including families: education, transition support and comparative international emerging best...
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Paper delivered at NCRE Conference in San Francisco, California, April 19, 2013.TRANSCRIPT
Universal Learning Systems Drs. Alan Bruce & Michelle Marmé
NCRE Spring Conference 2013 San Francisco, California
Including Families:
Education, Transition Support And Comparative International Emerging Professional Practice
ULS PRESENTATION TO NCRE 2013 2
FAMILIES. EDUCATION. TRANSITIONS. STUDENT SUCCESS. COMMUNITY SUCCESS.
• Pervasive cultural messages about education & work, from earliest days
• As children join “systems,” those messages about where they fit in the world/what they have a “right” to expect become altered by interactions with others
• Fundamental belief: study hard, do a good job and you will have a good job/life, in the end.
• Another paradigm shift…US Department of Labor (March 2013) unemployment data (civilian population, 25 years and older by education):
• If < high school education 11.2 % unemployment• If high school completed, no college 7.9 % unemployment• Some college and/or an associates degree 6.7 % unemployment• Bachelor’s degree and higher 3.8 % unemployment• No indication provided as to whether or not pwd have been included
ULS PRESENTATION TO NCRE 2013 3
FAMILIES. EDUCATION. TRANSITIONS. STUDENT SUCCESS. COMMUNITY SUCCESS.
• Focusing on 13 years old and beyond, “invisible” disabilities, but
• May be best served to re-think when to start: youngest ages (importance of “success identities”)
• Education: beyond the regular, in class, school day: • In therapies, neurofeedback sessions, vision therapies, • With tutors, LAPs, socialization groups, tests/medication changes
• Proper supports at key transition* points• Big ones: school transitions, moves, losses, returning to school after
breaks• Incremental, critical ones: between classes, teacher changes, Halloween
parades, sports days, …
ULS PRESENTATION TO NCRE 2013 4
CURRENT PRACTICE ISSUES IN US & EU
Child
Legislation & Educational Policies intended to increase opportunities for CWD and improve attitudes of “service providers”
Increased understanding of neurological/educational/social/developmental factors
Employment of staff with specific training in pertinent areas of education, psychology
ULS PRESENTATION TO NCRE 2013 5
YOU MIGHT EXPECT …• Coordination
• Multidisciplinary linkage
• Shared perspectives
• Meaningful progression
• Family engagement
• Flexibility
• Satisfaction and engagement
ULS PRESENTATION TO NCRE 2013 6
BARRIERS TO
STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES IN U.S. CONTEXT:
Unnerving peek into 504 training for school psychologists, Fall 2012
• Lack of consensus• Turf issues• Mixed messages• Attitudes• Misinterpretations
ULS PRESENTATION TO NCRE 2013 7
DEFINITIONAL ISSUES• Student = child, young adult, CWD, not “the problem”
• Transition = continual process, • not JUST an annual event or every 3-4 years; • begins at earliest times; may be many times within a day
• Parents = 1guardians/representatives of student• 2 not the enemy, annoyance, intrusion
• Complicating factors• Real shared, understanding of goals• Membership in multiple marginalized groups …• Parents have background in rehabilitation, education, medicine
ULS PRESENTATION TO NCRE 2013 8
TRANSFORMED SOCIETIES - TRANSFORMING EDUCATION SYSTEMS• Models of schooling under critical review
• The re-positioning of purpose – Ivan Illich
• From industrial model to emancipatory discourse
• Hierarchy, control and managed behavior
• Appropriating competence in a multipolar world
• From teaching to guidance and learning support
• Integration and inclusion – the shifting paradigm
ULS PRESENTATION TO NCRE 2013 9
EUROPEAN FRAMEWORKS• From Common Market to political Union
• Managing the national frameworks – education in 27 Member States
• From curriculum to competence – the Lisbon Agenda (2000)
• The four pillars:• Innovation• Adaptability• Entrepreneurship• Equal Opportunities
ULS PRESENTATION TO NCRE 2013 10
DEVELOPING THE FIESTA NETWORK 2011-2014SCHOOLS - PARENTS –TEACHERS – POLICY MAKERS
Facilitating Inclusive Education and Supporting the Transition Agenda
ULS PRESENTATION TO NCRE 2013 11
• Ireland (Enable Ireland; Universal Learning Systems)
• Bulgaria (Center for Inclusive Education)
• Romania (EuroEd)
• Greece (Platon School)
• Netherlands (CMO; CSG)
• Scotland (University of Edinburgh)
• Cyprus (University of Nicosia)
• Finland (Context Learning)
• Spain – Catalonia (Pi del Burgar)
ULS PRESENTATION TO NCRE 2013 12
EUROPEAN STRUCTURES & CONTEXTS
• EACEA
• EU Life Long Learning Program
• Comenius Program
• Issues:• Youth unemployment• Mobility• Social inclusion• Skills, and adaptability to social change• Languages
ULS PRESENTATION TO NCRE 2013 13
SUPIOT REPORT (2000)• Major risk factors for
unemployment: • Poverty • Social exclusion• Marginalization• Illiteracy• Poor education levels• Inadequate guidance.
