute has occurred with a family that seems unresolveable. There has been a basic loss of trust on both sides so everyone starts from a position of defensiveness or wanting to score points for past injustices, perceived or real. In times such as these a skilled facilitator can save huge amounts of time and money by bringing issues to faster resolution. Similarly, in meetings with staff, the difference between a skilled and unskilled facilitator can mean the difference between a real growth experience that puts the school on a new tack or a frustrating letdown for all.
Bob Jackson at Include Pty Ltd has worked with multiple agencies, schools families and governments over 3 decades in facilitation roles. He brings a strongly positive perspective to facilitation and has managed to bridge the gap in many hostile situations as well as take staff to new areas by maximising their participation in joint problem-solving exercises. Not getting anywhere with a behaviour issue? On the wait list for a psychologist? Want to build staff skills in cutting edge behaviour strategies? As every teacher knows, behaviour is an issue in the classroom and it doesn't seem to be getting any easier. In addition, many of the previously acceptable behavioural strategies are now being questioned, leaving teachers feeling isolated and abandoned by the system. There is an alternative. There has been a lot of work done world-wide on rethinking behavioural strategies to bring them into a positive developmental framework that is manageable in the regular classroom. These strategies not only work on the 'difficult' child, but can transform the atmosphere of the whole classroom and make teaching and learning a much more positive (and powerful) experience for all. However there are no miracles. We need to change the way that we view children and their behaviour and learn some new practical skills -- not an easy task. The benefits however are huge. Many teachers have found that it changes the whole way that they relate to a class and their job, and see it as a major leap in their professional development. While a workshop will start the process going, to fully implement we need direct in-service support in the classroom with feedback to teachers on how they are going. Once it is established however, it tends to be self perpetuating with minimal ongoing support. Include Pty Ltd can provide both the initial workshop and the in-class training and support. |
