National News Agency - The Faculty of Education at the University of Sciences and Arts in Lebanon USAL organized a specialized seminar entitled “The Skills of Special Education Teachers in the Twenty-First Century”, attended by educators from various educational institutions.
Hammoud
To begin with, an opening speech by the dean of the Faculty of Education at the university Dr Walid Hammoud, in which he pointed out “that the skills of special education teachers and the securing of education for people with special needs today constitute a principal challenge before achieving the aims of education for all, amid the dominance of discrimination and the absence of equal educational opportunities, including for the marginalized groups”.
He said: “We cannot speak about inclusive education without approaching the question of the skills teachers need in order to possess the ability to practise inclusive education according to the foundations and principles affirmed by the most modern educational practices and literature.”
He held “that the good and distinctive preparation of educators is the safest road for guaranteeing a good-quality education, a learning-friendly educational environment and a spacious educational institution for all children, regardless of their physical, intellectual and social capacities; and that the search for the qualities of educators is at the heart of the universities' academic responsibilities and their expected role in supplying educational institutions with graduates able to turn classrooms into inclusive, learning-friendly places that take account of the great social and gender differences among children”.
He concluded: “Our preparation of professional educators able to deal with difference and disparity with skill and mastery is at the core of our values and our aims, which all the university's faculties seek to develop, to create and to strengthen with all their graduates. The acceptance of diversity that concerns us lies in turning this institution into an academy and a spacious space that enables students to understand and be aware of diversity and difference, to respect it and to encourage it - graduates who possess the ability to develop with ease and flexibility in varied environments full of challenges.”
Abou Sreih
Then the head of the master's section in remedial education at Saint Joseph University Dr Viviane Abou Sreih gave an intervention entitled “The Professional Competencies of Special Education Teachers”, in which she defined the remedial educator as “a teacher specialized in educational intervention with persons who have a disability, or a disorder, or difficulties of adaptation and learning, or an exceptional talent”.
Dr Viviane pointed out “that the remedial educator intervenes in the case of a child who has an illness affecting self-reliance and schooling, learning disorders, an intellectual, sensory, motor or brain-based disability, emotional disorders and difficulty in social adaptation, and exceptional talent and excellence”.
She affirmed “the necessity of the remedial educator possessing skills based on six models of professionalism drawn up by ‘Léopold Paquay': the concept of the ‘cultured teacher', that is the one who transmits knowledge; the concept of the ‘technician', that is the one who applies skills and techniques; the concept of the ‘skilled practitioner', that is the possessor of tricks of the trade; the concept of the ‘reflective practitioner', that is the one who thinks about his practice and innovates; the concept of the ‘social actor', that is the one involved in introducing changes in projects for developing the school, the institution and society; and the model of the ‘human teacher', that is the one who focuses on the person of the learner - he is the one who seeks to develop the ‘other' through personalized accompaniment”.
She concluded: “Preparation in remedial education cannot be confined to three years or five, for the time horizon of preparation is a present that directs the future. Remedial education commits the person in his entirety and prepares him to build his professional identity, which is completed and developed through professional practice.”
Jouni
The principal of Al-Rahma High School Nidal Jouni gave an intervention entitled “Programmes for the Care of the Gifted and the Outstanding in Lebanon: the Model of Al-Rahma High School in Al-Mabarrat Schools”, in which she spoke about the steps of applying this programme at Al-Rahma High School. She said: “A vision specific to this project was drawn up after it was named ‘Manara', and a timetable and a plan were set that included the vital factors, the standard levels for measuring the fulfilment of the vital factors, the strategies, the basic works, the measurement tools, and the stages of selecting the students, along with setting and developing criteria for the teacher's nomination form. After application, the result of the personalities was consistent with the results of the school's form and in the same order, which strengthened the accuracy and stability of the form's criteria.”
On how the programme's cumulative effect on the students is measured, Jouni pointed out “that the direct effect appears from the students' continuity in the programme since its launch; from new pupils submitting applications to join the programme; from the parents' satisfaction with the programme, which is measured annually; from the absence of any complaint about any student's shortcomings in the ordinary academic programme; from the stability or rise in the students' averages over the past 7 years; and from the students' commitment to everything asked of them within the programme without grumbling and their insistence on achievement, because it is the condition of their continuing in this programme”.
She said: “We followed what the international literature proposes for secondary-stage classes and universities through scientific contests and scientific projects in which students compete within defined subjects; the creation of a debating club, training students in this skill and its technique and holding at least 3 debates annually; as well as vertical enrichment with the universities through specialized workshops on defined subjects given by university lecturers, and intensive academic training at a high level on models of the official examinations and university entrance examinations.”
She added: “Academic enrichment packages were prepared that are applied inside the classroom and benefit the outstanding and the gifted, with each pupil joining the part of the programme suited to him according to his capacities; and a screening test was secured targeting all the educational cycles, among them kindergarten, and we were trained on it and began applying it in a way that has made it possible for us to identify gifted children from the age of 3 years.”
The seminar closed with a presentation by the president of the Lebanese Association of Professional Informaticians Rabih Baalbaki on the educational technology used in teaching people with special needs.
