Meeting Special Needs educators (23 Jun 06)

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Originally uploaded by Damien Wang.

SC, HZ & I conducted a voluntary session for over 20 teachers from APSN Katong School last Friday. Between the 3 of us, we did activities related to spices and ancient civilisations. But this was a vastly experience compared to our usual corporate engagements.

All this while, I have wondered how similar or different Special Needs teachers were, compared to teachers in other MOE schools you & I are familiar with. After all, they are catering to a very different category of students.

In terms of demographics, they are no different (I would think) from any pool of teachers you find in a school staff room. I would know; my mum is a teacher. So I spent more time as a child in staff rooms and lounges than the average school-kid. Prefects & monitors don't even come close.

I spoke to several of them during the tea break and it was really enlightening. I happened to ask one of them if she was an Art teacher because her handicraft was superb, and her reply was, "We are all Art teachers here". Interesting start. Another mentioned that they have to teach all the subjects, something very different to what she was used to in a mainstream school.

Another thing I noticed was that the teachers were extremely resourceful in coping with limited resources. All 4 groups went beyond the materials that were given to them and went to scavenge for recycled objects, plants, beads, old toys, etc. to use in their group projects.

In another instance, the teacher in-charge of AV took the initiative to provide background music using a clip-mike (which we did not use) linked to her own handphone which was playing nice classical tunes.

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I asked a couple of the more experienced ones if the ESN (educationally sub-normal) students sat for exams, and was informed that most of them would level at about Primary School standard while some took BEST programmes which were more skills-based. Some could make it to ITE. Others could progress to other APSN learning centers to learn life-skills and be employed by a VWO later on.

Next question: Do ESN kids have aspirations like other school-kids? I was quite glad to hear the answer: Yes, they do. In fact, they have the same career aspirations as other kids: doctors, lawyers, pilots, etc. The teacher added that while such aspirations would remain as pipe-dreams for the majority, the teacher would actually nurture and encourage the student.

Follow-up probe: Has any ESN student ever broke the record and proceeded beyond BEST qualifications? Interestingly, the answer was: Yes, but this was an exceptional case because the father was exceptionally patient and nurturing. The kid is now doing O-Levels in another country. Amazing!


All in all, the session went rather well and it ended early. The school gave our organisation a nice Thank You card made by a student, along with a portfolio of works done by APSN pupils.

The verbal feedback was also encouraging: None of them felt sleepy in the afternoon, and there was the intention to tailor similar activities for the ESN students.