Activity 4.5
I think the practical
benefits of itinerant teachers to the school and the children would only be
positive. They can work with teachers who need the support of how to develop an
inclusive classroom and how to use inclusive teaching. They can provide much
need support for teachers in a tangible way and make recommendations on simple
infrastructure that needs to be developed to include all learners at school. Children
can benefit from individualized attention to meet their learning needs and
their families can be counselled on how to support their child or children at
home.
Itinerant teachers can
help teachers by working together to make appropriate teaching tools and resources,
they can provide advice to teachers on methods that can be used to meet the
needs of the learners.
Some challenges I think
itinerant teacher may face will be poor access to materials and learning tools,
having to travel long distances without having proper transportation, cultural
bias from members in a community and working with children who may have more
than one disability.
The only school in which
I know off in my context that has itinerant teachers is a primary school in my
community. The itinerant teachers are sent to work full time with children in a
grade who have special needs. However, they do not go out into the community
and they do not offer much family support.