Taught by the toughest students

Simone Powell paved her own way to special education with part-time study. Photo / Ted Baghurst

Fresh out of teachers college and standing in front of some of London's toughest students, Simone Powell found her vocation: special education.

Simone had studied sociology at university in the United Kingdom and after travelling completed a Postgraduate Certificate in Education from Goldsmiths College, London.

But her studies hadn't prepared her for the challenging students she encountered while teaching sociology and humanities at Brampton Manor school in East Ham - a low socioeconomic area of East London.

"My first year was extremely difficult in terms of managing behaviour," said Simone.

Brampton Manor's programme was based on a "best fit" model, which meant providing the majority of students were doing well the teaching was deemed a success.

This method left Simone worried about the children at the edges of the class, who were being left behind because of the constraints of the job.

"It left me wondering how this could be considered okay. But I was not skilled at the time to come up with any solutions to the problem. University does not prepare you for special education. It doesn't even teach about learning disabilities."

Working at Brampton Manor gave her great empathy for children who society might write off and that empathy has become the driving force in her career.

"Every student has equal worth and just because you are struggling at school, it doesn't mean you shouldn't be given the same opportunities and resources you would get if you were considered mainstream," says Simone.

After two years of teaching, Simone and her Kiwi husband decided to move to New Zealand temporarily - a move which has now become permanent.

Knowing her future lay in special education, Simone targeted jobs in that field and landed a job at the Centre for Learning and Behaviour. She was employed as a learning support teacher attached to a co-ed high school in Christchurch.

Once there, Simone began to fill the gaps in her skills by studying part time at Canterbury University to complete a paper in applied behaviour analysis and another about Asperger's and autism.

Her job involved working with small groups of students who were referred to the centre. "I worked with students who were not accessing the curriculum (in the mainstream) and that were considered to have some challenging behaviour."

In the unit, the teaching focused on literacy skills as well as meeting each child's special needs, rather than teaching blanket lessons.

"We looked at the child in a holistic way and delivered an individualised programme to meet the needs of each child. In essence, that doesn't always happen in the mainstream."

Simone says teachers in mainstream education do a fantastic job, but aren't necessarily able to meet the needs of all children because of the constraints of the class size.

One of the more satisfying aspects of the job was working with small groups of up to 10 children, instead of a class of 30. At the Learning Resource Centre, the rules are different. "It's okay to have a bad day or have time out," she says.

The small class sizes and her additional training allowed Simone to develop good relationships so she could give appropriate recognition to children who didn't get ahead in the mainstream because of behavioural or learning difficulties.

"It's an intense programme and the reward is seeing the progress made by the students. Sometimes those improvements are small, but they need to be celebrated."

Simone says primary motivation is to make a difference in their educational experience. She cites the example of a boy who was truanting frequently.

In a mainstream class, he felt exposed academically and hence didn't attend. "We gave him a life line and he was made to feel welcome."

The boy's reading age increased by two years over a one-year period, which was a huge success and extremely rewarding for both the student and Simone.

"As soon as he knew he was making progress and it was being celebrated it raised his self-esteem and improved his self-image." He remained with the unit for a year and then found an apprenticeship, which would give him meaningful skills for life.

Simone's career goal then, and now, was to work with students with even more complex needs. That turned out to be blind and low-vision students. In 2009, Simone applied for a job at the Blind and Low Vision Education Network NZ (BLENNZ), where she now works.

In her new role, Simone works through a visual resource centre and provides education through mainstream schools. She delivers the Expanded Core Curriculum, which is the curriculum designed specifically for blind and low-vision students.

The curriculum includes areas of learning such as communication skills and Braille, social skills, life skills, career and future planning.

Her work as a resource teacher visual (RTV) is varied and involves facilitation of children's education and provision of resources that help provide equitable access to education for children on the programme.

Depending on the severity of vision loss, some require one-on-one teaching and others may only need twice-a-term visits to ensure they are progressing at the expected rate.

In her first year, Simone worked part-time in order to complete some studies. This year, she has received a study award to complete a Graduate Diploma in Special Needs: Vision Education at the University of Auckland.

Some of the course outcomes include Braille proficiency, approaches to disability, the delivery of the Expanded Core Curriculum and vision impairment.

Some students excel academically, others have more complex issues and need extra support areas of literacy, numeracy and social skills.

Either way, Simone says one of the great rewards of working with blind and low-vision students is their receptiveness to the support they receive.

Simone likes "the variety I get from working with students in a range of school settings. The role of an RTV is never stagnant and it challenges me to constantly acquire knowledge each working day."