WEBINAR NEW NORMAL FOR SPECIAL EDUCATION

[Music] [Music] [Music] teaching everyone to learn through science health and technology we will share our expertise by promoting knowledge and policies we can build a better world [Music] [Music] is [Music] we'll achieve our goals through a partnership creating opportunities by working hand-in-hand with accomplish all our dreams for a better quality of life [Music] filled with [Music] filled with [Music] thank you [Music] on behalf of the organizer simion regional center for special educational needs i would like to welcome everyone to our webinar new normal for special education we would like to also welcome teachers parents and school administrators from all over southeast asia region and beyond as you might be tuning from us from very soon allow me to say good morning good afternoon and good evening we would like to also express our sincere thanks to everyone for being with us today this webinar is expected to run for about two and a half hours we hope you will stay tuned with us until the end of the week allow me to introduce myself my name is muhammad and i will be the emc for today's webinar professor dr ladies and gentlemen for everyone's information this webinar was proposed and intend to be a sharing platform of best practices from across the region focusing on overcoming challenges in continuing education for children with special needs taking into consideration countries we are still which are still under pandemic knockdown and countries under recovery period this webinar is expected to share valuable insights on ministries of education's actions and measures taken on the continuation of education simulsan also would like to take this opportunity to express our highest gratitude to senior secretariat ministry of education singapore ministry of education thailand ministry of education and culture indonesia and department of education philippines for their strong support and collaboration in this webinar before we go any further allow me to share some notes as reminders for all participants we hope all participants will tune in from the start after the end of the webinar to avoid missing out on imported sharing set announcement kindly refrain from using the checkbox and comment section for conversation with other listeners instead you may address questions to the speakers please avoid using simplified words on your notes so that the webinar secretariat and others may understand you better if you're having sound or video issues you may try the alternative live channel links such as our youtube live facebook live and twitch tv links are available in the description section below display e-certificate shall be issued to participants upon your registration and completion of the webinar evaluation registration link will be activated at the end of the webinar announcement will be made please complete both registration and evaluation within three hours after the announcement or before 3 30 pm malaysia time if you need further assistance you may reach us through our email webinar at emusand.org young professor dr ladies and gentlemen moving on with the webinar agenda we are proud to have with us here today five distinguished speakers we now will start with the keynotes the director of seminole secretariat followed by the first plenary speaker official maria madhunid from ministry of education next we will hear from dr nathan swannawood from ministry of education thailand followed by dr samto prawiro from ministry of education and culture indonesia and our final speaker for today is the dalai lama areola from the department of education philippines without further ado allow me to introduce our moderator for today's webinar madame sama joffrey is our dearest director of simion regional center for special educational needs senior sand prior to her current appointment adam sanma has had various senior positions in ministry of education malaysia including the post of deputy director of the special education division mlu malaysia with special education close to her heart we are honored to have madame salman moderating our webinar today may i now invite madam salman to take over in moderating this session please make them someone good morning good afternoon and good evening to our respective listeners from the southeast asia and beyond on behalf of simulsan we would like to extend our warmest welcome and thank you for tuning in to our webinar live webinar please allow me again to introduce myself i am sama jopi the director for samia regional center of special educational needs samuel sen it is great honor for me to be able to moderate on today's webinar new normal for special education this is a blessing as well as proud moment for me personally to be together online with five respected speakers in the education sphere ladies and gentlemen for everyone information this webinar is one sim one of serial sense activities under our online capacity building series which aim to be learning to be a learning platform and resources for special education teachers compared to the face-to-face learning our ocbs goal is to provide greater learning accessibility to teachers and educators especially during this challenging time of kobe 19 pandemic where teachers are unable to attend face-to-face training due to the restriction of movement today's webinar has brought together speakers from four countries to share and discuss on the approaches to assist learners with special needs during the postcode 19. ladies and gentlemen moving on to the next item in our agenda which is the keynote speech by our distinguished speaker dr ethel agnes pascal valenzuela director of samuel secretariat before that allow me briefly share dr ethel's background dr ethel agnes pascua valenzuela is currently leading the southeast asian ministers of education organization secretariat as the first female director since semiya was established in 1965. dr ethel hold a master of art degree in science education from the philippines normal university and a doctoral of education degree in educational management from the lasalle university philippines prior to her current post dr ethel has served as director for of the office of student services and director three at the international affairs services in the commission of higher education philippines dr ethel's first experience until the on internationalization and transnational education has led her to many senior positions internationally dr ettel previously called as head of educational research and innovation in samuel innocent philippines and also deputy director for programs and development samuel secretariat thailand so without further ado i would like to invite dr ethel agnes pasqua valenzuela to deliver the keynote address dr ethel the floor is yours good morning everyone thank you director salma and congratulations to simulsan for hosting this very special webinar talking about stand in the new normal salamat page education is the bedrock of a just and humane society and education today during coffee 19 is in crisis copied 19 has not only given us health crisis or economic crisis it also gave us education crisis which actually hits 1.2 billion learners all over the world and puts 143 countries in lockdown so how can we make it a new normal how do we transition and go to the face of recovery that is the theme of our discussion today let us look at the statistics of gem just before the copy the global education monitoring has informed us that you know a quarter of billion children adolescent and used are not in school already before copying and the number keeps on going down so since 2015 we have launched already sustainable development role number four promoting equitable and accessible education and lifelong learning for all we need to address the challenge of children going out of school all over the world from our own southeast asian region to africa and other parts of the world however globally one billion people live with some forms of disability we are talking about 150 million children living with disabilities and we know for a fact that children with disabilities are often the most vulnerable and the most excluded in their communities and children with disabilities are 10 times less likely to attend school than those without so coffee really place us in this situation not just for children who can go to school but also for children with special needs some responses to hobbies 19 crisis the senior secretariat since april we have tried to help promote education anywhere everywhere anytime by having webinars and you know consolidating all online resources for our 1.6 billion learners and teachers all over southeast asia but the global education monitoring report in the presentation just a few weeks ago said that you know while 55 of low-income countries opted for online and distance learning in primary secondary education we still have a lot that are not covered because only 12 of household in less developed countries or low-income countries have internet access at home so primarily we have about 40 of low and lower income countries who have who have not gone getting access to remote learning and that is our solution that we have thought of during this time of condemning teachers also have adjusted they tried to transition from face to face to remote learning but are teachers ready teachers teaching materials and learning environments we are not actually totally prepared we could not embrace the diversity of learners from different backgrounds without internet access those who cannot really go to read all of these learning materials and those who do not have parents who can help them in their study 25 of teachers in 48 education systems all over the world reported that they need you know professional development and continuing professional training in order for them to do this job during the crisis mode and when send you know special education needs they wanted uh you know official sign language but not all countries have recognized sign languages as an official language of communication so for students you know children with disabilities uh they face stigma they raise discrimination they have prejudices and barriers in their home in the community and also in the school setting many countries as i've seen in southeast asia while traveling along the region i have seen that some special education children were already mainstreamed they are joining regular classes but some are not for example in some parts of thailand i saw the schools they're together those with children with disabilities they study together and some children as i hear it from going around southeast asia some are abandoned some are neglected some are excluded and kept in the room and some are not given access to education and services and across these countries children adolescent and youth with disabilities are uh some of them are mostly considered out-of-school population so it's really a big call for everyone for the german report to give us this scenario that peers of primary lower secondary and upper secondary those with disabilities will be likely to drop out of school or not stay in school even if they really have you know this passion to go to school but the facilities infrastructure is not there so children with disabilities according to gem will less likely attend school and if they attend school they will drop out and children disabilities will often go with unsuitable school buildings you know going up in the floors without the proper facilities for them there is also some learning difficulties and this can be uh a real challenge however in some parts of the world they have already identified the right infrastructure the right school you know for example in sweden or in scotland and even in japan and in australia these are good models