The only professional development in relation to inclusive education I have ever done was the previous course ITL. The course was effective because I have acquired inclusive ethos which I am using in my teaching. My attitude now is that all children should learn together despite of their individual differences. Every child can learn given an opportunity in an environment that takes care of their needs. 

The TESSA online professional development programmess despite the net connectivity issues are so far the most effective. They are interactive, case studies demonstrate how activities can be conducted and i take them while going on with my teaching duties so i immediately adapt and try  out the new knowledge and skills with my students in class and i observe the impact and compare with my previous approach, reflect and plan and try out more in different ways and students. I also observe student teachers emulate me when they go to the field for teaching experience or teaching practice.

One of effective professional development course I have undertaken is  Inclusive Teaching and Learning which I recently  completed. The course, Facilitated by COL and OU UK, gave me insights on inclusive education and the role I should play as a teacher to make all learners feel included in my lessons despite their diverse abilities, disabilities and socio-economic backgrounds. The other courses I found effective are "pathways to learning" and  "making teacher education relevant for 21st century"  both offered as MOOCs by TESSA in collaboration with other  organizations.  The courses have furnished me with skills to become an effective teacher.

My first experience with inclusive teaching was when I joined an online course titled ' Child Friendly School" a model ofUNICEF. The experience  impacted the operation of my school positively  that when I saw that TESSA OU K and COL was offering the Inclusive Teaching and Learning  Course my desire for more hasten me to enroll. That too was a great experience  that all educators  should  join i.to learn of  great tools and strategies to improve teaching and access for all learner. Now here I am on another eventful.journey on  the course 'Creating an Inclusive School. Thanks TESSA OU K and COL

Last year   I was engaged in an inclusive education conference hosted by the Ministry Education(Belize) in partnership with local and American specialists. The conference was held for 3 days and for me it was informative and fruitful. I learnt about the disadvantages of special need children and also got an idea on how to create an inclusive classroom where children with disabilities  and different learning abilities are included.  

I am currently enrolled in a Masters program for Inclusive and Special Education; it is effective because we are being taught how to promote inclusion in our primary and secondary schools. 

The very first experience I had with the Inclusion practices was at a meeting held by the Committee that had been mandated to develop the school to be ready for the Inclusion Practices. This, I found rather interesting as Social Work core values of social justice, dignity and worth of the person and importance of human relationships are some attributes that the Inclusion Practice works towards. The program, I felt fell directly in line with what I did and I quite looked forward to being an active part of the planning and monitoring of it.  

A professional development training that I was recently engaged in was about learning the benefits of mobile learning with multimedia. It was a very practical course and helped me further develop my computer skills with using audio programs, and video editing programs to use for lesson delivery. It has helped me monumentally in creating more interesting and attention grabbing lessons for students with the use of animations, narrations (for those with visual special needs), captions on video lessons, (for those with hearing special needs) since we are currently practicing distance education. I receive very good feedback from them and the parents as well, through their comments, questions, and grades.

The last PD I participated was  Distance Learning- Increasing Student Motivation-  it allowed me to understand that not all students have the same opportunity to learn because of the different challenges they encounter in their individual settings at home- while on-line learning. Students have challenges such as; quality of instructions, cost of equipment, misuse of technology, unreliable internet connection, different learning styles, psychosocial needs, etc.. thus being aware of these challenges helps me prepare better for my lessons and be more understanding with all my students, including one special need student I have in my virtual class.

When I prepare for my special need child everyone learns!!

The professional development courses offered online by TESSA, Open University-UK and now the current two where  COL is also involved have been very useful to me as a teacher educator.

Making education relevant in 21st century opened my eyes to many possibilities of teaching large classes while taking teaching online course offered me preliquisite skills for online teaching and as such the covid-19 pandemic is no challenge to my teaching.

 Inclusive teaching and learning is the course that has made me realize I can do what I never imagined possible- having children with special needs in my class. My attitude is completely changed now. 

 Creating an Inclusive School  course has challenged me to share with all my friends who are school managers and administrators on importance of getting started with inclusive education by embracing wave 1 model as the rest is set in place. Thank you COL and all partners, made it real that  learning is a continuous process, no age limit. 

