Lessons learned from experience: good practices case studies

Inclusive EducationTitle : Planning and coordination strategy for the development ofinclusive schools

Countries: Togo and Cambodia

Specific thematic: Itinerant teachers

Presented by: Bénédicte LARÉ and Sandrine BOUILLE

Date: Tuesday, May 28 2013

Who are itinerant teachers?

An « itinerant teacher » is a teacher in charge of the school progress monitoring of pupils with disabilities in mainstream schools. One itinerant teacher can work with several pupils in several schools, and supports children as well as mainstream teachers.

Summary of IE context

TOGO• A working group on the schooling of children with

disabilities (institutional validation of the training manual);• A growing interest of education authorities, of parents

associations, of specialized schools and of disabled people organisations;

• A favourable and encouraging legal context;• The reopening of teachers’ training schools;• An innovative itinerant teachers’ system: availability of

three state teachers at the inspectorate;• An education system in crisis for a number of years

(repeated teachers’ strikes).

Summary of IE context

CAMBODIA

• An innovative itinerant teachers’ (IT) system (pilot project);

• An inclusive education thematic relatively undevelopped in the country;

• The growing interest of education authorities and education NGOs working with people with disabilities within the framework of the inclusive education thematic and the IT system;

• A favourable and encouraging legal context;

• An education system undergoing reconstruction and relatively low internal capacities.

Planning and coordination strategy for the development of inclusive schools

main obstacles

TOGO

• The limited availability of some accredited teachers;

• The distrust of mainstream teachers towards itinerant teachers;

• The absence of the itinerant teacher status in the education system;

• The too small experimentation scale;

• The poor training of itinerant teachers.

Planning and coordination strategy for the development of inclusive schools

main obstacles

CAMBODIA

• The limited availability of accredited teachers;

• The distrust of mainstream teachers towards itinerant teachers;

• A too specialized initial orientation of the itinerant teachers’ system;

• The weakness of the link between school and families;

• Migration and the precarious socio-economic situation of the families of children with disabilities;

• The cost of the system and the shortage of available funds for its sustainability at ministerial level.

Description of the good practice and measures taken to overcome obstacles

TOGO: description of the good practice

• Job profile definition and recruitment;

• Development of monitoring instruments;

• Development of selection criteria of children to monitor;

• Monitoring of children selected in mainstream schools;

• Link between ITs, parents of pupils with disabilities and CBR agents;

• Trainings in specialized schools;

• Trainings and brainstorming workshops;

• Assessment of the system.

Description of the good practice and measures taken to overcome obstacles

Measures taken to overcome obstacles

• The optimal use of the time available with an education specialist;

• Positionning of ITs as state teachers supporting children with learning disorders.

Description of the good practice and measures taken to overcome obstacles

CAMBODIA: description of the good practice

• Job profile description and recruitment;

• Training;

• Educational sessions;

• Monitoring of every children in a disabling situation;

• Link between ITs and community partners.

Measures taken to overcome obstacles

• Optimal use of the time available;

• Positionning of ITs as IE « experts »;

• Reorientation of the system to boost inclusion.

The most significant changes

TOGO

• Local authorities: brainstorming on the sustainability of the system and search of internal solutions.

• Specialized schools: acceptance of the system and opening for advanced trainings.

• Mainstream teachers: recognition of the added value of the support provided by ITs and a better reception of children with disabilities in classrooms.

• Itinerant teachers: specialization of mainstream teachers.

• Children with disabilities: self-confidence, higher success rate.

The most significant changes

CAMBODIA• Local authorities: brainstorming on the sustainability of

the system and search of internal solutions. • Mainstream teachers: recognition of the added value

of the support provided by ITs and a better reception of children in a disabling situation in classrooms.

• Itinerant teachers: from a specialized support in home to a support in school and to the monitoring of every children in a disabling situation.

• Children with disabilities: dropouts and school failures are continually decreasing since the beginning of the project.

Noticeable impactsTOGO

• Impact on school success• Impact on the life of pupils

with disabilities• Impact on mainstream and

specialized teachers• Impact on the school

environment of children with disabilities

• Impact on pupils with disabilities’ parents

• Impact on educational policy makers

CAMBODIA• Impact on the school success

of disabled pupils and on the abandonment rate

• Impact on the life of disabled pupils

• Impact on mainstream teachers

• Impact on the school environment of disabled children

• Impact on the attitude in school

• Impact on pupils with disabilities’ parents

Noticeable Impacts TOGO CAMBODIA

How to duplicate or develop these practices?

TOGO and CAMBODIA• Involve all state actors and the civil society in the

definition and the implementation of the system;• Consider the itinerant teachers’ training as an absolute

prerequisite for their assumption of duty + move from the general to the particular;

• Ensure the consideration of the intinerant teacher’s status by the Ministry for the purpose of sustainability and clear definition of the job profile;

• Work on monitoring instruments and concrete strategies related to the school programme of each country and definition of the system management process.

How to duplicate or develop these practices?

TOGO and CAMBODIA• Include itinerant teachers’ trainings in the programme of

teacher-training schools as electives;• Dispatch itinerant teachers by intervention zones and opt

for the multi-specialization of each itinerant teacher;• Inform the community, parents, school headmasters and

mainstream teachers about the system;• Define the support modalities for children as well as

mainstream teachers;• Work with the community (health services and/or social

services) for referencing.

Point SummaryOur experience with the implementation of an

itinerant teacher’s system shows that:Strengths

• The system satisfies a demand;

• The system enables the regular support of both pupils with disabilities and mainstream teachers on a regular basis;

• Mainstream teachers feel less alone to face their pupils disabilities and are therefore more inclined to receive disabled children.

Weaknesses

• The system can quickly turn into an exclusively specialized system instead of an inclusive one;

• Without the financial commitment of the Ministry and the legal recognition of the ITs status, the system will be short-lived.