Factual description of the scenario
The presented situation takes place along an academic year, from September to June. The protagonist of this case scenario is Mihaela, a student aged seventeen, in the XI-th grade. Mihaela comes from a family with serious economical and social problems, because her father is dead and her mother is ill, the only source of money being the descendant pension. The family lives in the countryside. Mihaela has two sisters that are married and she lives with one of them. She attended the first two high school academic years in her village. Due to family reasons, Mihaela transferred to a technological high school, in the XI-th grade, in the area where her elder sister lives, the one who looks after her.
During the first school days, Mihaela’s mother got in touch with the form master of the class, to who she told about the economical and social problems the family deals with, about the fact that Mihaela has disabilities – locomotor physical impairment - her left leg is shorter and she needs support in order to study. Also, Mihaela’s mother confessed to the form master that she desires very much for her daughter to attend school and she asked for her help.
The School that she attends currently does not have the opportunity to assure the infrastructure destined to the disabled people (adequate school furniture, specialized school staff) or to develop a financial scheme for the students at risk (scholarships, social programs).
Attitude and behaviour of the protagonist student
Within her class Mihaela is very quiet, she does not socialize with her classmates, she does not get involved in group activities, she does not express her personal opinions, she speaks only when she is asked by the teachers or by the students, she does not ask for her classmates’ help. She has minor learning difficulties because of her physical disability, she operates correctly both with the concepts and elements from reality. She is able of sustained voluntary effort, she is extremely able to pay attention and she is well balanced, emotionally speaking. Nevertheless, she does not always get involved in extracurricular activities. Her poor material situation as well as her physical disability prevent her from going on trips or hikings with her classmates.
Mihaela holds a negative extrinsic motivation. She does not manage to build an adequate rhythm in the work group; she cannot solve the school tasks in an optimal time limit because of prior lack of knowledge. Mihaela’s school records did not experience a considerable progress and that displeases not only her but also her mother and her sisters.
Attitude and behaviour of the classmates
Mihaela was sent to a class with a very close knit group of students, that supported and helped her very much. In the beginning, some classmates displayed a rejecting behavior, and showed a tendency to isolate Mihaela. In the same time, some classmates displayed tolerance and empathy towards their classmate. After a while, all her classmates reached to help her in some activities whenever her physical disabilities prevented her from achieving them. Also, they tried to help her whenever she did not have the necessary knowledge to accomplish the tasks assigned by the teachers.
Attitude and behaviour of the teachers
The form master of the class is familiar with Mihaela’s problems, as a result of studying her medical records and the psychpedagogical recommendations enclosed. She asked all the teachers’ help, explaining to them Mihaela’s difficulties. Both the teachers teaching this class as well as the teachers from the school expressed understanding towards Mihaela’s situation.
The teachers perceive this students’ situation from different perspectives due to the fact that they are experienced in working with students with special needs.
The teachers’ attitude oscillates between one that is exaggeratedly overprotective and one of disengagement. The teachers teaching this class were advised to display an attitude as warm as possible and encouraging towards this student and to offer help whenever needed.
Attitude and behaviour of the parents
Mihaela’ mother wishes very much for her daughter to graduate a high school and to get a job. She supports her in all her actions, she often comes to school to talk with the teachers, so that, together with them, to be able to help Mihaela to successfully deal with the educational requests. Mihaela is supported by her sisters, as well, especially by her older sister with who she lives, but they fail to make her be more cooperative, more involved, to be able to get satisfactory grades.
Some of Mihaela’s classmates parents show a reluctance regarding the presence of a students with special educational needs in the same class with their child, considering that this thing can affect the quality of the educational process.
Mihaela’s mother is aware of the tension between her and the other parents, because of the above mentioned reason, but she counts on the form master’s and the other teachers’ help in case of mediating a potential conflict.
Attitude and behaviour of the school director
The headmaster has available a record of the students with special needs, drawn up by the school psychologist, at the beginning of each academic year.
The headmaster is aware of the importance of the situations regarding the students at school dropout risk and of taking the corresponding measures. She talked to both Mihaela and her mother, offering them all the support, according to the possibilities within the school. She organized for her weekly sessions with a psychotherapist, by signing an agreement with an authorized institution.
Attitude and behaviour of other actors
In order to better know Mihaela’s situation, the form master analyzed Mihaela’s medical and psychological record that she got from the school Mihaela came from and, together with the school psychologist and the representative of the school responsible for students at risk, she gave her initial tests, she filled in class behaviour observation records and she talked with her and her mother.