that we can see for our region and for parents of course parents uh as apparently we want them to give all the best for our children but sometimes they also have limitations right so uh in some countries they also have uh you know not actually provided full support but they are trying their best but even if they're best they should be sent to school and uh to have a mainstream education right and there are schools that are for special uh children but we also have seen that it's not happening all over the region so you know for a special education uh we have the bigger policy the international agenda one is the convention and the rights of the child which was embraced by many countries uh in 1989 and we also have the united nations convention and the rights of persons with disabilities all the things that you know that talks about the right of children with disabilities persons with disabilities these are contained in that convention signed by many of our countries uh actually most of our countries in the region now for senior we acknowledge this as number one priority even during the education for all decades that was uh 20 years back and in 2008 simeo launched the project reaching the unreached and number one project there is actually on children with disabilities so the commitment at the time is more of policy formulation the data election exchange program learning from one another establishing a regional center so malaysia proposed to establish a similar center for special needs and that was uh many years back and it was already approved and signed uh in january for the 10th so but after the establishment of send of course it's a new center with our newest center as well they're also establishing a lot of of policy innovation capacity building and the life they have a lot of responsibility on their shoulder but under the semeo7 priority areas now our focus is on sdg goal number four and number two of simeon education priority area is on actually including education that means it's for all education for all and all for education however when we are already in the fifth year of implementing sdg goals on our programs our projects 300 activities per year suddenly we have called in we have this that we are all close all similar centers are actually closed down due to copying and even ministries of education are just starting to go back to normal so we have developed our strategic plan and we would like to contribute to achieving education 2030 which is uh education for everyone including children with disabilities so in the context of samio uh how do we define children with special needs so according to the charter or the enabling instrument of simiosen we refer to children with intellectual disabilities we refer to children with communication problems those with emotional and behavioral difficulties those with hearing and visual impairments those with attention deficit and hyperactive disorder and our goal is as much as possible you know do capacity building for teachers and officers provide research and technical assistance to member countries continue partnering with other organizations who share the same uh you know a goal and agenda and also provide platform for forum and meetings and uh however we are affected by kovid at this time so we do mostly virtual and in the same ministerial policy forum on government response from the ministers themselves they have shared some of the key points on how to reach everyone during this coffee 19 pandemic and also in the high level forum we also talk about reaching and reach where uh also most of the high-level policymakers share their contributions in terms of reaching the most vulnerable and the most disadvantaged let me just share that the ministers have already adopted a joint statement on covet 19 response and the the biggest commitment is to establish programs to enhance capacities of teachers so sam will do a lot of capacity building in whatever mode fostering a learning environment that is free from disruption that you can conduct training webinars anywhere so that we can continue with our mission and sustain the development of knowledge resources we're pulling all resources from the region partners and friends who have open educational resources and online resources and developing strategic partnerships like simio is now a member of the global education coalition for coffee 19 response with over 100 international organizations worldwide so the ministry of education of malaysia is our council president and malaysia has shared with us that uh during this time of crisis they have digital learning platform they use google classroom home-based learning and you know for home-based learning parents are taking on the role of a bigger role to tutor and to help the children and of course lots of learners face this kind of difficulty of home-based learning they are so excited to go to school and talk to their friends but now home-based learning is a solution right so coffee 19 requires all of the you know members of the house all education health economics most of the ministries to help in the response recovery and enhance resiliency of everyone and singapore our vice minister vice president for the council has shared with us you know how singapore tried to enhance uh learning during this kind of crisis by also using home-based learning uh remote learning remote engagement and motivating teachers to continue with their job and assess learners from social and emotional perspective and singapore minister also talk about how to access and bring education to the marginalized and disadvantaged learners using online and how to have a reconnection with fears amidst the crisis so this thing of course circuit breaker strategy i will not talk much about that we have a speaker from singapore we'll be talking more about this uh you know innovation in terms of circuit breakers strategy in brunei for example they also provide technical support for marginalized learning especially to ensure that education is there whole learning impacts individual education plan these are made available customized learning resources and materials and school hotlines during the public 19th pandemic to boost the student morale and motivate students and in cambodia we use different channels to bring education for everyone they developed a digital education forum platform harmonization of platform you know partnering with different stakeholders and including those who can provide digital access digital administration of schools and digital education for teacher training they make use of radio and television to bring education to everyone in indonesia they also made use of the remote learning this is the new normal i'm sharing with you online offline or a combination of blog pack and high tech teachers and lecturers are encouraged to use video conferences digital documents and other online technologies and they also uh try to facilitate subsidy for internet quota and provide free access to online education like cambodia they also use tv based learning and other programs especially to reach the children in rural areas in lao pdr they also utilize all alternative learning methods to be able to reach the unreached and the remote schools especially in the marketplace areas so the new normal is using the ict information communication technology digital communication investing in the capacity building of in-service training trainers or teachers and pre-service teachers so making sure that every single student and teacher would remain safe and would be able to contribute to this new normal myanmar developed the commitment team plan recovery plan and they also provide you know accessible education ensure that no learning loss no discrimination no one left behind no school dropped out and providing a safe and healthy learning environment they use tv channels as well for the philippines they explore remote learning the new normal is remote learning reframing the curriculum and anticipating that you know we need to go back in the future but protect the health safety of well-being of learners and that there is a learning continuing to plan for the philippines equity considerations are always put as a priority and they launched the lbe lct as a private quality and future of education for thailand uh thailand here is very good in managing the coffee 19 so we are already back to school here there are more flexible opportunities to address learning needs learning needs of teachers and shift to digital platforms so uh you know in thailand i have seen schools with all the children with disabilities they provide not only education and teachers they are also support for food and medicine all of these i can see in thailand but you know the ministry allowed the schools to have other options to be flexible in their operation to be more agile and flexible in their educational system this is the country with you know uh materials for the most vulnerable children especially children with special needs they develop online digital library learning applications news of youtube channel free access to telecommunication companies and book distribution for the most remote learners and students so because you know in timor-leste almost 60 of schools are classified as remote very remote or extremely remote and regarding the uh innovation in vietnam with the new normal they use also separate platforms for teaching over the country online classes sharing online resources to teach the enriched and disadvantaged learners they have tried to invite you know good lecturers and professors and bring them all together in 28 tv channels throughout the country vietnam is the first country who locked down in southeast asia in mid-february but for students who don't have don't have access to televisions at home some teachers can even bring all the learning materials to students in their houses but with safety precautions and uh stan uh you know for samia said we have put already some recommended program for the next 10 years and in our strategic plan we will support children with down syndrome of course teachers as well are content human sexuality education for children with special needs supporting children with celibate policy daily skills for children with autism and preschool in southeast asia we will also do drr programs for children with special needs we will also work on culturally fair screening for children with special needs we will provide school health and nutrition program for schools in this situation and supporting children with autism disorder it can be in capacity building it can be in research it can be in a policy recommendation policy development and also in networking with organizations with the same interests and i think for me the way forward are the following you know even if we have programmatic response at symbio in terms of we know already what we should work on for the next 10 years but i think we should continue to do five e's first in school because i am a teacher since 1986 i think early detection and intervention is very important for teachers you know the first week of school you should know who have uh disabilities we should also have number 2e education that benefits for all promote the positive educational social impact of inclusive education we should also enhance number three capacity of teaching personnel percent uh you know this they're already disadvantaged and sometimes we don't have highly qualified teachers or professionals to help them in general so most of us are general teachers we teach special subjects but handling children with disabilities a special one so we must have a solid support systems and funding mechanism so we will recommend funding support to choose with special needs and ensure that we have reliable data when i was preparing this uh powerpoint i was