NAME: BAHADOOR SHRAWAN KUMAR

STUDENT ID: B26544

PROGRAMME TITLE: TEACHER'S CERTIFICATE IN PRIMARY EDUCATION-

SUPPORT TEACHER (GROUP O)

YEAR: 2023 SEMESTER: ONE

MODULE CODE: TCP/ST/1103

MODULE TITLE: LEARNING DIFFICULTIES AMONG YOUNG CHILDREN

TUTOR/LECTURERS: SHAMS JHUGROO

DATE SUBMITTED: 16 JUNE 2023

Qu 1 (a)

In 2017, the Early Support Programme (ESP) was introduced whereby pupils having learning
difficulties are identified and they are given special coaching during school hours by the Support
Teachers (ST). The aim of this regime is to facilitate the learning process and overcome the
learning difficulties of the pupils. Despite this wonderful initiative from the Ministry of
Education, there are numerous barriers to the implementation of ESP.

Insufficient training

According to the new ESP guidelines 2023, Support Teachers should teach upper grade pupils.
Considering the limited training obtained to teach lower grade children only, this has been quite
challenging for them at teaching level as it is difficult to anticipate what is being expected from
the ST to each in the class at upper grade level.

Lack of resources

In certain primary schools, teaching supplies such as bristol papers or colouring pencils are not
provided to ST as they are “unavailable” or out of stock. This limits the teachers to exploit other
efficient and effective ways of impactful teaching which could have been beneficial for the
children requiring support. Most of us have to buy our teaching materials with our money. The
question arises, “how is it possible that we improve the pupils‟ learning abilities when we are not
provided with required tools?”

Quality of classroom

In many cases, proper classes are not allocated to the ST as there might be infrastructural issues
such as missing window panes and this is definitely be problematic on rainy days. Some teachers
have to conduct their classes in the school library due to shortage of classes. This surely affects
the quality of education.
Lack of support and understanding

School management team normally do not extend their support towards the ST or ESP as they
might not consider it enough important. Some headmasters are also unaware of this programme
which creates confusion about the roles of ST in their schools. Most of the STs are also used as
replacement teachers and therefore considered as “black sheeps” in the education system.

Lack of parents’ support

Many parents might not agree that their children have learning difficulties as they tend to
consider it as a taboo or stigma and thus refuse to send them for such classes. Certain parents
might also have the fear that their wards might be viewed differently by their classmates which
might make them feel left out in class, thus causing mental stress for these specific children.
Qu 1 (b)

Since the ESP has been implemented in Mauritius, there have been many challenges, however,
these can surely be tackled as per the following below:

Providing advanced training

Advance training would be mandatory to upskill STs. They can get acquainted to effective
modern pedagogical approaches. Most importantly, this will enlighten the ST on the direction,
vision, aims and objectives that the ST should set and work for. Finally, this will surely boost the
confidence level of both the ST and upper grade children needing support.

Facilitate provision of teaching materials

The Ministry of education can provide incentives for instance, granting subsidies on these
resources depending on the level on investment made by each school respectively or directly
provide a reasonable amount of these objects to schools and the ST putting his/her signature on
the list of materials given as an acknowledgement of the receipt. To avoid discrepancies, the
Ministry can assign auditors to do monthly checks.

Improve standard and condition of support classes

Emphasis should be put on the proper conditioning of the classroom to capture the attention of
the children. They will be more engaged in the activities designed by the ST. By looking at the
beautiful classrooms, they might forget their home or social issues and feel important to the ST
which might create empathy between them.

Organizing workshops for (Deputy) Headmasters [DHM/HM]

There is a saying that “a supportive environment is important for success” and same support if
received by school management team, ST are bound to be successful in their duties. For that to
happen, the ministry of education should organize workshops for DHM/HM to make them get a
clear picture of the roles of ST and their importance in the education system. This will help to
restore the dignity of ST in schools.
Creating social awareness

It is important to educate all parents that children with learning difficulties have abilities same as
others and that these challenges can be overcame. It would be great if annual meetings with a
child psychologist and parents could be arranged to redirect their perspectives to a positive angle.
This could also ameliorate the parents‟ behavior at home towards their wards.

I believe it that being a new program, the ESP has its benefits but has also many challenges that
need to be addressed. If these barriers are tackled, this initiative could bring a significant reform
in the education system whereby no child would be left out thus meeting the aim of inclusive
education in Mauritius.
Qu 2

Education is portrayed as an essential element which aids in the stabilization of the society as it
transfers knowledge, skills and character traits to learners. For this transmission to happen,
children must possess the required conditions in order to grasp what is being taught in class
which is improbable for slow learners who struggle in their studies. Educational needs for pupils
with learning difficulties are classified as key factors that will enable them to engage in their
learning journey.

According to an article by E Hoque (2020), the Bloom‟s Taxonomy theory says that learning
needs are split in three categories which are the cognitive, affective and psychomotor domains.
In the updated version of the cognitive aspect, he mentions that pupils need to have the ability to
remember, understand, apply, analyze and evaluate information and also create new ideas. These
will therefore help the learners to acquire knowledge and have a good comprehension of it which
will enhance his/her problem solving skills.

The other aspect is the affective domain which focuses on the attitude, emotions and feelings. In
this area, the learners have to pay attention in class (receive), actively participate in the learning
process (responding), show commitment (valuing), form his own ideology (organization) and
construct abstract knowledge (characterization by value set).

In the psychomotor domain, emphasis is put on the physical functionality as the pupils might
need to use their body movement to do physical activities to achieve knowledge or skills. This
theory suggests that, the children will imitate the physical action (imitation), repeat the action
(manipulation), perform the activity independently (precision), several activities carried out
together in a harmonious way (articulation) and do high level performance naturally
(naturalization).

As a support teacher, I believe that the collaborative approach is an ideal way of teaching to
facilitate the learning of pupils. The concept of this method is to put the learners in small groups
and make them work together to encourage team work through their cooperation by sharing the
responsibilities and workload. In this process, there is sharing of ideas which permit them to
learn from each other. Interaction with each other allows them to enhance their communication,
language, emotional and interpersonal skills. I might witness bonds being created among peers
by working as one and this led to a decline in conflict cases. Furthermore, there is active
participation in the classes which boost their self-confidence and develop a team spirit mindset.
This positive attitude enforces their motivation towards learning and in the desire to complete
given activities, they might tend to explore new ways for conducting them, thus promoting
creativity. Needless to say, every child has their own way of learning, hence being in group, this
increases the chances for children to learn from different viewpoints which will widen their
thinking.

In the collaborative regime, I will encourage peer tutoring as such a technique would allow
pupils to share their knowledge with the peers in their groups. At times, children learn better
when they explain their friends in their own communication style. For instance, for numeracy, to
tackle their difficulty to understand the concept of addition and subtraction, I would use concrete
materials such as logo so that they can use their visual and tactile senses for better
comprehension. During the activity, pupils could explain each other that whenever they have to
do addition, they have to connect the logo to add it up whereas for subtraction, they will have to
remove to the logos. By looking to what their friends are doing, the slow learner might
understand the concept.

Furthermore, I will also implement group gaming strategy as children always love to play in
most cases. Therefore, I will introduce as many games possible keeping in mind that they have to
be short and simple for the pupils to understand the rules of the play. For example, if they would
be facing issues to identify number patterns (e.g., 1, 3, 5, 7,___), I would fabricate a monopoly
game which would consist numbers from 1 to 100 and I will provide a small pokemon cartoon
which is trending among children nowadays. Then I would implement the rule that they have to
use the pokemon character do skip counting and find out the number that should be written in the
blanks. I would present it in a way that this would be their mission.

I also intend to use team project strategy to gather them together to work on single topic. As an
activity, the theme would be „my daily activities‟ and I will assemble them to do role plays. The
motive behind this act would be to expose the children to expressive vocabularies which will
help them to use appropriate words to express themselves. I will ensure that the activity isn‟t
lengthy so that they have difficulty in remembering the words. Each pupil would be given 2-3
short sentences along with concrete objects to make it seem realistic. Examples of sentences are
“I am eating my bread” and “I am playing with my friends”. As a result, it might enable the
pupils to reflect and apply new vocabularies in their reading, writing or speaking tasks.

I will also apply the pair work strategy as sometimes group working might lead certain learners
to be dependent on their peers. I will use it in cases whereby teamwork is not mandatory. For
instance, in the case of learners having problem to recall letter names, I could teach them letter
names using a variety of engaging techniques such as mnemonics. I would make them practice
letter names in the purpose for them to recall them. After much practice, I would organize an
activity such as „question pour un champion‟ whereby I will present flashcards to the learners
which they will have to identify the names the pictures. This will strengthen their letter naming
skills in their learning journey.

Considering the evolution of education occurring worldwide, I would recommend that we should
include certain flexibility in our education system in order to enable slow learners to match with
the curriculum. There should be learning adaptations which emphasizes on the modifications in
the contents of the syllabus, teaching process and materials used to ensure effective learning
taking place. On the other side, there should be learning accommodations that focuses on the
changes to be done on the physical environment and the way assessment and evaluation should
be conducted. As mandated by the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
(UNCRPD) in 2006, we should implement certain adaptions and accommodations, as elaborated
below, which focus on how we should teach and assess.

 Quantity
I would lessen the learning load of the pupils by reducing the number of items they are
expected to learn. I would use the additional time to implement activities and regular
formative assessment to ensure that they have understood what is being taught to them.

 Time
At times, slow learners are not able to demonstrate their capacities in assessments due to
time limit. Therefore, I would allocate additional time according to their pace so that they
have enough time for interpretation and to take their time to write especially for those
who fine motor skills.
 Support
Since my clientele are pupils having learning difficulties, I would provide them
individualized assistance to overcome their issues. This would improve my rapport with
them too. However, I would ensure they get additional support from their peers as well.

 Input
I would use a variety of ways to deliver instructions to the learners to ensure that they
understand what are being expected from them. I would use visual aids such as pictures,
text written in bigger format, hands-on activities which would allow them to use their
tactile sense, group works and most importantly, executing activities with concrete
objects.

 Difficulty
While attempting certain exercises, the children might encounter some problems or
confusion. In such situations, I would provide facilities which help them in facing their
issues, for instance if they are facing difficulties to do a math classwork, I will allow
them to use teaching aids such as use of hand-made abacus to solve addition questions
while for literacy, I will provide hints and clues.

 Output
I would allow the pupils to give their answers to instruction in writing along with
methods as well. If the solutions are given verbally, by pictures or objects like play dough
and in other language such as French, I would accept them.

 Participation
I would implement teaching approaches which would meet the needs of the children as
my aim would be to make them feel engaged in the learning process. To ensure their
active participation in my classes, activities would be designated according to their area
of interest.
  Alternate goals
Behind every exercise, I would set more than one learning goals for the pupils. For
instance, if a sentence writing exercise is prepared whereby the children have just to note
their copybooks, I would aim that the children should be able to write the words or able
to pronounce the words or able to understand the meaning of the sentence.

 Substitute curriculum
I would plan the curriculum in a way that will allow a prolonged the timeline on topic
according to the pupils‟ profile and their pace of learning. Furthermore, I would also
break down the complex context in their books by replacing words with simpler words or
by rephrasing the sentences to make it readable and understandable for them.

 Classroom setting
Concerning the classroom environment, irrespective of its initial condition, I would
ameliorate its condition to make it become a conducive environment. The look of the
class itself would create the desire in the pupils to come and learn. I would make sure it is
attractive and appealing to all the children.

On a final note, I believe that being a teacher is a noble and delicate occupation as we have a
positive impact on children which lead them to a bright future. The role of support teachers is
indeed very challenging as we have to keep on designing teaching aids and acts as a test to our
creativity as well. For children with learning difficulties, we have to study their educational
lacking, understand their mindset, apply several teaching approaches and strategies along with
these responsibilities, we have to face our own difficulties such as lack of resources, support,
importance in schools and so on. Still, we teach with a smile on our faces for the sake of our
children. However, keeping a positive mindset, we face our issues head-on in the hope that our
learners will get back on track through the learning adaptions and accommodations.
Reference

 TeachMint. “Educational Needs - Complete Meaning and Definition”, 18 Oct. 2021,

www.teachmint.com/glossary/e/educational-
needs/#:~:text=Examples%20of%20educational%20needs%20are,learning%20difficultie
s%2C%20specific%20learning%20difficulties .
 Ekramul Hoque. “What Are the Three Domains of Bloom‟s Taxonomy?” EduCere
Centre, 24 Jan. 2020, educerecentre.com/what-are-the-three-domains-of-blooms-
taxonomy/
 Figueras-Daniel, Alexandra . Adaptive Curriculum and Its Role in Student Success. 7
Nov. 2019, teachingstrategies.com/blog/adaptive-curriculum/.