Page 33 - Issue 112 May-June 2021

About the authors Feliciea Jibson is Chief Science Officer at PAGS SRL and founder of PAGS (Profile, Assessment and Goal Setting) an online profiling and progress monitoring tool that boosts children’s learning and psycho-social development. pagsprofile.com Josianne Pisani is a teacher, teacher trainer and materials writer at Executive Trainer Institute (ETI) in Malta with years of experience in teaching English as a second language to learners of all ages and abilities. englishpracticecafe.com Education when planning their lessons, the number of students in any given class, the workload and the vast content that needs to be covered makes it a very challenging task. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Being creative in education If COVID-19 has taught us anything at all, it is that in today’s world being creative in education is a necessity, as is working collaboratively and having our work both digitised and accessible. Adapting our lessons to meet the needs of the learners rather than expecting the learners to adapt to our lessons has been of paramount importance for learners to have meaningful learning experiences. This has, in a way, further validated modern inclusion policies and practices which advocate that no child should be excluded or fail to achieve adequately due to poor quality or irrelevant education, that our neurodiverse learners should have access to the curriculum and have differentiated targets, and that the participation of parents and the support provided, not only to parents and students but also to teachers, should be strengthened. Further to this, the eight components mentioned earlier have, over the last few years, been considered in relation to the impact of neurological conditions on an individual’s memory and capacity for learning and generalising, so that the opportunities for these learners to acquire important skills are maximised. Prof Emeritus Angela Fawcett (2018) mentioned that “Current education tools test the attainment rather than the “Recognise the uniqueness of each learner” potential”. Earlier research of Shepard (2000) highlighted the ‘Changing conception on learning’ which in his opinion is interwoven with changing conception of curriculum and assessment. Moreover, Robinson (2013) advocates for a radical rethinking of our school systems where creativity is stimulated, and multiple types of intelligence are acknowledged. A paper in neuroscience by De Lavilléon, Lacroix, and Vilarem (2018) brings up the importance of teaching ‘Soft skills’ and the fact that these skills are very poorly defined, often being confused with personality traits. Recognising uniqueness In light of all this and in response to the issues that we are experiencing in terms of assessment and SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disability) neurodiverse learners, perhaps we need to re-assess the ways in which we understand child development. Perhaps we should search for new systems that could possibly change the way educators work with students with disabilities and learning difficulties. Perhaps we need to make use of an assessment that promotes a ‘can do’ approach, recognises the uniqueness of each learner and provides the goal setting information for personalized learning progress. Such a tool already exists but is yet to be utilised by educational bodies. senmagazine.co.uk SEN112 33