Module 1: Learning About Special Education - What did I begin to understand?

As I began to go work my way through the course material, I learned I had a lot to learn.

Reading the Charters

In the Salamanca Report, the group of countries and organizations that got together called from a shift in educational policies regarding students with disabilities. The report outlined the responsibilities of the international community, national bodies, and local community necessary to support inclusion. (UNESCO, 1994)

One part of the Salamanca Report resonated with me when it discussed how it was going to be expensive to insure all people with disabilities were accommodated. Well, I’ve noticed in schools that students often don’t get the accommodations they need to succeed, not for lack of me providing them, but for lack of funding to provide them with adequate support such as one-to-one support. Is this inclusion?

In the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, all humans are to be treated equally and everyone has the right to an education -these are also part of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. People with disabilities must be treated as equals and given the same opportunities to take part in all aspects of society.

Of course, these are admirable goals, and I truly believe that everyone wants these, but the reality is much different. For instance, merely providing the same opportunities, such as education and employment, for people with disabilities is not enough without additional supports in place to help these people be successful.

Reflecting on My Use of Person-First Language

I have been fairly good about using first person-language when referring to singular students with exceptionalities. In my school community, I hear mostly person-first language, but occasionally especially with certain exceptionalities, I hear children being referred to by their designation or sometimes referred to as sped kids or designated kids. Sometimes I find myself doing it, too, referring to my students with exceptional needs as my designated students. I’m trying to be more cognizant of that now.

Funding -Who gets it? Vs. Who needs it?

BC's Funding Model  (Rozworski, 2018)

I learned through BC's funding model that not all designations received supplemental funding, shockingly! I had previously made the assumption that this was the case.

Our funding model in BC assigns letters to students based on diagnostics and identification criteria in 12 special needs groupings. Letter designations are further categorized into two groups, low incidence, and high incidence, based on the idea that students in the high incidence category don't need additional supports above and beyond what the average per-student fund can provide, whereas students in the low incidence category need access to additional supports and specialist. (BCTF, 2017) This is not to say that students in high incidence categories do not need special or additional supports to succeed, only that the classroom teacher is expected to be able to accommodate these students through differentiation with help from the resource teacher. The funding low incidence designations receive goes to the school students' within those designations attend. The school is then responsible for ensuring that the student is receiving appropriate supports.

“The gap between funding allocated for special education and actual spending on special education services is one major reason for the slow erosion of these services.” (Rozworski, 2018)

The prevalence-model is being discussed for a future model for BC, and I'm still coming to terms with my thoughts on this. At a glance, it looks like the prevalence model could positively impact the support for high incidents categories because it highlights inclusive education as one of the three specific needs that should be funded first.

However, a closer look at recommendation 6 sees the funds specifically allocated to high incidence categories stripped and re-allocated under the umbrella category of inclusive education. This is not to say that the other elements incorporated under inclusive education are less important, only that the funding is being specifically taken away from this group and may or may not be used to support these students, especially if due to prevalence-model categories and weights listed in recommendation 6, component 2, the funds are further diverted. 

References

BCTF. (2017). Inclusive education: special needs designations and categories in BC. Retrieved from https://bctf.ca/publications/BriefSection.aspx?id=46986

Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, s 15, Part 1 of the Constitution Act, 1982, being Schedule B to the Canada Act 1982 (UK), 1982, c 11.

Rozworski. (October 2018). Bc's inclusive education funding gap. BCTF. Retrieved from https://bctf.ca/publications/ResearchReports.aspx?id=51999

UNESCO. (1994). Salamanca Statement and Framework for Action on Special Needs Education. Retrieved from https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000098427.