Teaching in special education settings can be a deeply rewarding and challenging profession where you can make a significant difference in the lives of students with diverse needs. On a new episode of the
Department of Education podcast, Principal of Western Suburbs State Special School, Rachel, shared the unique blend of skills she has developed in her career and the rewards she’s experienced this field.
‘Inclusion is everybody's business, so it doesn't really matter what setting you’re working in, whether it's a primary setting, a high school setting, or a special school setting,’ Rachel said.
‘It's just around being the very best educator you can be to meet the needs of the students that you’re working with daily. There's a bit of a misconception out there that you have to have specialist university qualifications to work in a special school, but you don’t. You just need an openness to learn, to be student focused with everything you do and to put those students at the heart of your teaching and learning.
‘You can learn from others who maybe have more experience in that field. You can engage in mentoring and induction processes. In fact, we have found that teachers coming from primary settings or high school settings with an openness to learning make fantastic special education teachers.
‘I feel as a special educator that I am constantly on my learning edge to new skills. I think there's been lots of opportunities for me to develop a variety of skills.
‘Definitely one of the things that I've put at the centre of that would be that student centeredness and that we are developing the student as a whole. This includes working as part of that multi-disciplinary team, the skills of being able to clearly articulate what the student's goals are and how the other team members would be supporting the development of those goals alongside the teacher. Those skills of being able to lead with and through others, to achieve goals for that student is a huge skill set that I feel like I've learned so over the years.
‘I know and have seen so many teachers grow, not just personally but professionally, in their careers as well from working within a special education setting. It really is the place where you feel you are making such a significant difference to the outcome of a student's life. Sometimes we don't see huge gains in a short period of time, but when you step back and you look at how far that student has come across a number of years or learning junctures, it's a real positive feeling, because you can see that you were a part of that.’
Rachel shares more details about working in special education and inclusion on the podcast.
Listen now.
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