Fostering 21 st Century Pedagogical Skills-Special Educational Needs
organized by Akal College of Education in Collaboration with McGill University, Canada for the upliftment of Rural Community
4 th International Educational Workshop on ‘Fostering 21 st Century Pedagogical Skills-Special Educational Needs’ organized by Akal College of Education in Collaboration with McGill University, Canada for the upliftment of Rural Community
As a part of extending contribution to the advancement of Education programme in India. Akal College of Education organized 4th International Educational Workshop on ‘Fostering 21st Century Pedagogical Skills-Special Educational Needs’ in collaboration with Akal Academy, Baru Sahib and McGill University, Canada from 1st – 4th October, 2018.
The 4th Educational International Workshop on Fostering 21st Century Pedagogical Skills- Special Education Needs started on 1st Oct. 2018 with blessings of our honourable Baba ji. Two of the eminent facilitators from abroad were invited as resource persons. They were:
Dr. Juss Kaur Magon, an Adjunct Professor at McGill University in Montreal, Canada.
Dr. Elena.P. Soukakou, an Honorary Research Fellow at the Department of Education, University of Roehampton, UK.
Both have been distinguished scholars of the prestigious Oxford University, UK.
Ninety two participants from the rural schools of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh attended the workshop which included, Nine Principals of Akal Academy schools, eight Head of department of English, eleven Head of department of Mathematics, seven Subject Co-ordinators, eighteen Subject Teachers, ten IB - PYP school teachers, twenty-two B.Ed. trainees, three Head Mistresses trainees, four counsellors and one facilitator. All the The exciting 4 days training commenced with a robust Introduction to Special Educational Needs. This was followed by both the experts Dr. Juss Kaur Magon and Dr. Elena.P. Soukakou, presenting various aspects of SEN (Special Education Needs) students.
There were lively and exuberant participation by the attending members. All of them will remain grateful to Baba Ji for the wonderful opportunity given by him for enrichment of knowledge and understanding SEN
Why Special Education In Classrooms??? All children have the right to Education regardless of their disability, gender, race and nationality. To achieve Universalisation of Education, Special Education is one of the most innovative approaches to educate the children with disability and learning difficulties with normal children under the same roof. It brings all students together in one classroom and community, regardless of their weakness or strengths in any area, seeks to maximize the potential of all students.
Special Education is one the most operative ways to stimulate an inclusive society. It caters to the learning requirements of differently – able children. It helps in empowering all the learners to participate in teaching learning processes and become an active member of the society.
Aim of Workshop
To make teachers sensitive towards special education and train them in Special Education so that children with and without disabilities participate and learn together in the same class.
Theme Special Educational Needs
Fostering 21st Century Pedagogical Skills- International Special Education Workshop
DAY-1
Both the experts Dr. Juss Kaur Magon and Dr. Elena. P. Soukakou, presented various aspects of SEN to the participants. At pre-lunch session, many topics such as Code of practice/terminology, Gathering and using assessment information, Labelling and Diagnosis, and Early years Foundation stages (EYEs) were covered. Case studies of pre-school children with SEN reflection were covered at Post Lunch Session.
DAY 2
Day 2 of the workshop went off with the excellence and vigour on 2 October, 2018. The main topic of the pre-lunch session of the programme was Quality Inclusion in the Early Childhood: Definitions, Inclusive Practices, Who is involved and how. Each of the sub topics were beautifully explained with videos and PowerPoint Presentations. Each group posted questions which were aptly answered by Dr. Juss Kaur and Dr. Elena. The post-lunch session consisted of Inclusive Practices: Working with families and professionals, Individual/group work. Various communication strategies were discussed to build collaboration between parents, teachers and children. Once again there was enthusiastic response from the groups.
DAY 3
The 3rd day on 3 October, 2018 was another exhilarating day of the training programme. The participants of various teams had put forward almost 60 questions under different content in teaching and learning such as curriculums, behavioural issues, learning disabilities, unwillingness of students to cooperate and many such burning issues of the classrooms. The other topic was Practice and Application - EHC plans and a sample of detailed template was presented on the screen with clear specifics for the plan. The candidates were asked in their new groups to fill it out according to relevant requirement.
DAY 4
The invigorating 4th International Workshop for Special Educational Needs of students was concluded on 4October, 2018. The two resource persons Dr Juss Kaur and Dr Elena Soukakou created tremendous impact on the teaching community. Their exhaustive and vigorous guidelines for all specific and general pedagogical enhancements made a significant difference to all 92 participants who attended the workshop. The pre-lunch session included reviewing and revisiting the EHC plans created by the various groups, the session progressed with the strategies of implementing Inclusive Classroom Profile (ICP) scale and the ways to use it. There were impactful videos for the groups to assess the scale.
All participants enlarged the landscape of their knowledge through this valuable and effective workshop. The workshop ended with valedictory Session in which all participants were felicitated with certificates
