Emirates News Agency (WAM), UAE
October 7, 2017 Saturday


Qudwa 2017: Teacher talk session on opening day examines how
mainstream schools can become more inclusive



Qudwa 2017 / sessions

ABU DHABI, 7th October, 2017 (WAM) -- Qudwa 2017 Global Teachers'
Forum, an international symposium that aims to improve the future of
education, hosted a panel discussion on day 1 titled 'Making Schools
More Inclusive: Teaching Students With Special Needs' that examined
ways to make mainstream schools more inclusive.

Held in partnership with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation
and Development, OECD, the talk drew the participation of Aggeliki
Pappa, Founder of I Love Dyslexia (Greece), Armina Gevorgyan, teacher
at Anania Shirakatsy International Lyceum (Armenia), and Yasser Anass
Sadek Ahmed, teacher at Al Sadara School (Al Ain, UAE).

Moderated by Tarek Mostafa, Analyst, Early Childhood and Schools,
Directorate for Education and Skills, OECD, the discussion focused on
how students with special needs could be integrated within mainstream
classrooms to make them more inclusive. The speakers also explored the
challenges that educators are likely to face while providing equal
opportunities to diverse groups of learners.

Opening the session, Mostafa noted the findings of OECD's Teaching and
Learning International Survey, TALIS, 2013, which show that 23 percent
of teachers across all sampled countries have reported a high need for
professional development in teaching students with special needs. He
also highlighted that in such classrooms, teachers tend to spend less
time teaching, indicating a critical issue in time management, which
in turn negatively impacts the students' learning experiences.

Offering her perspective, Aggeliki Pappa said, "Among the many
challenges we face in the special needs teaching segment, I find that
it is most difficult to direct the system to align with my philosophy,
which essentially revolves around my love for children with dyslexia.
I find it especially hard to break down the wrong beliefs around
dyslexia – to convey that these children are not disabled but
differently-abled. I also find that parents of students with special
needs are often unable to accept that their children are perfect just
the way they are. My constant effort has been to help people embrace
these differences, to enable society's growth and the growth of the
country.

"On the issue of time management, I feel special needs teachers should
first focus on fostering a genuine and compassionate relationship with
their students. They also need to establish the ethos in the
classroom, making it clear to every student that each of them matters.
As teachers, we need to help students develop cognitive and
meta-cognitive skills, teaching them how to learn using their own
abilities, both within and outside the classroom."
Gevorgyan further noted, "In my view, one the of the challenges in
this space is the absence of the right atmosphere in the classroom.
Children are not able to communicate with each other. In Armenia, one
of the biggest challenges is that children with special needs are
bullied by their fully-abled counterparts, making it difficult for
them to find the support they need to develop their abilities.

"When it comes to the professional development of teachers in special
needs schools, we need to stress the importance of training. I,
myself, worked with a team called Bridge of Hope in Armenia, with
expertise in working with children with special needs. In addition to
this, I had access to a psychologist who helped to find appropriate
solutions for student development. Such training and support systems
add to the development of teaching skills, which further helps with
time management in the classroom."

Highlighting what teachers can do to foster more support for special
needs students, Yassed Sadek said, "From experience, it is clear that
integration is key for children with special needs. At our school, we
ensure that students are assigned to the right classes based on their
specific needs, and also so that they have an opportunity to exchange
views and grasp different behaviours.

"On the other hand, professional development of teachers in special
needs schools can be implemented through workshops on analytics
strategy, time management and so on. In Al Ain, we rolled out a
co-teacher format in the classroom and parent counselling systems to
help manage these students in the best way possible. We also work with
gifted students for whom teachers are trained to identify special
skills and determine career opportunities based on their abilities."