STUDY UNIT 10

A NETWORK OF SUPPORT

Objectives of the study unit are:

• List all the partners that may be involved in assisting learners experiencing barrier to learning

• Describe the contributions of each of the partners

• Describe the way in which each of the partners may be involved

Summary of the unit

10.1. INTRODUCTION

 It is crystal clear that it is an uncomplicated situation to support learners experiencing

difficulties. Support can manifest in different forms and different supporters from different
specialties may be used.
 That is why there must be a system of support for learners who experience barriers to learning
such as education, health, welfare, labour and the community.

10.2. EDUCATION

10.2.1. EDUCATIONAL-SUPPORT SERVICES

 Learners who experience barriers to learning may be assisted by any of the persons from
educational support services, educational psychologists, a learning support coordinator/
manager, a vocational adviser and a remedial teacher.
 These persons may render the following assistance:
 supply the principal and his team with guidance on how they can support learners who
experience barriers in learning,
 assist in arranging a school support team,
 train teachers on how they can screen and evaluate and give assistance to learners with
barriers to learning,
 act as counsellor to teachers managing learners with barriers to learning,
 shape cooperation with other organizations in each district for requiring support to
learners experiencing barriers to learning
 include parents in the learning support and provide direction to parents on how they
can assist their learners who experience barriers to learning.
 These services are not available in rural areas and education district should initiate, develop and
should tutor school support teams. Teachers should be inspired to assist learners who
experience barriers to learning.

10.2.2. SPECIAL SCHOOLS IN THE VICINITY

 Special schools in each district have an obligation to act as source of knowledge and guidance
for local area.
  Special schools enlist the persons of the following services, specialist teachers, speech
therapists, physiotherapists, occupational therapist, school psychologists and school nurses.
 These school have professional apparatus to screen, evaluate and help learners with a specific
form of physical impairment.
 Special schools can grant the following help towards ordinary schools:
 advise school principal, school support team and class teachers about education of
learners having barriers to learning,
 counsel the parents of learners with physical and/ or physiological impairments who
are in mainstream schools,
 help with evaluating the success of these learners, approve or disapprove the
discoveries of the class teacher,
 help with the assessment of the learners placed in the mainstream schools and give in-
service training programmes to teachers in the mainstream schools.

10.3. HEALTH

 Community health services supply help to learners who experience barriers to learning,
specifically those who have intrinsic physical and/ or physiological impairments.
 Departments of Education and Health may work together in screening learners with physical
impairments at an earlier stage, provide them support early, especially to parents.
 The following people could be hired in a community health service:
 health examiner,
 district surgeon,
 nurse, dentist,
 speech therapist,
 physiotherapist and occupational therapist.
 Community health services do the following duties:
 vaccinate learners against diseases,
 screen first symptoms of conditions such as curvature (crook) of the spine,
 identify physical impairments in learners such as hearing,
 visual, physical and other problems,
 identify chronic conditions and ailment such as malnutrition, malaria, tuberculosis,
HIV/AIDS and asthma,
 manage treatment for conditions like lice and bilharzia,
 transfer serious cases to district surgeon
 inspect learners who have been transferred to these services by the school.

10.4. WELFARE

 Social workers administer the government’s welfare services in the regions.

 They help learners who experience barriers in learning with particular expertise and skills that
teachers are not trained at.
 They manage social conditions such as unsteady home situations, poverty, orphans or street
learners, learners of parents who are not working or in jail, young criminals, abused learners, et
cetera.
  They can provide inhibitory in teenage pregnancies, suicide in teenagers, school dropout and
can transfer learners to correct organizations.

10.5. LABOUR

 Department of Labour is responsible for supplying chances for jobs to people who will not be
able to obtain job in the open market.
 Schools keep on postponing when it comes to making provision for the future of learners with
barriers to learning.
 The Department of Labour collaborate with the schools about the recommendations and
positioning of jobs before they depart schools.
 Collaboration involve bearing in mind community work needs.
 In some areas, there are industrial unit where learners are hired and in other areas they rely on
agricultural tasks.
 These requirements have to be taken into considerations by the departments of education and
labour.

10.6. THE COMMUNITY

 Normal community member such as parents, parents board, voluntary association (NGOs) and
religious group are informal sectors and they do not work straight for the government.
 There are members of the community who are concerned about the wellbeing of their learners
and are ready to make offerings for their learners.
 These are people who are willing to help learners with barriers to learning, parents, volunteers
and organizations.
 Parents are the primary educators of their learners and have to be involved in the education of
the learners who experience barriers to learning.
 It is an indisputable manifestation that difficulties of learners are easily tackled if there is an
involvement of help from parents.
 Parents can provide knowledge about learner’s previous occurrences and the growth of the
child.
 Parents take up more time with the learners and have distinctive chance to perceive the
learners in various situations such as what makes the child exhausted easy, is it easy for the
learner to create friends and what activate epileptic seizures.
 The parents may be able to assist in the assistance programme when the teachers are not
available during weekends and afternoons.
 The involvement of parents also enhances the relationship between school staff and parents,
consequently increases inspiration and success of the learners, enhance school attendance and
decrease the school dropout.
 Parents are also empowered when they assist their learners because they gain some
information while teaching.
 Volunteers may also be included in the educational support, for example mothers,
grandparents, pensioners from community may be utilized in the classroom assistance without
payment.
 Volunteers are designated as private teachers teaching learners mathematics, science or second
language.
  Other secondary schools, volunteers are utilized at mentors for particular learners. Mentors give
knowledge and may also stop learners from school dropping out, teenage pregnancies and
juvenile delinquency.
 The age difference and social differences should be taken into consideration when using
mentors.
 The mentor- learner relationship is significant, this means the mentor should be reliable,
predictable and must keep promises so that teenagers may have positive perceptions about
adults.
 Celebrities are constantly invited in secondary schools to give speeches to learners or parents.
 The school pre-select persons who have grown under similar situations and have succeeded in
life to inspire learners and parents.
 Proper planning should be done to ensure success of the collaboration between the school and
the celebrities from the community.
 There should solid written aim between school and celebrities, different tasks and aims should
be mentioned.
 Voluntary associations may also be included in schools who can provide learners with food or
clothing.
 Sports associations may be included in the sports coaching and may also donate sports
equipment to the school.

10.7. A NETWORK OF SUPPORT

 Education support to learners who experience barriers to learning is a connection obligation.

 Its accomplishment relies on the will how these facilities are involved and what they put in is
correlated.
 The network of services that could provide educational support to learners who experience
barriers to learning at regional level should be, class teachers, peers, school support team which
consists of the principal, learners and other teachers, welfare, labour, community, health and
education which consist of educational support services and special schools.

Activity
• List all the partners that may be included in helping learners who experience barriers to
learning.
• Briefly explain contributions of each of the partners to the educational support of the
learners who experience barriers to learning.
• Describe ways in which each of the partners may be involved.