Well, it has been a while since I last added to this shambles, so I apologise to anyone who has been waiting with bated breath for the next instalment.
It feels like so much has happened since I last blogged, which in fact is true. (I have never been too happy with the word ‘blogged’. As a verb it conjures up images which are pretty unsavoury. When someone next tells you they ‘blogged all weekend’ and you find yourself sniggering, you will realise what I mean.)
I have just reached my 4 month mark here, which, however you say it, sounds like the opening lines of someone’s prison diary entry. In that time, I have been pretty busy.
The regional SEN survey which I needed to write has been written and sent away to schools to fill in. I thought it was only fair to give a sizable chunk of time for the teachers to fill it in, considering the ludicrous amount of paperwork they need to complete here as it is. I think I allowed something like 6 weeks, with a deadline of May 13th. (The day before I headed off to Tobago for a week’s holiday – I won’t bang on about Tobago, but I will say that it is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to, I didn’t want to leave and was seriously thinking about going AWOL and I am totally unable to surf reef breaks without getting cut to bits by fire coral.)
It is now June 16th, and I am still waiting for about half of the results back.
I was told before I came that Guyana was laid back. Looks that way really, doesn’t it?
Of the results I have got back, some of them are useful and some of them are pretty vague. Under the question, ‘Please give any specific details of children who you think may have Special Educational Needs in your class’ I have had a variety of different responses. My favourite so far has been ‘This child has bad manners’.
I am not too sure whether, if I told kids with dyslexia and autism to ‘just be a little more polite’, I could cut down the levels of SEN overnight. I will give it a whirl and let you know what happens.
So, that is all ticking along, as is the regional resource pack I am writing to give to schools with information about SEN, inclusive teaching in the classroom and strategies to support children, and the guide to making resources on a shoestring budget.
In conjunction with those two resource packs, I have also started to plan a 2 day workshop for teachers about supporting special needs in schools and inclusive teaching methods. This workshop is planned for October/November, so I can bend your ear about it closer to the time.
I have also got involved in another project, working in partnership with UNICEF.
There are regional surveys taking place in Region 1, 6 and 7 to establish SEN in schools, but they are all independent from each other. The nice people at UNICEF would like a standard nationwide survey about the children with SEN in Guyanese schools. The idea is to start in those three regions and then expand to include the rest of the country in the future.
Every 10 years or so there is a national census which gathers information about everyone in the country (Not too sure if the whole ‘Jedi as a religion’ thing has reached these parts – I’ll check) and the next one is planned in about 2 years time. This census will now be including a section about SEN in the community. What UNICEF would like us to do is perform an interim survey in schools, which is a little more detailed than the ones currently being completed in regions 1, 6 and 7, so that our information can be included with the national census to then account for the number of children with SEN who are out of the school system.
Is that all as clear as mud? Splendid.
The outcome of my ridiculous explanation is that I, along with a colleague, will be visiting about 21 schools in 10 days, and interviewing every teacher about the children in their class with any form of disability. It is going to be pretty tough going, as some days we will be visiting up to 4 schools. We will be travelling by car and also by boat to reach the river schools. It all sounds quite good fun. I hope those words do not come back to haunt me.
The second part of the UNICEF project is to collectively write a resource manual with the other SEN volunteers in Georgetown, about the inclusion of children with special needs in the classroom. I assume that it will be including strategies and ideas which will allow teachers to work with SEN children effectively, which isn’t always happening in schools. I’m doing that next week.
So, Marvin Gaye, that’s what’s going on. I hope I haven’t made your tea get cold or you burnt the toast.