thinking whether we have a reliable data on how many in southeastern how many are already mainstreamed how many are encountering difficulties we need to improve our southeast asian data or what we call as the sea info in terms of visibility the new normal is use of remote learning but all of us here who know more about special education see that the tools that children are using now like you know remote education online platforms and and all of these they may not be really accessible for children with special needs students with disabilities often use assistive technology for instance and a student with visual impairment might use screen leader software that not all schools might have and a lot of online platforms maybe are not compatible with assistive technology and even other problems can be encountered so we have a lot of work to do on special education in the new normal while we transition back we need to also think about a road from this disruption to recovery so well we have lots of work to do we have so many things to share from different parts of the region in southeast asia and we would like to learn more if you have suggestions you can uh send it out to simulsan our center for special education and we will be glad to work for stevenson to push for policy programmatic and reforms to address children with special needs thank you very much and have a good conversations on stand in the new normal thank you dr ethel a very rich input with a very very with valuables reminders if i may recap some key take-home reminders from dr ethel number one it is important for us together to improve solution for online learning or remote learning and also to recognize that 48 education system stated that 25 percent of teachers are requesting support in training for special education jim you said with all parties involved should and will look and try to provide necessary initiative when it comes to capacity building programs dr ethel has opened the webinar with strong messages for us educators to reflect and ponder once again thank you dr ethel now let us hear the initiative and effort done by our ministries of education in ensuring the learning continues for learners with disabilities may i remind all speakers that you are given 20 minutes for your presentation may i now introduce our first plenary speakers for today associate professor dr sharifah maryam or junaid associate professor dr sharifah maryam al-junit is currently the leading principal educational psychologist for the special educational needs division ministry of education singapore associate professor dr sharifah is a chartered psychologist and associate fellow from the british psychological society and she holds a master degree of science in educational psychology from university college london and a doctor of philosophy degree in psychology from university college london concurrent to her current role associate professor dr sharifah also served as honorary lecturer for university college london and a young lecturer for national institute of education singapore prior to a current post associate professor dr sharifah held the post of lead specialist for educational psychology in the psychological services branch education program division of moe singapore actively involved in national and international working committee associate professor dr sharifah also supervised doctoral candidates and teachers courses in university dr sheriff is also the governing body members for samuel sen representing singapore doctor now i would like to invite associate professor dr sharifah maryam aldunai to share on house ministry of education singapore to respond in continuing education for learners with disabilities dr charifa good morning everyone and thank you so much madam salma i hope you all can hear me and first and foremost i would like to thank senor sen for giving me this wonderful opportunity to share some thoughts on this really very important topic what i would like to share with you this morning are some key learning points that we have learned from the covet 19 pandemic moving forward how we will take this learning with us post pandemic but at first i think i want to recognize the fact that each of our countries in asean neighborhood has its own unique challenges as well as strength and the the data and the insights that dr ethel has said really i find it very humbling to see the challenges that many of us are facing in our unique situation at the same time we know that aside from the endemic some of our friends in asia are battling with the impact of natural disasters others are dealing with migrant or refugee children many of whom have disabilities and special needs aside from their traumatic experiences so korea decide there are other challenges that we all face in singapore our challenge lies in the fact that we are very small but a very densely populated place of living many people live very closely to each other and we are dependent on others for almost all of our needs this of course brings particular challenges during a pandemic where social distancing and isolation becomes the norm so i want to recognize that while we can share what has been best practices in our own respective countries some of our practices may not be immediately applicable to other contexts we need to take the learning tab adjust make it work to the unique context of our own countries and local communities nonetheless in spite of our differences there is one common thing that we all share all of us in asean value the importance of education for our children we are all equally committed to ensure quality education for the most vulnerable children children with disabilities and special education needs i have been a governing board member for siemens for six years and it's my honor and privilege to be in that role and i can certainly testify that based on the past six years of interaction with fellow educators in the region this is indeed our shared value and commitment across all asean countries so i would like to preface my sharing today by affirming singapore's commitment to the education of children with special needs our vision is for all our schools to have strong support for students with sen we are committed to ensuring quality accessibility and affordability of special education for all our children we recognize that the needs of children with sin are very very varied but we are committed to provide a continuum of provision to meet the wide range of needs of children with zen currently in singapore more than 80 percent of children we send are supported in our national mainstream schools while another 20 percent of children with more severe needs are supported in alternative specialized settings in these special schools more intensive support are available 2020 has been a tumultuous year for all of us and kovit 19 is indiscriminate it affects everyone but as dr ethan has said we know that some groups are affected more significantly and this includes children with sin and disabilities and their families many of them are disadvantaged before kovit 19 and when the pandemic hits they become even more vulnerable so as we move forward we must pay particular attention to the most vulnerable group of children in our societies there are three key messages that i want to highlight in the sharing firstly schools do not exist in isolation schools are part of the larger ecosystem of society so whatever efforts that are done nationally to keep the wider society safe and strong during covet 19 these have direct impact and immediate effect on children's education secondly customization is key many strategies have been done to keep schools and society safe but because of the unique needs and particular vulnerabilities of children with sand these strategies must be adapted and customized lastly parents are critical in schools as educators we've always considered parents as partners in education kovit 19 taught us that they play an even more critical role than that in april this year singapore was on circuit breaker mode as mentioned earlier circuit breaker is our local terminology and strategy for the partial and graduated lockdown approach that we use we are now in the second phase of careful phase reopening i'll be focusing on just a few key strategies that have worked for us and the things that we want to take us moving forward the first is home-based learning or hbl during circuit breaker when most things are closed we did not fully close our schools and in fact during circuit breaker the schools were reopened for some children so we took a slightly different approach for the majority of children we move teaching and learning to the homes of our children home-based learning or hbl became the new norm for our children so what happens in hbr in hpl every day students receive learning materials and stars from their teachers this is done through an online platform known as the student learning space or sls for some students or for some activities additional learning materials are sent to the homes through hard copies as well parents or caregivers have an important role and very clear role to play in hbl they're expected to set up learning routines and discipline for the child they're expected to guide their children in activities and they're expected to provide the motivation for the children so that they they can keep strong for each of the roles that parents are expected to play resources and guides are also provided for parents this ensures that parents are supported to take on these important roles and tasks hbl was facilitated by the availability of ict for all our children you see two years ago even before covet 19 came along the students learning space was introduced to our education system for all schools the singapore student learning space is part of our ecosystem in education and is an online platform that supports teaching and learning for all our schools in particular it was initially set up to help students to drive their own learning according to their needs and interests sls was not initially set up specifically for crisis learning however when kovite 19 came sls became a critical piece for the success of home-based learning sls became the main conduit for learning materials and resources to be shared between teacher and student between teacher and parent and also a main conduit for students to continue their contact and interaction with their peers in school home-based learning materials were designed and prepared for all students via and standby sls as i mentioned for students with sen the materials and resources were customized and this has examples of the guides that were provided to schools on the right side of the slide this is an example and you can see the example of a hbl daily task that a teacher has prepared for her students as you can see the plan is actually quite specific it specifies the time the day the worksheets to be completed and at the same time the students for students that have additional needs specific customized instruction were also given the same thing for our children we stand in the special schools with more severe needs for these children of course the degree of customization is even greater teachers prepare a very structured and visually illustrated diagrams to explain the flow of hbi activities they also use video demonstration more extensively so that parents can mirror what the teachers do in school parents are important but we do not intend for them to replace the teacher's role so the materials that are made are such that they can easily be used and implemented by parents no need for specialized training just plug and play or pick up and go and this is important for parent-based materials to be sustainable at the same time to take advantage of the home setting many of the hbo activities are embedded