Rant!

[RainbowsButterflies]

OK, I'm not sure where to put this, but as it covers both Higher Education and secondary school teachers maybe here is the place.

 

I'm training to be a secondary science teacher, and have also come to the realisation over the last couple of months that I probably have Aspergers/PDA. I have been ill, am stressed and overtired, so I've been quite sensitive to things recently. But the session I had yesterday morning was unbelievable.

 

It was run by two experienced teachers and was all about teaching and learning styles. There is a big emphasis on making sure that we cover different learning styles and include everyone, which is a good idea. I had found myself a comfy space at the back, against the wall with a few people I had spoken to before. We did a couple of paired activities, and then the other teacher took over. She started talking about arranging the pupils into groups and recommended that they were mixed up every half term. She then had us all (90ish) get up and arrange ourselves by birthdays which was chaotic and then split us into groups of 8 based on birthdays. This made me uncomfortable for a start - I was happy where I was with the people I was sitting with. We are already in multiple organisations of groups which is confusing enough.

 

She then gave us an activity to do in our groups. We were each given parts of a story, which we weren't allowed to show anyone else but we could read them out and we had to work out what was going on. There were about 20 different parts. She then put music on quite loudly - supposedly calming to start with but that was a matter of opinion, changing to another piece which I can't think of but reminds me of horses. I cannot retain information if I don't see it and it was so noisy it was untrue. I honestly felt like getting up and walking out it was so awful.

 

We then had a bit of a break, and I asked her if she would use this kind of technique with all classes or if she would consider the pupils within the class, and I was hoping that she would acknowledge that it would be too stressful for some pupils. However, she said she would do it in all her classes and although it wouldn't be some children's preferred learning styles that we had to do things for everybody. There is a massive difference between it not being somebody's preferred learning style, and distressing someone to the extent that they can't learn anything, can't concentrate, and end up in tears afterwards from the experience. And I'm an adult - the thought of a 13 year old being subjected to it is very distressing.

 

They also used a dreadful font, had mostly black writing on a white background, but in places had fluorescent green writing on a white background - I have visual snow and my eyes were so bad yesterday that I had to wear sunglasses (I'm having an Irlen assessment next week), and I just couldn't read their powerpoint. How difficult is it to choose a font which is accessible to everyone, when they are supposed to be examples of good practice?

 

It is just beyond me how little people understand SEN, particularly when we are supposed to be accomodating everyone and meeting everyone's individual needs!

[Sally44]

I think that no matter what is supposedly being 'taught', without real experience of it, it is quite hard to really understand how someone might struggle.

I don't know if 'coming out of the closet' so to speak, might or might not give them an insight into how they are presenting the work is actually very difficult for some children to access.

Or maybe, rather than talking about yourself, you could simply ask the instructor or lecturer how a child with Aspergers/Autistic Spectrum Disorder, or Sensory Integration Disorder, or dyspraxia, or auditory processing disorder or even Dyslexia would cope with that type or style of learning.

It maybe, that the lecturer might say that a child with significant difficulties maybe taught in small groups anyway and would not come across that problem. But as the main thrust is still 'inclusion' there is still every possibility that most classes will have at least one child with one of the abovementioned diagnosis.

[Mumble]

I'm assuming you're taking the PGCE route? The trouble, I believe (and this is personal opinion) is that there just isn't room for all the necessary theory and for really considering the ideas and being able to read round them and debate them but things still have to be covered, even if really quickly and without much thought, which seems to be what has happened here.

 

I'm guessing this was a session (the session?) about learning styles? This would have been included as it's currently one of the big ideas in education. I won't bore you with the debate and my opinion other than to say it would be less than favourable - the theoretical background is very weak. I'm not sure what the lecturers' objectives were - but actually, however uncomfortable it was, it has made you think about this carefully and it is that sort of thinking that will make you a better teacher. I'm pretty sure that probably wasn't the intended objective though!

 

On the points below (I've cut them out of your post)

I cannot retain information if I don't see it and it was so noisy it was untrue. I honestly felt like getting up and walking out it was so awful.

 

They also used a dreadful font, had mostly black writing on a white background, but in places had fluorescent green writing on a white background - I have visual snow and my eyes were so bad yesterday that I had to wear sunglasses (I'm having an Irlen assessment next week), and I just couldn't read their powerpoint. How difficult is it to choose a font which is accessible to everyone, when they are supposed to be examples of good practise?

Have you spoken to your disability office at the uni? They should be able to liaise directly with departments and ensure that basic accessibility requirements such as these are being considered. It's taken a long time at my uni (which, unfortunately, I realise you don't have) but these things are now, usually, considered and it makes a huge difference.

