Gaining a Clearer Picture

The Creative Self Help Centre

Things are really staring to become clearer in regards to my work. I have been attending workshops learning Melanesian Sign Language, holding in-services on learning disabilities, flexible grouping and teaching strategies, as well as planting the seeds for ideas of how to roll out inclusive education here in Madang. We are making progress, slow progress but it is still progress. I try not to be too leading in my approach as I hope to build the capacity of my partners and help them to develop skills and strategies to use in project planning. Through the use of participatory tools, which I continue to learn about myself as I am not formally training in international development, we are beginning to closely examine the needs and way forward for inclusive education here in Madang.

Teachers making E charts as a part of a training on vision and hearing screenings.

We are in the beginning phases of forming planning groups to help facilitate the transition of students from centre-based services to more inclusive services in the mainstream schools. This will be an intensive project. The resource teachers themselves will need training in consultation and practical skills of how inclusion really works. Mainstream teachers,parents and communities will need awareness trainings. So far the mainstreaming efforts have yielded little success as most of the students who have been included in regular education classrooms have dropped out of school entirely. My role has been to begin to plant questions into my partners' minds. Why are these students dropping out after they are mainstreamed? Are we providing them enough support? If not, what support do they need? Do the teachers feel confident in their skills teaching a children with a disabilities in their class? If not, how can we assist in strengthening their skills? Do the parents and communities repect the rights and dignity of students with disabilities to see the value of sending their child to school? Once we really begin to grasp an understanding of the underlying issues of why inclusive education isn't working here in Madang we can begin to make positive, sustainable changes.

Teacher at a sign language training.

I have been spending most of my time at the Creative Self Help Centre and at Gum Primary School, which is a short PMV ride out of Madang town. The long term goal is to train an internal resource officer (IRO)--similar to a resource teacher in the US---in each school. As of now, the province has trained a total of 8 IRO teachers. One of these teachers is at Gum; therefore, we hope for Gum to become a pilot school for our project.

Friday I am leaving for Lae to attend a workshop for all Special Education Resource Centres. The workshop will be targeting the "new" curriculum reform and outcome-based education. It will be a wonderful netwroking opportunity to speak with other professionals working in the field of inclusive education. It will also be great to visit another part of PNG. I will be in Lae for 10 days, spending a few days before and after the workshop with two other VSO volunteers from the Philippians who are working with VSOs disability program.

I am certain to have so interesting stories once I return from my trip to Lae.