This is actually the first professional development training that I am receiving in the area of inclusive education and I must say that, although only in my first week of this training, already I have acquired so much knowledge in this area in terms of understanding inclusive education, the features of an inclusive school and the theoretical underpinnings of UNICEF's article 24 which highlights the following:

Every child has the right to education. That includes children with disabilities. The CRPD goes further to stress that inclusive education is a fundamental human right for every child with a disability. An inclusive education system is one that accommodates all students whatever their abilities or requirements, and at all levels – pre-school, primary, secondary, tertiary, vocational and life-long learning.

I must say that I do agree with Daniel as he shares his views on training for teachers. I too believe that short training sessions can offer the specific skills that are required for implementation of inclusion. Together with the support from the experts in the field, it might just be the answer to many of the challenges many teachers may be facing when it comes to implementing inclusion in their classrooms.

The professional development that I would have taken is to attend conferences regarding persons with special needs. The Down Syndrome Family Network facilitates conferences annually, workshops. Over the years, I would have attended to keep a brisk of developments in the area of inclusive education. 

The topics of the session varied in the workshops and conferences. I learnt more about persons with different abilities. I learnt about the accommodations that are being made for person outside of the Caribbean. The experience of attending the sessions opened by mind of the possibilities of inclusive education. 

I am currently participating in an "Induction Programme" where new teachers are being trained and introduced into the system. I find it really effective as like Mr Daniel said, it is continuous as every week we have different sessions. It is rather informative. And, it is linked to what we are doing or what should we expect in our practice, focusing on the skills we need and should have.

In 2016 I completed a course on the special and inclusive education. It really was an eye opener for me to make me more aware of the struggles that students (who i would have initially thought as typical) face in the classroom

It has made me even more conscious of the fact to ensure that I cater my learning strategies to accommodate all my students. I also do my best to impart some of what I have learnt to my colleagues as well so they can in turn be more aware.

One of the effective professional development course that I have taken part in is Inclusive Teaching and Learning that I recently completed. It has helped me to realize that I can effectively manage learners with special needs in my class.

Thanks TASSA, COL and OU UK for having me as part of this course Creating An Inclusive School. It has enhance my skill as a teacher and I will be able share with my colleagues knowledge I have learnt.

I consider the Inclusive Teaching and Learning course I participated in recently as an effective professional development. This is because it was short and focused on a specific skill for inclusion.  Moreover it was well illustrated with real life experiences which enabled me to learn how to be an inclusive teacher. 

A couple years ago, I attended a Special Education workshop. There were four (4) schools present at this workshop. As a result of the small number of persons attending, teachers took the opportunity to share experiences (of children with diagnosed and suspected disabilities) and gain invaluable insight and strategies for working with our children. Teachers were able to immediately implement some of the strategies suggested. Also, advice was given, as to the steps that could be taken to gain additional support from the relevant agencies to help children and by extension their parents.

I suppose growing up in the age of the internet, there is a lot that was learnt at a young age. Many of the practices being taught in the past couple years have to do with technology, and it becomes redundant due to the fact that for someone like myself it is common knowledge.

There are few courses, where professional development has been effective was learning about the copyright laws and citations that need to be had since having to revert to online learning, as well as courses that give information on certain programmes that aren't a part of common knowledge. Some is known, some is unknown.

Hi,

Having been involved in the school as part of Student Services and being on the School Based Intervention Team for many years along side the Guidance Officer, School's Social Worker and even at time a Special Education Teacher, I have had to be involve in workshops/ meetings which helped me to better understand how Student Support Services worked. It all provided me with the opportunity to always learn more about challenges we may face with students with different needs and how to assist other members of staff facing challenges with all students. Working with the Guidance Officer, School Social worker and Special Education Teacher over the years has provided me with invaluable experiences and knowledge as we teamed up to assist and brainstorm ways to assist other members of staff with challenges they may face.

While this may not be formal workshops, over the many situations /crises  I have been able to learn how to deal with children with behavioral issues, special needs and other disabilities and many other situations. I have been made aware of the Multi-disciplinary teams which is provides support to schools and how they work. They too have many challenges but all knowledge gained is useful.

Regards,

Michelle Ramlal

This is the first time doing a professional development course pertaining to inclusive education, and I do look forward to gaining all the knowledge I can to help me better understand and move forward in creating an inclusive environment. This professional course will surely have a great impact on my life and I can then disperse the information I gain to my other colleagues to help them better understand.