within home-based daily activities such as meal preparation of daily activities in the home and these are some more examples to illustrate what i've what i've just explained yeah and these are the hpl resources customized for send children in the splat schools you can see on the right side different resource packages that are specially customized for children in our spat schools wearing a must is going to be part of our lifestyle in the future and we know that some children understand they have particular difficulties sensory issues and some of them have difficulty understanding the need for for why do they need to wear masks why is their need to have safe distancing so again the teachers working with specialists have come up with materials and that can be used by teachers and parents in their homes to help the children understand our experience with home-based learning has been quite positive a large majority of students successfully accessed hbl at the same time we were mindful that some children may need a different approach so while the majority of students had hbl at their homes a small group of children continue to go to school they access the same home-based learning activities as their peers but they do this in their respective schools guided by the teachers this includes children of some of our frontline health workers you and i know that in this pandemic the healthcare workers are truly our heroes they sacrifice time and their own well-being so that we and our families can all be safe the least we could do is to ensure that their families and children are taken care of too there were also children with complex needs and they need specialized care for some children their homes may not be conducive for hpl and their parents may not be available so for these group of vulnerable children they were invited back to school to access home-based learning activities in their respective schools moving forward we expect that hbl will be a norm for all our schools blended learning will become a regular feature to complement classroom teaching our schools have now reopened but students have hbl some of the time at regular intervals the idea that we've learned is that hpl is not just for times of crisis we learned that home-based learning is not just for periods of lockdown or circuit breaking the true value proposition of hbl is that it is an important way for our students to be independent self-directed learners and these are important 21st century competencies and skills that we want our students to have because technology has become critical during covet 19. so moving forward there will be stronger efforts to accelerate the excess of important learning devices for all our students in our schools including students we send in our special schools during convict 19 if students don't have their devices schools loan them the devices to bring home but moving forward we want to ensure that no child is left behind and every child have their own access to their own devices and of course for children with more severe needs such as our children we send the type and range of the learning devices must be customized to meet their needs and for many of them this means providing this may mean providing access to assistive technologies that can be used in conjunction alongside the learning devices beyond is used for students learning technology is also critical for strengthening homeschool collaboration and parent-teacher communication so we were all grateful that a year before covert 19 happened the ministry of education launched parents gateway this is a digital service that connects parents in school as well as school and parents communication through a digital platform available accessible through the handphone it was launched in january 2019 and any parent with a handphone can access this app freely this app allows parents to do many things right to retrieve information from school about their own children can be done effortlessly they can keep track of the things that they must do things that require their attention and they get timely updates about the school announcement during pandemic because the situation was evolving and changing very rapidly there was a lot of information that needed to be communicated quickly to parents so the parent gateway app became a critical tool for this as educators and especially for those of us who are working with children with special needs we knew all along the importance of parental involvement you and i don't need a crisis to realize that parents are important in the child's education because research has long informed us about the critical role that parents and caregivers can have in determining the quality of education for their children resent research have also told us that good parental involvement does not happen by chance for this to happen and effectively done so parents need the skills the knowledge and resources to play their role effectively but what crises have taught us is that resources and skills are important but not enough covet 19 is not the first global crisis that we face all the countries in asean have in the last century encountered several crises and disasters before so there's actually much to learn from our own past experiences give you some example all our countries have experienced war in the past at least in the last century and arguably there is some similarity between what time and covet 19. some say over 19 is a different kind of war but the anime is actually an unseen virus there are a lot of research on the effects of war on children and we can and we can learn from this research i want to highlight just two important findings from research about the impact of war on children firstly we know that the majority of children who experience war actually grow up okay and this is good news they are okay and they grow up to be good fully functional adults this really speaks well of the resiliency of our children secondly there is one important factor one important predictor of children's resilience after a war and that is for them to be resilient they have at least one significant adult who can provide a stable relationship and continue emotional support this is the critical element during covet 19 we know that many adults who are parents also become distressed many lose their income some become sick themselves some lose their loved ones when parents are distressed their ability to be emotionally available for their children would be affected so if we want home-based learning to be effective and we want parents to play their role well in their children's education we must also ask what needs to be done to support the well-being and mental health of parents and caregivers of our children i know certainly this is not something that schools and teachers can do by themselves we need the support of the wider society and the larger ecosystem so we were very grateful to the ministry of social and family development in singapore for initiating the national care hotline during covet 19. more than 300 counselors and psychologists were deployed to provide this 24 7 counseling and guidance service anyone can call up the hotline to get emotional help advice about financial difficulties job related concerns or simply get help to ensure that they can put food on the table for their families that evening with this teachers and educators when we see that parents of our students are struggling or in distress we can encourage them and point them to this contact to contact the hotline and get the necessary help in my conclusion i want to leave you with one food for thought words are very powerful they affect how we think and how we perceive our experiences everyone now is talking about the new normal the impression we may give is that there is a definitive end state that we all can imagine and predict or one destination called the new normal in reality i believe this is not the case at best what we can do is to look at the current situation and based on what's happening we can assess what we see now and at best we can predict and plan the next step and when things change and evolve as it will do you must prepare again for the next following step for example singapore was previously in circuit breaker we are now in phase 2 of reopening as we progress when we see new vaccines are being created a new innovative ways of doing things are discovered we have to replan and prepare for the next reality and should the unfortunate second outbreak emerge as what we can see happening in some countries the next normal may well be to return back to what we did before so perhaps it may be more accurate and appropriate to call it the next normal rather than the new normal my colleagues and friends in the social service sector in singapore have begun to use this term next normal to talk about to describe the future that we anticipate so in conclusion what i would like to say is that in the next normal we know that some things will remain true support in the wider ecosystem is vital customization will always be key and parents will remain critical thank you despite our differences in asean but we are together in line in promoting education for our children especially for our vulnerable children and the support on why the ecosystem is important especially the support for and from parents which is critical in times like this congratulations singapore for lots of initiative being done like hbl in supporting education for our beloved children moving on to our second speaker allow me to share dr nantano siwana wood biography dr nantanu is a researcher at the bureau of special education administration ministry of education thailand dr nantanu ii master degree masters of art in special educational needs from rohampton and fontes university and masters of information science from indiana university bloomington usa she also held the doctor of philosophy in informatic from indiana university bloomington usa dr nantano is also active in the world of issues in inclusive education and accessible technologies for persons with disabilities she also guide academic researchers and practitioners in areas of disability employment and barrier-free societies and inclusions additionally she has also been appointed as project committee members for the digital tv and telecommunication for persons with disability initiatives dr mantano is also the member of several advisory committees such as the promotion of information access for persons with visual impairment and print disability program and asean sub regional chair of the world blind union may i now invite dr nantano to share on ministry of education thailand approaches in addressing to the learning for learners with disabilities the flaw is yours dr nantano thank you dr osama and good morning everyone i'm very pleased and very honored to be here to share our initiative what we are doing in thailand and there are four things that i would like to cover today starting from an overview of the educational students situation in thailand and followed by the education for our children when we are coping with the pandemic and next with the recommendations and concluding with the expectations for the stakeholders and families and next slide i'm with the special education schools we have 48 schools there are about 12 000 students with all kinds of disabilities and we also have 77 special education centers mostly with the early intervention session and all types of the supports for and mainstream schools and here we have around 25 students and also the last one which is the last majority of our students are in the inclusive schools we have almost 370 thousand students all over country in 20 21 000 schools in thailand so all together we have almost 500 000 students with disabilities we are taking care of and next slide please well