Grande Prairie and District Catholic Schools will be rolling out Inclusive Education services starting in September 2019.
The training would include development days for select teachers, education assistants, staff, and students. As well as a detailed response plan for any needed intervention.
Superintendent Karl Germann says nearly every district in the province has, or has begun plans on similar initiatives, but says they plan to try something a little radical.
“Push out all the supports, train all staff generally, and then train a selected group of staff who work with some of our kids who need help the most.”
Germann says the training will hopefully give a boost to students who need a bit of extra support in the classroom.
“Sometimes there are cues and triggers that kids will give off suddenly, and if you learn to recognize them and adapt and work with the kid, you can often give the kid a high degree of success.”
He adds in the last couple of years, support staff was held back from being fully deployed at the start of the school year, and are added based on ongoing needs.
“We’re trying to tackle it with a different approach. What we’re trying to have a look at is bringing the teacher and the support staff member together and do some more intensive training after the school hours with them so they can better work with the students to have success.”
Discussions for the Inclusive Education Action Plan started with public consultation during board meetings in 2018.