TRAINEE teachers from at least four colleges in Jamaica have pointed to what they say are concerning gaps in the special education component of their training, contending that it has not sufficiently prepared them to deal with students who have learning disabilities.

The trainees, who are pursuing degrees in other areas, say while they are not special education specialists, they could benefit from more than an introductory offering in that area, given that students with learning disabilities are mixed into the general school population because of the scarcity of resources.

They expressed the sentiment in answering the question of how well Jamaica’s teacher education programmes are preparing teachers for the 21st century classroom, during the recent biennial research conference of the Teacher’s Colleges of Jamaica.

“Though our schools are doing their best to prepare us for the future classroom, challenges still persist. I mean, when we look at the future classroom, when you look at today’s classroom, for example, there are diverse student needs that our schools are not addressing. When you look at disability, I don’t think we’re getting enough training as it relates to learning disabilities students; we’re faced with students with autism, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and we are not exposed enough to those students,” third-year College of Agriculture, Science and Education (CASE) student Kiana Lee told the conference.

Moneague College’s Gavin Gordon, expanding on Lee’s point, said the current programme lacks depth.

“We are introduced to these special education courses — I think probably about three of them — but it’s just the basics. Getting the introductory knowing how to, but we do not get the depth, and I believe that they can do more in this regard, providing more depth in exploration of certain factors and the differentiation, and even though there is the buzz with incorporating technology in our education, we do not do it in depth, it’s just on the top,” Gordon stated.

Church Teachers’ College’s Jhavon Weathers said his first encounter with a special needs child while on teaching practice proved the inadequacy of that programme offering.

“I think that that’s one of the areas that you need to prep us for, but we’re not getting the adequate preparation in order to go out to students, because by just giving us the bare minimum or the scratch of the surface, we’re not getting what we really need to know in order to go out to face these students because, trust me, they’re coming with a lot of problems; but look at it, we are just getting the introduction to special education,” he stated.

“I remember on my TP [teaching practice] journey I had a student, and I said to her, ‘It’s work time.’ She looked at me, I was like, ‘It’s work time.’ She started [grimacing with jerky head movements]. So… I didn’t know what to do because the school that I was [at], it wasn’t a school for special needs students, but she was mixed in a classroom with students who were performing way above where she was.

“So it is not only that the system is failing us as it relates to having these students, you cannot mix students with these critical special education needs with students who are more advanced — you cannot,” he insisted.

Asked what colleges can do to prepare teachers for such situations, Weathers said: “For special education specialists, they focus more on what [they will experience in the special education classroom but, usually, the reality is they’re not the only ones having to deal with, for example, autistic students who are fully on the spectrum. We’re getting them in our classrooms, too. So that means the introduction to special education will not work alone, we need more. We need to go in depth as it relates to dealing with special education students,” he said.

Parent and student teacher Natoya Williams-Stewart, responding to the points raised by her colleagues, however, was of the view that not only were the instructions adequate but that challenged children will benefit from normal school environments.

“I am a mother of a student or a child with special needs. He is autistic, and I am a firm believer that if I place my child in a school with only children who have special needs, I will limit him. I do send him to a school with typically developing children and he has surpassed even my expectations,” Williams-Stewart said.

“Since the colleges and the teachers’ colleges of Jamaica have similar curriculum, we learn about being lifelong learners and finding means to address issues, being problem-solvers to address the issues in our classroom. I think they have prepared me for a situation like that, regardless of the fact that I have a child with the need,” she said, noting that teachers should seek to employ their skills as professionals and as a lifelong learners to learn to cope with a child in such situations.

Gordon, in responding to Williams-Stewart, said teachers in such situations cannot be expected to operate in the best interest of the child if not optimally prepared.

“The problem is not that we should not send our special needs students to regular school, it’s where they are on the spectrum, because we know that special needs has a spectrum. So if you’re on the lower end, you might just be mild, but if you are above the middle or probably the middle, [it] is too much for a regular teacher because, at the end of the day, in a regular classroom there’s so much pressure already on the students to complete the curriculum and for PEP [Primary Exit Profile] — this hard exam that… persons just throw on to the students — and the teacher now has to deal with our students, whether he’s autistic or if he has an emotional behavioural problem,” he pointed out.

Further complicating the issue, he said, is when parents are themselves ignorant or in denial about their child’s challenges.

“I had a student that wasn’t diagnosed because his parents were afraid, for some reason. So he’s not diagnosed, they stopped him from school, then they started sending him and then they just sent him to do PEP, and he lacks the foundation. The teachers there are neglecting him because they’re not providing for him. So now, when you continue passing through the system, it becomes a challenge,” he argued.

“I was not prepared enough to deal with that, but I know that I have to just speak to him calmly, coerce him, although you know we’re not supposed to coerce anybody, but you have to coerce him to calm down and then I told him to speak only to me and not to the students. I learned all of this in the special needs education courses, but not everyone is prepared or emotionally intelligent enough to deal with the situation, and the teachers just ignore it. So if your child is on the upper end of the spectrum, I would recommend that you send them to a special needs school, because they will be neglected in the [regular] system,” Gordon stated.

Shortwood Teachers’ CollegesAriel Kellyghan, in siding with Gordon, said the needs of other learners must also be considered.

“Being the teacher in that classroom — a class with 40 students — and you have a high-end student who is disruptive, and you have a 40-minute session and that student keeps going and going; 39 other students are left behind. I’m not saying don’t send him or her to a regular school, but you have to think about where he or she falls on the spectrum.

“The classroom is not only about that special child in the classroom, but there are also 39 other students in that classroom who need to learn,” she opined.

“We did not say that they are not supposed to be a part of the classroom, we’re simply saying you have to take into consideration where these students fall on the spectrum and the classrooms that they are a part of,” Weathers added.

One trainee teacher believes placing an autistic child in a school with only children who have special needs will limit them.