and the impact of the profit 19 on economic and education in thailand after the announcement of state emergency in thailand it has affected both our in economic sector that we have to that thailand bank of thailand review has to revise the 2.8 gdp growth projection to less down until the 5.3 contractions this year and of course it has also impacts to on the educational sectors that prevent over 15 million students to be out of school for a couple of months until beginning of this month that we have i can reopen the schools again and next slide please and here are the procedures of the ministry of education we divided the plan into four phase the first phase is about the preparation looking for the educational media we are trying to support the distance learning and this is the first stage that from the 1st of april until the 17th of may fortunately the pandemic occurred in the mid march that is around the closing of the school term in thailand and so we are pretty lucky enough that we get time for the preparation for this stage and the next phase is the second phase that is the trial for the demonstration we have the cooperation with the national broadcasting and television to allow us for the signal of the satellite tv for 15 channels on 17 channels including the vocational schools as well to write the content for each educational level for the students including students with special needs and this is the full implementation is the full scale of the distance learning until starting for the beginning of this month the first of july until the end of this academic year until next april and the last phase is transition to the graduation and examination until the 15th next year until the transition to the next academic yeah hopefully by that time we all have we are safe from the coffee 19 um and we are getting to the near norm um just another sheriff i said right the next the next no that we have to adapt ourselves and for the next slide please after we all come up with all of the plan this is our execution for the first time we we prepare um content on the central stage that we already have the schools that as the broadcasting site to have prepare all of the contents and for the second phase the system testing of the schools that we uh preparing for the schools that have to prepare for the teachers and communicate with the parents and other staff that to for example to ask them if they are ready for the school opening this month and for the thursday that we are on the third phase starting from the first of july in case of that the school are safe and allowed of course we have the on-site education with some measures but in case that school cannot open we provide to two types of the educational channels first is an online and of course the second is on as i already mentioned through the satellite television also for digital learning tv distance learning tv and next slide please and as the roles of the schools first we have to prepare by the um distributed surveys to the schools and to the parents the information if they are ready for the distance learning how what's going on for the second phase that if the student has an equipment if the internet connectivity is all right how about the time that parents can taking care of their children for example and then we group the students for example for the very ready student group of students that i will equip with all types of the tools and the internet connection and the for those who cannot uh support for the parents uh do they don't have any the default setup box to get the signal from the satellite we are also asking correlation within the ministry of digital and economy to ask for their equipment and also with the internet connection as well and we set the plan for carrying the students and also we have the set up different surveys to specifically asking the parents about their time and how did they deal with their children during the school as us close and then we grouping the types of the readiness in terms of the tools and equipment also at the schools as well and we set up the students and parents support system so that they can just helping each other in their community we set the community communication center channels for example we use the lines and facebook and the messenger etc and we also set up the orientation session for the parents and we also have to provide the home visit especially for the small children until the sixth grade level that the schools have the teachers had to visit the students it once a week and to collect the materials that they study on air right and then they go to the student house and trying to give consultation to the students and their parents it's like this and here are the results of the survey and for the others some data that we can collect from our piloting for the special schools for the readiness of the special schools they have around 33 percent and for the inclusive school is around i'm not even up to 20 percent and for inclusive school is about 24 percent overall we have four 74 percent of our students from the survey they are not ready they are mostly um back off equipment and the tools and the educational media that they can access next slide please and here we also set up we have delivered many surveys and the next one is about the specifically asking about the distance learning and 81 the around 81 percent of the students in the special schools they say they are not quite ready for this learning type channel distance learning education the same way in an inclusive school as well as over 80 percent as well that they claim that they still have encounter encountering barriers with the distance learning so overall 67 percent of the overall students from the survey that encountering the barriers of the distance learning next slide please and here are some of the problems or the issues that they encountered from from the distance learning education um mostly from the side of learners they don't have skills they don't have capacity enough capacity because the content uh quite the mainstream content and some students they have very severe disability that they cannot actually follow with the the instruction from the program and also from the side of the parents they most of them say they don't have enough time to sleep with the students especially the young kids that they it's quite impossible for them to study online independently so these are the problem that we got and the next slide please and and the next survey is about the about the internet connectivity for the special schools they say they don't have enough um connectivity is very unstable it's the same way in all types of the school special school special education centers and inclusive schools they and some of the centers they stay in the remote area even though we are trying to get collaboration with other sectors but it's quite difficult for them to get all of the internet connection this is the big the major problems and also with the digital literacy as well that they don't know they don't have enough skills to access to this digital content and also for in terms of the parents some some most of the students um especially who say in the special education centers they stay with the elderly parents or the guardians that they are unable to use of these types of technology so these are the main barriers for them well next like this and then these are the the results of the survey um until the 30th of june and once now the the school already open thailand is quite safe even though we are also still have the state quarantine but um within the country and we cooperate with the ministry of public public health that they issue the 34 questions that all of the schools have to pass this criteria in order to be allowed for the opening of the school so some of the questions for example that they asked and they have the criteria set into three levels the red one the yellow one and the green one if there are certain steps they could complete it so they that means the school can open for example some of the questions about the sanitizer about the wearing the mask keeping the social order fiscal distancing etc those are some of the school measures that they have to follow [Music] and uh from and right now from our uh most updated uh surveys we already from the 3rd of july 86 of my person is all mark green so that means most of our schools can open right now and on 13 around 13 percent they're still yellow area they got to do some features some measures to protect from the disease and also to double the sadness of the spool and next slide please and here are some of the recommendations first is about the prepared curriculum and pedagogy and also the assessments support teacher and staff and i will talk in detail in the next slide keep updating updating information from multiple channels this is very important once the emergency stay occurring also students with disabilities are most vulnerable vulnerable for this so we have to go be prompted and be prepared and maintain monitoring system we have to set up all kinds of the support and of high of the technological support for for coping with this situation and of course the government we also support a lot in terms of the financial and the budgeting to dealing with these issues right now and of course the collaborate with the parents local government and all parts of the stakeholders and as in detail next like this about the main about the curriculum and the media technologies that we got to prepare we have to ensure these are very flexible and accessible for all types of the students and um from what we encounter the the contents that we deliver online we are now trying to deliver also the sign language interpreter and also the closed captioning together with the audio description for the deaf and the blind students and also the teachers and they need they are required to get the professional development so that they are equipped with all skills and knowledge especially with the digital literacy so we have to do some the trainings and to to do some manuals to prepare these t-shirts for taking care of the students and last one the tools communication tools that we are required and for example the learning management system and all the technologies that we can cater to ensure that the students can have the continual education and last like um next slide is um now it's about expectation for the stakeholders and the parents first from the policy we got to have the inclusive policy and measures to make sure that the children with disabilities are also included all into all of the mainstream policies and also we have to embrace the inclusive remote learning to prepare for the when the school get to be close again for example suppose we have the second rep of the profit so this is the thing that we got to prepare and of course we have the policies we have to measure the technologies and all the equipments need to be ready um to support all of the measures and we also have to have to prepare for the smooth transition well after the um the school closed for a long time and of course we have to prepare the students i'm getting back to the school and right now we are on the first month after the school opened and for the students with disabilities we got to prepare them quite well and so and lastly is very important that we have to get the partner organizations of course they held an expertise in this we got to think and to brainstorm and to find the best solution for our kids so that they can continue with the best and quality education thank you okay thank you dr nantano it is great to know that memory thailand has ranked to the extra mile to ensure our learners with disabilities are given their rights to education okay everyone ladies and gentlemen as you can see here dr nathan did mention