Special needs students and school

I think you make a fair point Rachael. Since the mid nineties when inclusion became a part of the Special Education approach because of changes in educational approaches, there has been a rush to mainstreaming of special needs students. This in the NT has been supported by Student Services, the employment of school assistants and so on. While support for these students within special schools has diminished, the need for accomodation and meeting of needs has become an increasing part of general school focus.

I understannd the principles for this change and as a school principal worked within the system both before and following the changes in the 1990’s. For inclined and positively motivated cghildren with special needs, mainstreaming worked well enough. However, it did and still does ‘stretch’ teachers who have to cover ever wider ranging ability contexts within classrooms. The attention special needs students take, can diminish the time teachers have available to deal with the rest of the class. It is not uncommon for classes to accomodate two, three, four and sometimes more special needs students. Teacher ‘stretch’ adds to teacher fatigue.

While assistants are available to help with special needs children who are mainstreamed, they also have to be added to the responsibilities teachers have because of the need to consult, share planning, develop student improvement plans and so on.

When mainstreamed special needs students, by accident or intentionally are deliberately disinclined and oppositional learners, this adds hugely to the burdens faced by classroom teachers. Behavioural issues are increasingly a part of the special needs student characteristic. Discipline challenges and general disruption within classrooms can and does occur.

I have sometimes wondered whether, at some point, parents of children in a particular class of a specific school will take class action against one of our educational systems because of the lack of teacher attention paid to their ‘normal’ children. I believe in mainstreaming, but I would argue that the special needs schools we have are better positioned to provide for special needs children and students than mainstream primary and secondary schools.