The authorized institutions aimed at offering psycho pedagogical and medical assistance offer a tailored curriculum, as well as therapy sessions for the students with mental and physical disabilities so that, Mihaela was included in a weekly support program. As well, the school has taken steps to provide the necessary infrastructure for the people with disabilities.
Attitude and behavior of the protagonist
The participants’ reactions
The integration into the mainstream education of the students with a different learning rhythm is a difficult process because of the lack of the human and material resources as well as of the segregated reflexes.
The help given to Mihaela depends on the patience displayed by the teachers, by the existence of a large number of helpful people and by achieving a complementarity between the formal and informal education.
Strategies to be implemented
An efficient intervention strategy will take into account three major fields:
- emotional – motivational
- cognitive
- behavioral
The intervention will be achieved through the coordinated action of the main stakeholders involved:
To develop a balanced self-concept
The self-concept involves self-image, self-esteem, self-ideal and the awareness of self-efficiency.
The self-image is made up of a set of objective descriptors concerning one’s personality (physical characteristics, factual description of the school, professional performances), while the self-image represents the evaluation of these performances.
Mihaela deals with difficulties regarding the acquisition of the Maths concepts ( self-image) and feels embarrassed because of this, expands the perceived failure to a school object on her ( just because she is not good at Maths, she is not a person worth to be appreciated).
Educating a self-balance concept involves enriching it, educating the student to retort to more aspects of her life, both school life and especially extracurricular one, through which she may feel a fulfilled person.
To accept herself unconditionally
The self-esteem is important, but it is secondary to a balanced self-concept.
The problem with the self-esteem is that it is made up of a series of conditional sentences. The unconditioned acceptance means helping Mihaela give up imposing conditions in order to feel a fulfilled person. From this point of view, a statement that is specific to the classical self-esteem –”If I get good marks, I am a good student and I deserve the respect and appreciation of the others” – is replaced with one that is based on awareness of an unconditioned self-value – “It would be better to get good marks, but better or worse marks do not change me fundamentally, as a human being. They are important as far as school is concerned but not for the other aspects of my life, too”.
To use learning strategies adequate to the level of bio-psycho-social development
Mihaela’s curiosity and her willingness to make an effort represent a strength that can be turned to her advantage. Taking into account that the content offered by the school is sequenced, with many secondary targets, based on experiential learning, of the trial and error type, the student can maximize her potential.
To take into account the need to self-update
Mihaela can be a normal student if the teachers help her better understand the aim of the educational content and value in the evaluation process the student’s positive personality characteristics.
The ideal is the development of the intrinsic motivation for school, but one must consider that the intrinsic motivation, most often, plays the role of the ”energizer” for the students that are at the beginning of a difficult lesson.
Resources
Guidelines for students on the SSN portal (
http://schoolsafetynet.pixel-online.org/GL_guide.php?ta=1&tg=4)
Publications on the SSN portal:
Teachers experiences on the SSN portal
Other websites:
Attitude and behaviour of the classmates
The participants’ reaction
The instinctive way in which the classmates display a distance towards Mihaela is accountable as a result of the common tendency to categorize those around us and exclude the ones that are perceived as different.
In order to appreciate more a student that is different, they need to better know her, by structuring some interactions within the class and encouraging some ways of socialization that are not limited only to school life.
Strategies to be implemented
- Emotional-affective
- Growing interpersonal intelligence;
- Creating a social niche for Mihaela and her classmates, by help of the counseling sessions undertaken by the form master or the school psychologist aimed at developing the emotional intelligence.
- Cognitive
- Encouraging team-work based on cooperation;
- Increasing pair learning (ideally, finding a volunteer to study together with Mihaela after classes)
- Behavioral
- Using the responsibility language within the interactions in the class;
- Choosing some volunteers to offer her the things she needs;
Resources
Guidelines for students on the SSN portal (
http://schoolsafetynet.pixel-online.org/GL_guide.php?ta=1&tg=4)
Publications on the SSN portal:
Teachers experiences on the SSN portal (
http://schoolsafetynet.pixel-online.org/DB_texperiences.php?ta=1&cou=&q=) in particular:
Attitude and behaviour of the teachers
The participants’ reaction
The presence of a student with learning difficulties represents a challenge for the teachers. The official speech adopted by the leaders of education encourages the integration policies, but the discrepancy between the declarations and the reality (the rigid curriculum, poor school aids, and insufficient support teachers) asks for an extra effort be made by the teachers and this results in a general feeling of discontent.