 

This may have been an awful experience, but try and use that as a positive to think about how you teach and what you wouldn't do. I hope that's of some help.

[Sally44]

I just wanted to add that I have an auditory processing disorder, which never caused me problems whilst at school because way back then children listened to the teacher. Now classrooms are so noisy. Children sit at desks and there can be different things being taught or learnt on each table. I cannot hear in that kind of background. I need to hear one or two sound sources only. The more noise sources the less I hear and the more my ears tune into whatever seems to please them which means I could not follow what the teacher was saying at all. If I were a child in school now I would struggle severely.

Even when I am being shown around schools and we walk into a class and there is the background hum of the children whilst the SENCO, class teacher and myself attempt to talk, I find I hardly hear anything that they say. It is very frustrating. I cannot hear what I need to and I cannot screen out what I don't want to hear. And my 'difficulties' are very small in comparison to what alot of children are coping with all day every day.

[coolblue]

Hi

 

I trained as a primary teacher a long time ago, and I'm currently home-educating my son, with a diagnosis of ASD, auditory processing problems, hyperacusis and eye movement abnormalities.

 

Interestingly, my experience of schools is very different to Sally's. When I was at school, and when I was training to teach, there was a lot of movement in the classroom, and lots of activities going on simultaneously at least at primary level, whereas now I keep hearing that Ofsted like to see a quiet, calm classroom. Depends on the school, I suppose.

 

A few observations.

 

1. The 'learning styles' idea, is based, as far as I can find out, on neuro-linguistic programming, which has not quite been discredited as a theory, but is certainly one that lacks a substantial evidence-base. I've trawled for solid evidence for the 'learning styles' model a number of times, and can find very little. From what I've seen, most children have a 'learning style' not because they *prefer* it, so much as because the other learning styles are even more difficult for them to use. True, my son is a 'visual learner', but only because he has BIG problems with auditory and kinesthetic learning.

 

 

2. Educational research, in my view, often leaves much to be desired. It's frequently not specific enough. I've lost count of the number of studies I've read where the *mean* results show an improvement in test scores or reading age or whatever, but when you look at the spread of scores, you find that 80% of children improved significantly, and 20% had very low scores. Presenting scores as mean values can be quite misleading, if the results of 20% of the children are being masked by those of the 80%.

 

3.I taught a long time ago, and I've been out of touch with the school system for many years. One thing that struck me about my son's schools, was the number of times I've been told "yes, but one day he will have to go out into the world", as if "the world" was a much nastier place than school, and they were being easy on him. This idea is often used as a reason for children being expected to cope with anything the teacher cares to throw at them. In my experience, this view of the workplace couldn't be further from the truth. Most of the places I've worked in have been more like an extended family, offering a lot of support, co-operation and protection, and a lot of flexibility.

 

4.I've also noticed that a lot of teachers have never worked in any environment other than school, so I don't know how they know what it's like outside. Some wouldn't get away with their behaviour in any other environment. But because they have little contact in school with adults other than school staff, and because children don't have much experience at standing up for themselves, it's easy for a culture of 'because I say so' to arise. Would like to point out that this does not characterise all schools. My children have attended some excellent ones. But I've come across the 'because I say so' culture so many times, I suspect it is widespread.

 

5. Because SEN courses have been phased out over recent years, there is less and less SEN expertise in the education system, for mainstream teachers to draw on. The TES forum is a mine of useful information regarding SEN expertise. It's also a place where you can tell just how little information most teachers have about it, and how many of them are thrown in the deep end with insufficient resources and support.

 

I hope some of this helps. Basically, I think you are perfectly justified in having concerns about what happened and I agree that schools should be aware of the range of sensory issues in the population as a whole.

 

cb

[Sally44]

At my son's former primary school one of his biggest difficulties was due to the fact that two classrooms were only divided by a hanging curtain. Within each classroom there were about 7 tables containing different activities. So my son had the noise of nearly 60 children, two teachers and the TAs teaching different subjects in the different classes and different subjects or aspects of the subject on each table. He was not coping at all and was showing some extreme autistic behaviours such as head banging, scratching his face, hiding under the table and in the cupboard and in the toilets etc etc. He was not doing that at home, and thankfully has not done that since moving into a quieter environment. But even now, if there is too much auditory and visual information to process my son will simply revert into his own world and start repeating TV dialogue with himself.

The difference between that and when he is in small group or 1:1 environments is so different it is like different children.

 

And I think it is also important to recognise that children respond differently when they cannot cope. Some do become disruptive, angry and agressive. Whilst others may become quiet and withdrawn and unable to pay attention or focus on work.