An Roinn Oideachais agus Eolaíochta

Department of Education and Science

 

Inspection of Special Educational Needs

REPORT

 

St. Dominic’s Secondary School

Ballyfermot, Dublin 10

Roll number: 60720A

 

Date of inspection: 23 November 2007

 

 

 

Inspection report

Subject provision and whole school support

Planning and preparation

Teaching and learning

Assessment

Summary of main findings and recommendations

 

 

 

Report on the Quality of learning and Teaching in Special Educational Needs

 

 

inspection report

 

This report has been written following a subject inspection in St Dominic’s Secondary School. It presents the findings of an evaluation of the quality of teaching and learning in special educational needs (SEN) and makes recommendations for the further development of the teaching of students with special educational needs in the school. The evaluation was conducted over two days during which the inspector visited classrooms and observed teaching and learning. The inspector interacted with students and teachers, examined students’ work, and had discussions with the teachers. The inspector reviewed school planning documentation and teachers’ written preparation. Following the evaluation visit, the inspector provided oral feedback on the outcomes of the evaluation to the principal and teachers.

subject provision and whole school support

 

A whole-school, inclusive approach is taken at St Dominic’s Secondary School in support of the diverse range of learners that attend the school.  This is an inclusive school and many whole-school strategies are in place to support the students and staff. It is a stated objective of the school to promote the inclusion and integration of all students with special educational needs in mainstream classes. The school has implemented pro-active procedures for identifying students who will require support including assessing student levels of cognitive ability and attainment. The special educational needs team use all available information to create a profile of each student which is used for planning.

 

Students entering the school are placed in mixed ability classes based on the results of their entry assessment and the information gathered from their parents and their feeder primary schools. The school moved from streaming with a segregated support class to full mixed ability in the 2004/05 academic year. This change is to be commended as is the school’s awareness of the effects of such a significant change on the school. Efforts continue to be made to help staff adjust and these have included whole-staff in-service on a number of relevant topics such as inclusion, differentiation and co-operative teaching.  The core subjects of Irish, English and Maths classes are banded together whenever possible to facilitate withdrawal of small groups for additional learning support.

 

A full range of junior cycle subjects is accessible to all students. Students experiencing specific difficulties in language may opt out of the study of a modern language at mid-term with parental consent and the school’s advice, and receive literacy and/or numeracy support at these times. The Junior Schools Certificate Programme (JCSP) starts in second year. The selected students remain in their assigned classes. While some students with special educational needs are in the JCSP programme, not all of them are. This reflects a creditable practice of selecting students on the basis of how the JCSP will benefit them and not simply because they have a special educational need. Study skills classes are offered to some students with learning difficulties. These classes focus on developing organisational skills and specific strategies to support and promote independent learning,

 

There is a well-qualified, experienced and caring special educational needs team which meets weekly. In the past, the school has had a single co-ordinator of special educational needs provision. This was part of a post of responsibility but this year the role has been delegated to three core team members who each oversee the provision for students in two of the six year groups. The principal and deputy principal work closely with the team and they have been both positive and pro-active in establishing the existing provision. Four mainstream teachers provide additional support, including English-language support, on a part-time basis. The school belongs to a cluster group of the Irish Learning Support Association (ILSA). The team attends local and national ILSA events and maintains links with support teachers in other schools.

 

The whole-school staff has received in-service on a number of relevant topics including individual education plans, co-operative learning, mild general learning disability and specific learning disability, learning styles, mixed-ability teaching and differentiation from the special educational needs team as well as from presenters from outside of the school. In addition, mainstream teachers can access the profiles, summaries of the psychological reports and education plans of students with special educational needs.

 

Mainstream teachers are supported directly by the special educational needs team through the dissemination of pertinent information on students, the administration of an in-school referral procedure, the sharing of teaching resources and regular input to whole-staff meetings. Arrangements for providing additional teaching include co-operative teaching, individual and small group or individual withdrawal, and learning-support classes (literacy and numeracy). Mainstream teachers are encouraged to differentiate for the diverse range of students in their classes and may request support from the special educational needs team to do this.

 

There are three special needs assistants working in the school. They are assigned to specific students and work in consultation with the special educational needs team. They are a welcome addition to the classrooms. There is a short paragraph on the work of the special needs assistants in the school policy on special educational needs. It is recommended that this be expanded to detail the specific roles and responsibilities of the special needs assistants and that it be subsumed into the school’s inclusion policy.