Strategies to be implemented
- Affective-motivational
- Using positive reinforcement;
- Using shaping as a technique to influence behavior;
- While team-working, Mihaela should be included in teams with a smaller number of students, in comparison with he others (3 or 4).
- Cognitive
- Using teaching methods specific to the adaptive learning style, based on a concrete experience and active experimentation;
- Using prompting in teaching (direct guidance undertaken by the teacher, by using verbal indicators of a task).
- Using some modular activities, sequenced in a large number of steps;
- Behavioral
- Active observation of the student’s progress, by using an observation grid;
- Asking for a feedback, at the end of the class, regarding the understanding level of the content that was taught.
Resources
Guidelines for teachers on the SSN portal
http://schoolsafetynet.pixel-online.org/GL_guide.php?ta=1&tg=5
Publications on the SSN portal:
Teachers experiences on the SSN portal
Other websites:
Attitude and behaviour of the parents
The participants’ reaction
Mother’s involvement in her daughter’s education represents a pillar of the intervention strategy. The existence of such a dialogue partner for school guarantees the existence of a continuum of efforts made during school, after classes.
Strategies to be implemented
- Affective-motivational
- Practicing unconditional acceptance within family;
- Encouraging independent assertive behavior.
- Cognitive
- Monitoring the progress made by the student; Implementing studying strategies discussed about at school;
- Behavioral
- Frequent meetings with the student’s teachers;
- Collaboration with teachers in assessing the periodical progress made by Mihaela.
Resources:
Guidelines for parents on the SSN portal
http://schoolsafetynet.pixel-online.org/GL_guide.php?ta=1&tg=2 and Teachers Experiences
http://schoolsafetynet.pixel-online.org/DB_texperiences.php?ta=&cou=&q=
Publications on the SSN portal:
Training sources on the SSN portal:
Teachers experiences on the SSN portal (
http://schoolsafetynet.pixel-online.org/DB_texperiences.php?ta=1&cou=&q=) in particular:
Other websites:
Attitude and behaviour of the school director
The participants’ reaction
The effectiveness of the intervention strategies regarding the students with learning difficulties is significant on condition that the people that are involved work together in real time.
The headmaster is the person that acts as a bond between those involved in supporting the students with learning difficulties and ensures the continuity of the designed intervention program.
Strategies to be implemented
- Creating a database to include the students dealing with integration, learning problems, because of social or economic causes, or related to delays or deficiencies in physical or psychological development.
- Collaboration with the form masters, school psychologist, educational counselor in order to design a plan aimed at remedying the identified problems.
- Implementation of the remedial measures and implementation of a qualitative and quantitative preliminary assessment of the results that were acquired.
- Asking for funds from the local budget to financially support the students belonging to socially disadvantaged groups, if possible.
- Popularization of the students’ problems, within local community, to exert indirect pressure over the decision makers at the local or county level.
Resources
Guidelines for Head Teachers on the SSN portal
http://schoolsafetynet.pixel-online.org/GL_guide.php?ta=1&tg=1
Publications on the SSN portal:
Training sources on the SSN portal:
Teachers experiences on the SSN portal (http://schoolsafetynet.pixel-online.org/DB_texperiences.php?ta=1&cou=&q=) in particular:
Other websites:
Attitude and behaviour of other actors
The participants’ reaction
Supporting the students with learning difficulties must occur both at school as well as in the community the school belongs to.
In order to ensure the socio-professional insertion after graduation, the school needs the support of the representatives of the local community, of the business environment, of the non-profit associations.
Strategies to be implemented
- Involvement of some agencies such as AJOFM in shaping the professional development of the students with learning difficulties and disabilities after graduating high school.
- Sensitizing the business environment in order to offer financial support, training sessions for these students.
- Conducting lobby and advocacy campaigns to adopt legislative packages favorable to the students belonging to disadvantaged categories, through the civil society.
Resources:
Guidelines for Policymakers on the SSN portal
http://schoolsafetynet.pixel-online.org/GL_guide.php?ta=1&tg=3
Publications on the SSN portal:
Teachers experiences on the SSN portal (
http://schoolsafetynet.pixel-online.org/DB_texperiences.php?ta=1&cou=&q=) in particular:
Other websites: