Learning support update

Update on Learning Support Issues

It is clear that the Department wants to move from approaches that identify certain students as having “learning difficulties” or “learning disabilities” (terms which they apparently no longer use in their documentation on learning support) to approaches that allow and encourage support to be provided to any student who is failing to meet age-appropriate “benchmarks” (e.g. as measured by NAPLAN tests).

The QTU recognises potential benefits and dangers:

Potential Advantages:

• Allows support to be provided to wider group of students
• Eliminates use of support teacher time to do testing (i.e. compulsory appraisement), therefore allows more time for actual support
• Emphasises links between support and mainstream curriculum

Potential Disadvantages

• Creates confusion about exact role of support teacher and how role relates to other roles (e.g. DPs, HOCs)
• Linked to idea that support teachers should focus primarily on advisory role rather than direct support for students
• Could significantly expand responsibilities and workload of support teachers (given wider array of students)
• Could lead to reduced support for students with specific learning difficulties and learning disabilities as schools focus on students who are “just below benchmarks” to get them over the line
• Vagueness creates possibilities of cowboy/cowgirl principals “creating their own adventure” with weird and wonderful support arrangements
• Lack of professional development to accompany “paradigm shift” undermines effective implementation

In late 2008, the QTU met with Departmental officers to discuss concerns. A report on the outcomes of the meeting has been posted on the QTU website since November, 2008.

The QTU attended a meeting with representatives of the Department on 6 March 2009 at which it put the following questions:

1. What is the state of play in relation to the development of a new Position Description for Support Teachers?
   No work has taken place yet. There are some issues relating to the relationship between Support Teachers and others in whole school approaches to intervention, including the roles of HOCs and of the new “literacy mentor” positions to be provided to some schools as part of the National Partnership on Literacy and Numeracy in Low SES schools.  These issues need to be worked through. It is expected that work on the Support Teacher Position Description will be completed by the end of Semester One.
2. What is happening in relation to the revision of the Whole School Intervention Guidelines?
   Further revision has been done and a draft copy will be provided in the near future to the QTU for comment.
   (Update 11 Mar: this has now been received; click here. 
    Members are invited to provide the QTU with feedback here.)
3. What is happening in relation to the “assessment tool kit”?
   Department officers claimed to be unaware that such a kit had been proposed and claimed that they did not feel it was necessary. They stated that any school that needed a tool for identifying students in need of learning support were free to use the Appraisement process.
   
   The QTU has expressed surprise at this response since provision of an “assessment tool kit” was, in the recollection of the QTU officers involved in the 2008 discussions, a Departmental rather than a QTU proposal.
4. What happened to the 10 additional FTE positions for learning support to be provided to Regions in 2009?
   There are no additional positions for learning support in 2009.

John McCollow
Research Officer
QTU, March 2009