 

There are three dedicated support classrooms with secure storage for student reports and confidential information. There are both laptop and desktop computers and internet access in these rooms. The school’s participation in the Laptop Initiative has made staff aware of the value of information and communication technology (ICT).  Teaching resources are also stored in the resource rooms and include a range of software to support literacy and numeracy development as well as graded readers, literacy and numeracy workbooks and materials, programmed reading kits, educational games, subject texts and teacher-made worksheets. Support teachers also use the ICT rooms and additional classrooms as required. The walls of the resource rooms display student work and relevant educational posters.

 

There are good relations and regular contact with the school’s psychologist from the National Educational Psychological Service. The psychologist is in the school frequently and provides advice and support to staff, students and their parents in a number of areas. The special educational needs team also maintains useful links with the School Completion Programme co-ordinator, the visiting teacher for travellers and care workers. There has been irregular contact with the special educational needs organiser due to a number of recent changes in personnel.

 

A school policy on special needs exists in draft form. It correctly notes the school’s aims and objectives and outlines procedures to identify, support and monitor students with special educational needs.  There is a sentence in this draft policy which reads, “With regard to the senior cycle, provision for students with special educational needs is limited due to allocation of resources from the Department of Education and Science.” It should be noted that resource-teacher hours are allocated to post-primary schools for the support of individual students who have been assessed as having special educational needs in accordance with the policy of the Department of Education and Science. All students who fit the set criteria are entitled to receive support regardless of whether they are in the junior or senior cycle of the school.

 

A section of the school’s Enrolment and Admissions Policy entitled, ‘Enrolment of students with special needs’ states that, “It may be necessary for the board to decide to defer enrolment of a particular student pending the receipt of an assessment report and/or the provision of appropriate resources by the DES to meet the needs specified in the psychological; and/or medical report.” This statement is not in line with the policy of inclusion promoted by the Department and referred to in the Education Act (1998) and the EPSEN Act (2004).

 

The school does not have a whole-school policy on inclusion. As part of a continuing process of development and self-evaluation and to address issues raised above, it is recommended that the school further develop the existing draft policy on special needs into a policy on inclusion. The process of developing such a policy would provide an opportunity to examine and revise existing policies and practices that relate to a coherent whole-school approach to inclusion. Chapter Two of the Inspectorate’s publication ‘Inclusion of Students with Special Educational Needs: Post-Primary Guidelines’ can provide direction.

Planning and preparation

 

In 2005 the school piloted a procedure to develop educational plans for students with special educational needs. That year plans were created for a small number of students. Each year since the number has been increased. The individual planning process includes a template for parents, staff and students to identify long term goals, targets and strategies. The review process involves the distribution of an evaluation template for teachers to complete. Meetings are held with parents, in-school personnel and relevant agencies. Mainstream teachers are included in the development and review of the individual education plans (IEPs) through completion of an IEP checklist and an IEP evaluation sheet. The school’s current IEPs typically note four or five long term goals with specific targets and strategies as well as the personnel involved and the resources to be used. IEPs are copied to all mainstream teachers who teach the student and reviewed after about six months.

 

The school is to be commended for initiating good practice in the development of IEPs for students with special educational needs. It is recommended that the school review and refine the existing procedures to suit the needs of the students and the school. Guidance is available in the National Council for Special Education’s publication, ‘Guidelines on the Individual Education Plan Process’.

 

Classroom activities are well planned and effectively organised. There is a great deal of collaboration among the teachers delivering support teaching and a school template has been designed for teachers to plan co-operative teaching. There is a generic scheme of work for the first and second year withdrawal classes to guide teacher planning. There is also excellent generic planning for the literacy support programme.

There is a learning-support department plan dated 2004/2005 which uses the School Development Planning Initiative planning template. This plan states aims and objectives but gives only limited information on the functioning of the department. It is under-developed and needs significant work. The topics covered need further expansion. There are a number of important areas missing, including the criteria for selecting and discontinuing students for additional support and the procedures on how learning outcomes are monitored, measured, recorded and reported. It is recommended that the existing learning-support department plan be further developed to reflect existing practice and to be a practical guide to classroom-level planning.

 

Teaching and learning

 

A number of teachers providing additional support were observed during the evaluation. Teachers whose lessons were observed were well-prepared, empathetic and supportive of their students. Students were, in the main, co-operative and engaged. Overall there was a good rapport between students and teachers creating a positive working environment. The effective and subtle skills of the teachers ensured that discipline was sensitively maintained. Students were good-humouredly coaxed and encouraged to try and were rewarded by personal success and affirmation from the teachers. Many teachers used positive correction and reinforcement and some had reward systems in place to encourage good behaviour, effort and achievement in class.

