Learning Objectives
In this chapter you will learn to:
• identify what is expected of you as a teacher of students with additional needs
• understand what it means, and why it is important, to take a developmental, rather than deficit, approach to teaching students with additional needs
• use a developmental progression to set learning goals and targets, and to plan a program of tasks and activities to achieve these.
This chapter describes how the Assessment for Teaching approach outlined in this book has been applied to support the teaching of students with additional learning needs. It provides detail of a process of assessing students, interpreting results, setting goals, and developing individualised learning plans. Developmental progressions are central to this process, as with all students, and their importance is emphasised in inclusive school contexts where teachers may or may not have experience or training in supporting the learning of students with additional needs.
Introduction
The approach taken to assessment and teaching throughout this book is grounded in the philosophy that all students can learn and that teaching and learning are optimal when correctly targeted for students or for groups of students working at similar levels. This chapter applies that approach to the question of how teachers can draw on information presented as a learning progression to design and implement tailored learning programs for students with disabilities or additional needs. This group of students is characterised by very specific and often complex educational needs. The aim of the chapter is to empower teachers of students with additional needs through the use of resources to guide students’ progress as they build the foundations of learning. The themes and ideas that underpin the chapter were introduced in Chapters 1 to 3, and they apply to the education of students with additional needs as they do to all other students.
Background: Inclusive education
Inclusive education practices have been widely supported, in principle, since the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (1975) and the Warnock Report (Warnock 1978) outlined the United States and British governments’ respective policies for special education provision. The proclamation, emanating from UNESCO's Salamanca conference, that schools are for ‘all children’ and that ‘every child has a fundamental right to education’ ensured that inclusive educational practices were seen as vital within an international context (UNESCO 1994, pp. viii–xi).