CFE: Waid Academy, Final Week

• 8 years ago
• Posted in:Uncategorized
• 1
• Author: emily barber

CFE: Waid Academy

Personal Reflection, Week Three

I have had the opportunity this week to spend some time in Waid’s Learning Support and Guidance building to look at the inner workings of an alternative program for students. I have observed many similarities to the Canadian Learning Support Programs and was impressed with the attention they have given to this particular program. The Principle of the department took a lot of time out of his day to accommodate my questions and explain what was happening within the program.

Students are delegated an integrated support plan when the teacher or parents notice a physical or learning anomaly within the student. Often this happen in Primary school and students are delegated the integrated support plan before they enter Secondary school. This plan includes Home address, parent or guardian contact information, and the normal date of birth and gender of the student. On this form also includes the child’s preferred way of communicating, whether it be signing, lip speaking, or using a communicative aid of some sort. Parent details are written in a similar fashion and include the relationship they have with the child. Also detailed is the keyworker at Waid Academy and a little bit of their personal information. Next is the next date or notes of previous review meetings with/ or about the child. Short term plans are laid out in this plan and targets should be clearly shown. Parents and Pupils’ comments are asked for if they feel involved with the learning at Waid. Integrated support plans are then given a timetable to show what has been going on and the date of the next review. Pupil’s are then written an assessment profile and listed with additional support needs. All of these bullets have so far seemed similar to what I would see in the BC education system.

Later on in the integrated support plan is a plan of action, which the Principle of the department has emphasized as being the most important part of the plan. For ease of understanding, I will outline the plan of action template in a table below. I believe that with this type of individual learning plans and action against their negative behaviors, students will have a much better chance at being successful in life. I believe that with cooperation from other teachers at Waid academy, student autonomy would improve and students would develop more life-skills through student-led learning versus teacher-led learning. For students who already have an individual education plan, it is the teachers responsibility to modify their curriculum so they can further understand how other people can learn. With a rise in multi-modal learning and cross-curricular teaching, I believe that a wider variety of learners will have their needs met.

Action Plan:

I believe that all of the right support and sentiment is there for children who need it, but I also believe that it is largely up to the teacher whether they want to harness that support for the child or not. I think the same can be said in Canadian school systems.

I enjoyed my time at Waid Academy these past three weeks, although was often shocked by the differences in the education system. I believe that Scotland is moving more toward the Canadian school system by putting their Curriculum for Excellence in place. However, the biggest difference for me was the teacher/student relationship and the power dynamic this created. The other bog difference for me was a huge focus on theory and standardization on Scotland. Being a Home Economics teacher, we have little standardization, and if our school budget allows, we focus largely on practical skills.

I believe both education systems have their Pro’s and Con’s to them, and now my role as a teacher is to harness what I believe to be the best of both worlds to create a system that is most beneficial to student development.

Overall, I had a wonderful stay in Scotland, and thrived in the rolling hills, the huge ocean, and the wonderfully kind people. I would go back in an instant, but alas, it’s back to Canada for me.