 

The focus and purpose of each lesson was introduced through clearly stated objectives and students were prepared for learning with a range of advanced organisers which included inspirational comments, initial questioning and a review of successfully completed work. A wide range of methodologies and strategies were employed including co-operative teaching, peer tutoring, co-operative learning groups, and differentiation. Active learning methodologies were seen particularly in the maths classes. In most classes, homework was set, collected, corrected and discussed with individuals.

 

The school has initiated a comprehensive range of literacy and numeracy supports for junior cycle students. A literacy committee comprising special educational needs team members and mainstream teachers has been set up to develop a whole-school literacy programme. The programme documentation lists the aims and objectives, the content, the strategies, and the resources as well as the assessment and evaluation methods. This year all first year students attend two classes focussing on improving literacy and numeracy skills. These classes are in addition to their curriculum-based English and mathematics classes. These extra classes follow a separate curriculum planned by the special educational needs team and presented through co-operative teaching strategies by a mainstream subject teacher and a member of the support team. For example, subject teachers collaboratively created subject key word lists and then the words were taught and reinforced as part of the literacy resource classes.

 

Other school initiatives include a paired-reading project supported by the parents’ association and a books-on-tape reading initiative. Maths is supported in the home through the distribution of ‘Maths in the Environment’ and ‘Home Help with Maths’ advice and support materials. Students in Junior Certificate Schools Programme (JCSP) also partake in the JCSP Reading Challenge. Support for junior cycle students is also provided by withdrawing students from agreed classes or, if the student is exempt from the study of Irish, during this time.

 

Learning-support classes in Transition Year use active learning, project-based work to practice and consolidate literacy, problem-solving and independent learning skills. Support for students in the senior cycle is provided mainly through individual or small-group withdrawal, setting the timetable and, in the mainstream, through differentiated instruction and co-operative teaching.

 

Both practices of co-operative teaching and support teaching are guided by collaborative planning procedures. The staff involved agree roles, responsibilities and methodologies beforehand. A school-based review of these practices has demonstrated their success in targeting the needs of specific students, improving class management and promoting learning for all.

Assessment

 

All students are assessed prior to entry. Students identified as experiencing learning difficulties are administered additional diagnostic and attainment tests usually in the areas of literacy and numeracy. Students requiring a full psychological assessment are referred to the school’s NEPS psychologist. The school is fortunate to have a qualified psychologist on the school’s special educational needs team who can also administer psychological assessments. Files of test results, psychological reports and medical reports are locked securely in the resource area. Student profiles are produced by the special educational needs team. These are held by the relevant support teacher and are available on request to the mainstream teachers. Individual student record cards are used to monitor student achievement, participation, and behaviour.

 

Literacy and numeracy attainment tests are administered twice a year to first-year students to monitor and evaluate the value of the literacy and numeracy support programme. In addition, there is re-testing at the end of the year for some other students as required. Learning was evidenced in the homework and class work examined and in the level of participation in the lessons.

 

Eligible students are facilitated in their applications for reasonable accommodations in the state examinations. Most applications have been for a spelling/grammar waiver or the use of a tape-recorder or a reader. Limited accommodations are also given in school exams.

 

A significant amount of the teaching observed was diagnostic in that teachers were teaching and testing simultaneously. This is a commendable extension of the assessment process. It provides valuable information on the rate and degree of learning and helps the teacher understand the student’s learning style. Teacher’s consistently re-evaluated their teaching in response to each student’s learning.

 

Parents receive annual progress reports. Support staff are available to meet parents after ordinary parent-teacher meetings. Parents can also access support teachers by making an appointment. Parents of students with IEPs meet with staff twice a year for consultation and review.

 

There is no overall whole-school policy on assessment. It is recommended that the school create an assessment policy which relates to all students including those with special educational needs. Such a policy would provide a clearer focus on identifying and recording learning outcomes for all students. Useful guidance on the development of an assessment policy is available in Section 2.6 of the Inspectorate’s publication ‘Inclusion of students with Special Educational Needs: Post-Primary Guidelines.’

 

 

Summary of main findings and recommendations

 

The following are the main strengths identified in the evaluation:

 

 

As a means of building on these strengths and to address areas for development, the following key recommendations are made:

 

 

Post-evaluation meetings were held with the teachers of students with special educational needs and with the principal at the conclusion of the evaluation when the draft findings and recommendations of the evaluation were presented and discussed.

 

 

 

Published June 2006