• Success Factors:• Educational attainment• Social mobility• Adaptable schooling• ICT and digital competence• Languages• Meaningful assessment
systems.
ULS PRESENTATION TO NCRE 2013 14
A WORD ABOUT PISA• PISA (Program for International Student Assessment)
• International study launched by the OECD in 1997. It aims to evaluate education systems worldwide every three years by assessing 15-year-olds' competencies in the key subjects: reading, mathematics and science.
• To date over 70 countries and economies have participated in PISA
• Impact of Finland
• Impact of competence vs. content
ULS PRESENTATION TO NCRE 2013 15
ECHOES OF VOCATIONALISM‘Job model’ ‘Employment model
Standards based Non-linear
Devoid of context Adaptable
Passive Learning to learn
Routinized Creative Communication
Model behaviors Multidimensional
(F. Taylor) Active > empowering(Slavoj Zizek)
ULS PRESENTATION TO NCRE 2013 16
SUPPORTING LEARNING• Focus of motivation
• Problem solving focus
• From curriculum to competence
• Content to meaningful action
• From formal teaching to creation of bonds and links
• Mentoring
• Models of best practice
ULS PRESENTATION TO NCRE 2013 17
TRANSITION IS RELATIONAL• Change
• Diversity
• Security – uncertainty
• Befriending
• Networks
• Mutual interdependence
• Family critical – so is social identity
ULS PRESENTATION TO NCRE 2013 18
DYNAMICS OF TRANSITION• Defining needs
• Defining required supports
• Developing teams: communication
• Avoiding traps – the standardized label
• Critical and reflective thinking and practice
• Empathy
• Sensitivity and clarity – goal setting
• Evaluative review
ULS PRESENTATION TO NCRE 2013 19
RECENT ISSUES: FIESTA WORKSHOP, KATERINI, GREECE (MARCH 2013)
Dyslexia• Pieria 5% of 28,500 pupils• Parents understanding• Impact of ‘diagnosis’ – rejection• Teacher skills/training• Lack of comparative analysis
Autism• Fear, stigma, guilt• Challenge• Teacher competence• School• Medicalization
ULS PRESENTATION TO NCRE 2013 20
SUPPORTING TRANSITION• Modelling
• Empathy
• Compassion
• Roles
• Responsibility
ULS PRESENTATION TO NCRE 2013 21
POINTS OF CONVERGENCE FOR PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE IN EU & U.S.
Definitional issues
Core Value: Society is responsible to ensure equal opportunities for everyone & taking care of weaker members of society.
Rationale:Social exclusion is extremely expensive for any society.
Key Success Factor:Concrete collaboration and coordination among all participants essential.
Goals:Develop skills in reasoning, problem solving, nurture intellectual curiosity, working through frustration
Challenges:
European Union
FIESTA X X X X X ?
U.S.
X X X ? ? ?
ULS PRESENTATION TO NCRE 2013 22
PRELIMINARY REVIEW, IMPRESSIONS & PLANS• Need for networks
• Need for international best practice
• Breaking barriers
• Facing a new future
• Beyond the ‘normal’
ULS PRESENTATION TO NCRE 2013 23
RECONCEPTUALIZING U.S. PRACTICES
TRANSITION
• Begins at earliest age
• Reconsider as stepwise process, of increasing complexity
• Not inherent; strategies to learn & reinforce
• Recognize as multi-dimensional
FAMILY ROLE
ULS PRESENTATION TO NCRE 2013 24
INCLUDING FAMILIES
• Communicate that parent input valued
• As valued observers
• As perceptive reporters
• As tutors, coaches, cheerleaders, therapists,
consultants,
• As collaborators throughout the process
• As “case managers”
ULS PRESENTATION TO NCRE 2013 25
TEACH PROBLEM SOLVING SKILLS FROM EARLIEST DAYS, TO HELP PREPARE CHILDREN TO RESPOND TO TRANSITIONS WITH MORE CONFIDENCE AND SKILL:
Shure, M.B. (2000). I Can Problem Solve An interpersonal cognitive problem-solving program. Champaign, IL: Research Press.
Shure, M.B. (2005). Thinking Parent, Thinking Child How to Turn Your Most Challenging Everyday Problems into Solutions. Champaign, IL: Research Press.
Escher, 1948, Drawing Hands
ULS PRESENTATION TO NCRE 2013 26
RESOURCESwww.ulsystems.comwww.changelearning.eu
www.opendiscoveryspace project.eu
www.fiesta-network.eu