there are few essential resources that we need to highlight for continuing flexible education there are accessibility actually these accessible curriculum resources professional development resources and teaching and learning tool support again thank you dr nantanu and we wish the best for moe thailand in continuing education for sen students now moving to our next speaker allow me to introduce dr samto flaviro dr samto prariro is currently the director for the directorate of community education and special education ministry of education and culture indonesia dr samto called a master degree in education research and evaluation from yogyakarta state university indonesia and a doctoral of education degree in educational management from samaram state university indonesia prior to his current post dr samthur has held many senior positions within the ministry of education and culture indonesia let us now hear how ministry of education culture indonesia being one of the most populated countries in southeast asia infobar forbidden providing access to learn fallen their learners with disability ladies and gentlemen dr samto will deliver his speech in bahasa indonesia presented oh [Music] and from philippine doctor and today's quest of the webinar in normal for special education uh i am a triplet and representation with bahasa the constitution one return policy in my country we must uh [Music] foreign [Music] um foreign um [Music] [Music] activity um next [Music] [Music] uh um [Music] uh foreign [Music] next [Music] [Music] um [Music] [Music] is [Music] uh [Music] foreign [Music] energy um [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] um [Music] um foreign [Music] [Music] from [Music] b foreign m [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] is [Music] foreign [Music] okay thank you so much dr uh i must applaud on the effort done by ministry of education and culture indonesia that is community pooling to ensure that the learners with disabilities are given to educate access to education regardless of the limited resources and connectivity um now the main point that we can echo from dr sam to presentation is that we must gather an effort to create a favorable atmosphere to actual learning even in home learning will be comfortable so we can be able to achieve this by improving teachers capacity expansion on internet connectivity and psycho social services for children teachers and also parents with that directory we can now come to our final speaker for this webinar so before we moving on to qna allow me to introduce our final speaker dr lena pinera ariola dr luna is currently the director for of bureau of learning delivery department of education philippines she holds a master of art degree in teaching from saint louis college of tuguegarao and a doctoral of philosophy degree in educational management from saint paul philippines prior to her current post dr lena has helped many management posts overseeing school operations in the division of kagayan and tuguegarao dr leila is also our governing board member representing philippines it is my great honor to invite dr leda to deliver the speech dr lena the floor is yours thank you very much for the kind introduction madame your excellencies most respected scenario director dr ethel valenzuela center directors colleagues from the ministries of education experts from the fields friends from southeast asia and beyond fellow teachers and school heads from the southeast asian region and participants to this webinar good morning to everybody it's an honor to be part of this activity the 1987 constitution of the republic of the philippines affirms the unwavering commitment of the government to protect and promote the right of all citizens to quality education at all levels and to take appropriate steps to make such education accessible to all it recognizes the duty of the state to address the right of every citizen to have access to quality relevant and responsive education this commitment is further strengthened with the implementation of republican 533 or the enhanced basic education act which describes that the k-12 basic education program shall nurture every filipino to become holistically developed functionally literate and globally competent in an empowering and inclusive learning environment the special education is one concrete manifestation of that commitment to education for all learners to make education accessible to all and to ensure that no one is left behind special education symbolizes the state's recognition of the sacredness of life as it considers every learner to be an invaluable gift from god imbued with different abilities talents skills and knowledge and who can participate in the development of the economic social and cultural life society the program is actually designed to develop the maximum potential of learners with disabilities as we want them to become independent and self-reliant thus it ensures the acquisition and maximization of learning competencies as well as the inculcation of values to make them productive and effective members of society through adequate and appropriate accommodations and of course support we all want them to live a happy and full life the right of every individual must always be upheld deb therefore is duty bound to provide the learning opportunities even in national emergency such as covet 19 pandemic the rapid surge of kobe 19 as it came really too soon has required an urgent move to change the educational landscape in the delivery of basic education at present this is the current practice in the implementation of special education in the philippines there are actually two types of class programs implemented in special education we have the self-contained classes and of course the second one is the main stream classes self-contained classes are either non-graded or graded and the non-graded classes are intended for the severe to profound learners with disabilities and its focus actually on the development of essential skills while the graded classes are intended for learners classified a smile to moderate and we provide adaptations reasonable accommodations and we afford them support services these learners are actually prepared to form part of the mainstream classes those in the mainstream classes are those provided with adaptations also reasonable accommodations and offered other support services the curriculum that's implemented in the graded classes is the k-12 basic education program to ensure the successful implementation of special education support programs and activities are put in place in fact i'd like to mention that we have drafted the policy for establishment of the inclusive learning resource center and i'd like also to mention that there is also a bill filed in the house and senate for the establishment of the ilrc or the inclusive learning resource center we have also drafted already the transition program curriculum and its implementing guidelines as well as a policy particularly on the provision of health and medical services through voucher or bursary system for our children with disabilities we always want our teachers to be prepared in handling our children with disabilities that's why we have programs of training programs particularly for our receiving teachers in general education for some grade levels and we intend to train all our teachers because we have to prepare them for the inclusive setting and of course we have institutionalized profession also of technical assistance to schools that are wanting to organize and expand the implementation of special education in respective areas we also have the institutionalized or we have institutionalized the multi-factor assessment tool as we want to assess all our grade one learners enrolled in the regular schools to determine who may be exhibiting developmental advancement or delays or have manifestations of learning disability with such tool we are able to identify learners with disabilities who may need education services or medical or allied services and also to assist our teachers in planning and designing instructions appropriate for the learners with disabilities and for us to be able to identify appropriate supports and services to be provided to all our learners i'd like to share you a picture on the distribution of persons with disabilities by age in our country as reflected in the pie graph the largest number are those that are 24 years old and above but it is worthy to note that 26.8 of the total number of persons with disabilities fall between 5 years old and 24 years old it captures the age group of those learners who are supposed to be in school with the 2020 production projection it will reach 1700 6590 persons with disabilities and this will mean so much in the department of education as we really have to look into our teachers our learning resources and availability of course of facilities for children with disabilities i'd like also to share you our data particularly on the number of schools with learners with disabilities for school year to 2020 with their respective enrollment and out from the 27 million learners in 61 920 schools that we have all over the country there are 360 831 learners with disabilities enrolled in the 21 270 schools in the country 196 000 of which are in the elementary while 163 849 000 are in the secondary our challenge today with kovid 19 pandemic in consideration of the community quarantines declared in the country is how to get them enrolled for now for remote or distance learning and this slide shows the number of teachers who have who are occupying special education teacher items so the the pi the pie graph also shows this number and you will note that we have a total of 9291 teachers and the largest number of this 9291 come from those teachers occupying special education teacher 1 which comprises more than 50 percent of the total number but i'd like to mention and it must be very important to note that the department of education have trained and will continue to train receiving teachers from general education to prepare the schools for an inclusive setting well this is the special education the implementation of the special education program before kovid pandemic in the philippines the outbreak of kobe 19 did not actually spare the philippines but it has been a challenge all over the world classes and other school activities had to be cancelled mass gatherings were prohibited schools remain closed as physical classes are still not allowed and even offices remain closed employees had to render work from home even before the pandemic children with disabilities are among the world's most vulnerable vulnerable members of society the health crisis has worsened the situation as children with underlying health conditions are put at higher risk for of becoming infected of this kovid 19. it is actually brought about huge impact on the education that only among our typical learners but much more to our children with disabilities schools must have to shift from the usual face-to-face learning to distance or remote learning where a sped teacher may not always be around to assist and facilitate learning of our children with disabilities where they may be no readily available learning resources appropriate for their respective disabilities and where assistive devices and other needed services may not also be available and where parents may not even be ready or available to support or assist their children admittedly the quarantined measures have serious impacts on the lives of children with disabilities and their families due to the lack of access to education services and other health and related services as claimed by attorney alberto muyot the chief executive officer of save the children philippines children with disabilities continue to face social exclusion discrimination and the lack of health services and therapy during quarantine could lead to lifelong and devastating impact in the development of our children with disabilities but the department of education has to rise above the challenges of our learners our beloved secretary leonore magdolis briones believes that schools need to find ways for learning to continue amidst the threat challenges and uncertainties brought about by covid19 while ensuring the health safety and welfare of all our learners our teachers and personnel in the department the department of education takes the kovid-19 pandemic as a transformative opportunity to transition in a nimble manner towards the call of the future a national education system that's capable of responding not only to the diversity of community context and learners but also to the threat of future crisis of this magnitude as the country grapples with kobe 19 pandemic deb ed still vows to remain focused and committed to the goal of delivering accessible relevant quality liberating inclusive and safe basic education services that shall continue what it has started with the kite in sulu educated is a symbol of hope and it should keep us hopeful that a bright future still awaits our school children and that includes our learners with disabilities despite this health crisis the kite symbolizes that aim to soar high above all these challenges secretary briones reiterates the department's commitment to ensuring educational continuity amid challenges of the pandemic hence the basic education learning continuity plan was developed the plan actually offers educational interventions which includes the needs of the children with disabilities that responds to the basic education challenges brought about by covid19 and it may be worthy to note that the department of education engaged internal and external stakeholders for inputs in the design of a learning delivery strategy and operational decision that ensures health safety and well-being of all learners teachers and personnel in the department the learning continuity plan streamlines the k-12 curriculum into the most essential learning competencies which are to be delivered in multiple learning delivery modalities as well as educational technologies and platforms the streamlining of the k-12 curriculum is an emergency measure to allow instruction and challenging circumstances to focus on the most essential learning and to ease the requirements for adopting classroom based learning resource for distance learning the usual formal classroom setup needed to be reconfigured to adapt to the required health and safety standards set by the department of health and adopted by the inter interagency task force for the management of emerging infectious diseases or the iatf and under the new normal deb ed is offering the following menu of learning delivery modalities face to face where it is possible distance learning blended learning and alternative learning delivery mode which is the home schooling program but the implementation of this learning delivery modalities shall be guided by the iatf policy and the directives of president rodrigo roa complying with the directives of the president of the philippines that uh for now uh face-to-face learning cannot are not check allowed so distance learning shall be the shall be used prevalently as face-to-face learning is still not allowed until the third quarter of this school year there are actually six subcategories of distance learning we have online distance learning we have digital modular learning we have printed the modular learning educational television radio based instruction blended learning which is a combination of any of the subcategories of distance learning the choice of the modality to adapt to be adopted will certainly be dependent on the context of the the the child and the availability of resources in the context of the child and that of the school the primary resource that will be used are the self learning modules and this self learning modules will be converted into different content and accessible formats for us to be able to respond to the diverse needs of our learners and that includes our children with disabilities we will have them in print in digital format we'll have them converted also into interactive and inclusive ebooks which we now call eslms or e-self-learning modules where sign language interpretation and audio are embedded to respon to respond to the requirements of our children with disabilities i'd like to mention that the biennihan spirit is alive in the philippines because particularly in the department of education because the development of the self-learning modules were actually done by all regions of the country and even the conversion of these modules to video lessons to interactive formats and even audio lessons will still be a concerted effort among everyone in the department of education the self-learning modules are also converted into video lessons with sign language interpretation for educational tv and audio lessons for radio based instruction i'd like to mention that the department of education is coming up with adept at tv for this purpose and also rajo squela so the learning materials in accessible format shall be uploaded in the dependent commons and the learning management system for easy access of our learners and we're so lucky in the department of education because we have two repositories of learning resources we have the debit portal and the debit commons the depend portal contains the ready to print quality assured instructional tools that the the teaching guides the learner's materials the learning action sales resource packages samples of formative assessments lesson exemplars and eventually the digital flat of our self-learning modules while the depth at commons is designed also for forward technologies to support the direct instructional delivery inside the classroom as an alternative solution when face-to-face instruction is not possible and this is where the eslms or the inclusive eslms will be pre-loaded even the video lessons will be uploaded in the debit commons as well as interactive materials and that of our ojo lessons um schools all over the country are ready with their own mechanisms on how these learning delivery modalities shall be implemented and how learning resources shall reach our learners in their respective homes a number of schools are done actually with their simulations on how to implement the different learning delivery modalities and i take pride to report that a management committee meeting was called by our beloved secretary leonor mcdollis briones solely for our regional directors in all 17 regions in the country to report on their extent of preparation and readiness in the delivery of education particularly for our children with disabilities to operationalize the basic education continuity plan of the department of education the curriculum and instruction strand through the bureau of curriculum development and the bureau of learning delivery crafted the special education learning continuity plan to ensure that the needs of our children with disabilities are addressed in addressing the needs of our learners with disabilities during the pandemic period the unique requirements of each disability must continue to be recognized anchored on the premise of learner empowerment the principle of universal design for learning shall be applied whatever the option chosen or the modality chosen in defining curriculum and instruction that cover goals methods materials and that of assessment the learner's individualized education plan continues to be an important document in the delivery of education services for learners with disabilities as the schools or the school needs to ensure that a multi-disciplinary approach to crafting the individualized education plan will be observed to the extent feasible bearing in mind the important safety protocols and the learning space and environment will primarily be at home the learner friendly and supportive learning space for our learners with disabilities shall also be considered and it should be insured and that learning resources are customized as i mentioned earlier we have converted the number of our self-learning modules into different content formats and accessible formats because we just needed to respond to the diverse needs of our learners with disabilities and [Music] that assistance shall be provided to allow appropriate adjustments in the teaching learning process and all and all this shall be done to accommodate the learner's adjustment process to the distance learning and home based learning setup because certainly as physical classes are still not allowed then our children will be on home-based learning that for learners who can use online learning their safety from online predators also need to be addressed and i'd like also to mention that the department of education is coming up or putting up a helpless center where [Music] instances for example of abuses can also be um can also be reported the learners as well as their parents must be properly oriented on the use of the assistive devices and of course on the use of the different learning resources that are newly introduced or maybe newly introduced or learners with disabilities and that while learning facilitators and not takers can support learner because in distance learning and home-based education we feel that there's really a need or necessarily the importance of having a learning facilitator but of course the safety of the learner from the infection should also be a primary consideration and finally the department of education continues to work collaboratively with partners to respond to the needs of our children with disabilities and with the learning continuity plan for special education that we have developed the department of education is confident that it will remain in its commitment to deliver quality accessible inclusive and relevant education programs for learners with disabilities amidst kovid 19 pandemic with the pandemic we're facing our mission actually is to overcome the education crisis the challenge today is to reduce as much as possible the negative impact it has caused on learning and on schooling not just among our children with disabilities but also all our learners and with us learning together and from each other through webinar sessions such as this i'm certain that we'll win over this crisis with the thought that it has opened doors for more opportunities for all countries all over the world to share their best practices as what we're doing now and even educational resources which uh to me uh it did not it did not actually happen as much as now indeed the covert 19 is a transformative opportunity so this pandemic is a transformative opportunity that pushes us to challenge the status quo as it offers opportunities for us to even get better and to offer better services in light of the context of the children with disabilities admittedly covet 19 is a life-changing event but we will never allow it to kill the dreams of our learners with that i say good morning to everyone thank you so much okay thank you thank you so much dr leila uh for the insightful presentation just now uh well uh ladies and gentlemen dr lena has shared a very strong message here learning knows no bound and it is important to on board with vision that every child with special needs to be adequately improvided with basic education that will maximize the potential on one's development and productivity in society once again thank you dr leona and congratulations to the bad philippines on swift response conducted in promoting education and support for teachers and parents during this time trying times well ladies and gentlemen we have now come to the end of our plenary session before we move on to the next session that is q a session i would like to remind to all listeners to all viewers that you can now access to our registration and evaluation form from the link provided on the screen and please note that the link will only be available or active up to 3 30 pm malaysia time and for your information e-certificate will be issued within 14 working days for those who successfully completed the evaluation ladies and gentlemen now moving on to the q a session the webinar the webinar secretariat we have collected and compiled questions from our listeners through youtube chat box and also facebook comments now because there are so many questions here but due to limited time we have chosen four questions in which one uh one speaker will answer one question now let me read uh question number one but before that i would like to remind again here that speakers are given only one minute to respond to each question one question number one give us the idea what strategy to apply on how to make home-based learning effective and make the learners independent and self-directed despite of their special educational needs this is from mr patrick palmer and it is addressed to professor associate professor dr sharifah maryam audrunit to you dr sharifah yeah thank you so i'll try and keep it short since i you know uh one minute yeah so basically thank you so much uh patrick for that question and i think two things i want to say firstly when we talk about how to be a self-directed learner you know in in special needs pedagogy that's one very important guiding principle that we as special educators follow whenever we think about the how how to teach and that's something that's called developmentally appropriate pedagogy i'm sure many of you have are familiar with this approach it means two two key tenants of developmentally appropriate pedagogy firstly as teachers we must meet where the child is meeting the child where he or she is number one secondly when we identify targets it must be attainable targets for the child so i want to give that as a preamble because that sets the stage now let me give example as to how then we guide children with special needs towards become self-directed learners say for example you have a child with very limited skills the self-direction could be at the most basic level giving the child a choice so the child directs and chooses which tasks you choose or the example i get earlier would be for example in the new preparation the child could be given two choices and choose which one he wants to do some children can do it with two choices but they cannot deal with three so again you move up the target according to what's attainable for the child another way that we can then differentiate is to calibrate the level of problems that we can give the job you know sometimes as educators we we want so much our children to succeed sometimes we get a little bit impatient when they see that when they see the child struggle we come in with all the kinds of problems so again if we apply the idea of that the goal is to be for the child to be self-directed we need to scale it back if the the house and give the child a verbal prompt first if the child doesn't respond you argument with visual and if the child doesn't respond again then you give verbal visual and physical and you see where the child is the idea is once the child can do it again moving toward towards independence you start to remove the different kind of problems gradually until the child becomes more independent so the key idea is always work towards independent even though in the beginning the child may be needing a lot more scaffolding so in a nutshell self-directed learning doesn't mean we leave the child alone and just leave the child to do what she wants it means they're very clear that the target for the child is attainable we design scaffolded structured activities that the child can climb on his or her own leading towards independence i hope that helps thank you and uh thank you dr sharifah and i hope that mr patrick found out i hope that you are satisfied with the very comprehensive response from dr because he has listed numerous strategies and you know in actually the hbl is effective uh ladies and gentlemen now we move to the next question that is question two and this question two from miss preeda and it is addressed to dr nantanu the the questions students with disabilities are negatively affected by the classroom shutdown in additional ways they lose access to school meals and to play with their friends which are equally important for development and learning how does moe thailand addressing this matter dr mantanoon thank you for the questions that this is very um interesting and it's very important as the social skills because our school shutdown is true that students cannot play along with their peers and also they may lack of the social first opportunity because they held home and to stay with their parents and their family members so they can change their routine and change the base try to create the learning environment for example they can set up the timeline for them each day and trying to set the other terrified kind of the school-based activities and to create that in terms of studying very actual academic realm but they can change into their daily living skills so that they can create and to practice that social interactions into their health first and this is a very strong basis for them after the school reopened again thank you and also we also have like such the department also said kind of the guidelines for the parents so that they are advised to turn this how we how to change the home into the learning places we have like number one what they should do number two number three so this is very quite comprehensive um guidelines that they can okay i hope that may miss pre-dawn miss peter from thailand that you are happy with the answer and thank you so much dr nantanu now we move to question three the question three says here that what are the effective strategies do i use for my students in blended learning the sender is miss georgina golf and it is addressed to dr samto [Music] um [Music] um foreign foreign now uh let me translate into english actually this blended learning approach yeah if you can say by a learning approach it is very effective in indonesia effective indonesia meaning to say how does it go okay the student they are given materials they are given materials and they need to really look they need to study in the house and then at their own house and for three days they are they are going to be in the house for three days and another three days they go to school okay when they do come to the school they only discuss the areas or the topics that they don't understand so we need to say when we talk about this learning uh blended learning approach it is more on self-learning and tutorial teaching approach meaning to say that children they do their self-learning at home based on the material given by the teachers and when they go to school they only discuss with the teachers on certain topics that they don't understand i mean to say in indonesia they go to school six days a week we need to say that three days in the house and three days in school i hope that you can understand the the process of blended learning approach okay then that's okay thank you dr santo so i hope that miss georgian uh uh you are satisfied with the answer thank you now we move to question four uh question four this question four it is addressed to dr leila and from mr patrick pam again mr okay question four ydpat philippines has not prepared a m-e-l-c for spat program give us the idea on what competencies we are going to integrate in making our lesson plan objectives dr leila the floor is yours um good morning again to everyone um as i have mentioned earlier uh the learning continuity plan streams line the k-12 curriculum into the most essential learning competencies which are to be delivered in multiple learning delivery modalities as well as educational platforms and technologies and the streamlining of the k-12 curriculum is actually an emergency measure to allow instruction amid challenging circumstances to focus on the most essential learning and to use the requirements for adopting classroom based learning resources for distance learning i'd like to mention that um in the in the pre in the preparation for example of in the development of the self-learning modules we try to cover all the most essential learning competencies and also in the conversion of video lessons and audio lessons particularly for our children with disabilities we had to identify and it's the bureau of curriculum development to try to identify the appropriate most essential learning competencies for the different children with disabilities so so that we safely say that the important competencies in the sped program are already captured in in our milks in fact even in the development of or conversion of materials of the slms for example the self-learning modules audio lessons or video lessons they are really um they're really uh intended they're really intended for or we made it sure that we produce video lessons and audio lessons that are appropriate for our children with disabilities okay uh oh okay thank you so much dr leila ladies and gentlemen uh we have now come to the end of our webinar session that is for new normal for special education therefore we would like to express our sincere appreciation to our distinguished keynote speakers dr ethel pasqua valenzuela and our speakers dr uh associate professor dr sharifah mariam al-junis dr nantano tsunawanun dr samto raviro and dr lila prinera ariola and also samuel secretariat and ministers of education of senior member countries for your endless support to samusan and not to forget our dear participants who has been with us for almost three hours from this morning showing your high enthusiasm in seeking knowledge to better educate our learners with disabilities and my utmost respect to all of you ladies and gentlemen as much as we enjoy this webinar as saying goes all good things must come to an end however inshallah this will not be the end of saviors and webinar series and i hope that everyone here please visit to our website our website for updates and do follow our twitter facebook and instagram and with that good luck and best wishes for everyone may success busy please visual always now i would like to hand over the session to our beloved mca mr dolkanai and assalamualaikum and thank you thank you madam salman for moderating the keynote and tennery sessions we have come to the end of our webinar new normal for special education professor doctor ladies and gentlemen i'm pleased to inform that the registration and evaluation link has been activated you are reminded to complete both registration and evaluation within three hours the link will be available until 3 30 pm malaysia time e-certificates will be emailed to respective participants through your registered email address within 14 days for updates you are welcome to like and follow our social media pages facebook instagram twitter through the link address on the screen for those who have just joined the full webinar recording can be watched at semiosan youtube channel if you have further inquiries you may reach us at webinar oig on behalf of the webinar committee and simulsane i would like to again express our sincere thanks to everyone for tuning through our life where we are our highest appreciation to all speakers for your sharing and participation until we meet again in our next webinar thank you and assalamualaikum you

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Length: 159min 40sec (9580 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 23 2020