I have attended several professional development training sessions relevant to creating inclusive learning environments. What I appreciate most about these training sessions is the constant reminder that inclusion is multifaceted. It does not place focus on one or a few areas of diversity such as physical disabilities or adaptation to the physical environment but rather it emphasizes that the needs of each child can differ and we as teachers must become aware of the varying needs present in our school in order to appropriately develop strategies and approaches that leaves no child behind.

Another vital point that I have learned to appreciate is the notion that inclusion is progressive. There is no one size fit all in creating an inclusive school. Therefore we must be mindful of the effectiveness of the approaches we use since ‘what works for Peter may not work for Paul or any other student in the future’. As such, we must be sure to continuously assess and adapt the approaches we use if we are to truly create an inclusive school.

At Student Support Services we receive ongoing professional development training on a divisional and departmental level. During COVID-19 the MOE's training division was responsive to the call for training re: supporting our special needs students in the virtual learning environment. These sessions were timely and valuable to us and our students.

I have also engaged attended professional development sessions with the University of the West Indies and other tertiary level institutions that were heavily grounded in research. 

The efficacy of these professional development programmes are seen in how well we can transfer that knowledge to planning and supporting our students.

Professional development  for teachers is advocated by the Ministry of Education in my country Trinidad and Tobago. The most recent one I attended, "Teaching in Times of Change,"This highlighted some of the following issues:
1.) Virtual school is our reality since March 2020.

2.) Both parents and children develop anxiety.

3.) Decreasing of behavior towards parents online.

4.) Disruptive behaviors in the environment display online.

A workshop has provided great tips such as : rule reminders, visual and auditory clues,peer tutoring and parent/teacher relationships by sharing information and to assist children by giving information to parents in their learning experiences.

Recently the Ministry of Education in Trinidad and Tobago conducted a professional development workshop for its teachers. One of the topics being discussed highlighted Inclusive Education: Special Needs with aim of discussing de-escalating challenging online behaviors and identifying and managing anxiety and students. This session was particularly helpful to me given the current pandemic and all teaching/learning have now been shifted to online. The information provided assisted me greatly in identifying such challenges experienced in children that would have usually gone unnoticed because of a lack of face to face teaching. However, having the information now, allowed me to identify the issue and tailor the method of teaching to support and enhance the learners ability towards learning.   

I've been  trained during many project to how to prepare course online using different type of media so the course can reach all categories of learners in regard of their milieu.  

My first engagement in Inclusive Education or training was the first course I took was Inclusive Leaning and Practices.

Doing this course was an eye opener to me  to be more aware and realise the importance of including everybody in the learning with or without disability.Also that it was everyone's responsibility. 

It had helped me indeed  to share with current teachers and create activities using peer learning in small groups,creating activities to address the needs of the child and changing the attitude of the teachers - mind it is not easy also the children in the class to respect each other and help each other.

I am currently visiting classrooms and modelling and demonstrating and assisting children in the classroom that teachers have identified using the peer learning and small groups ,also encouraging the learning and helping each other.

I believe doing this course    will strengthen me and give more confidence in helping teachers and students in the classroom.

yes I agree with Daniel it does takes time but visiting the students and teachers in my short visits 3 to 4 days per week ,repeatedly doing activities with the children and teachers ,observing them giving them support in my short visits .The teachers observing me in my inclusive practice we have been able to share more skills and  learn from each other and include everyone in the learning 

I am looking forward to observe the teachers that I have worked with and their students in Term 3 ,give them support thy require many times and "not one off "like Daniel stressed.I am looking forward to observe the teachers implement inclusion in their practice .I am currently assisting teachers to 4 Central  Government Primary/Middle  schools to levels class 3- class 7 .

Early this year  I was also given the opportunity for PD by attending  a workshop (2 days)that was hosted from Australia via zoom on Principles and Practices of Inclusion.It really gave more understanding on Inclusion. 

Attending this 2 day training gave me a very wider  understanding  and knowledge  about  principles for Inclusive learning in day to day practice ,guidelines when addressing a disabled person,The principles of Universal Design of Education ,Reasonable adjustment in teaching ,learning and assessment for learners with disability and most of all I liked the Disability Inclusion Pledge  -which I totally  agree to that I want to share 

I pledge to Accept,Respect and Include people of ALL abilities.Inclusion starts with ME!!

I accept people of all abilities

I respect others and act with kindness and compassion

I include people with disabilities in the classroom in the workplace and in my community 

I keep this pledge in my mind set and share it as I visit the schools I am currently engaged with their students and their teachers