Products
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Certificate Course in
Special Education
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Introductory Course on
Inclusive Education for teachers from non-government schools
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Workshops for SENA teachers
and educators
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Newsletter, Handbooks and
Conference Proceedings, Annual Reports
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Special Education Unit
Resource Library
Certificate Course on Special Education
Since 1995, SEU and Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD)
have jointly conducted a 14-month, part-time, in-service Certificate in Special
Education Programme to train teachers to become SENA teachers. So far, about
211 SENA teachers at the elementary and secondary level have already been
trained and are allocated to primary and secondary schools statewide. SENA
teachers act as resource to classroom teachers and are the key people in the
delivery of Special Education services in an inclusive school system.
Introductory Course on
Inclusive Education for teachers from non-government schools
An Introductory
Special Education Course for teachers from
Non-Government Schools has been organized by the SEU in collaboration with
Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD). It has been designed to enhance the
implementation of inclusive education in non-government schools. It aims
to make teachers aware of the variety of teaching strategies and methods to
manage and accommodate children with special needs in inclusive classrooms.
The course comprised of 20 lecture/workshop
sessions and is held in the SEU on Tuesday afternoons. Workshop sessions were
delivered by staff of SEU, invited speakers from UBD and other agencies.
Newsletter, report,
Handbooks, Conference Proceedings, articles
Special Education Newsletters,
Special Education Report, Special Education Handbook for Teachers, Learning
Assistance Teacher Handbook, Handbook for Headmasters/Principals, Special
Education Policy Guidelines Handbook, First National and First International
Conference Proceedings on Special Education produced by the Special Education
Unit are intended not only to be useful references and guides, but also to raise
awareness of special needs for educators as well as parents and all those who
provide services to learners with special educational needs. Newspaper articles
on various topics have been written by the SEU and published both in Malay and
English.
Workshops for SENA
teachers and educators
Monthly workshops are conducted
by the SEU to provide professional development for SENA teachers. These
workshops equip the SENA teachers with skills to be better able to provide
support to classroom teachers. The content of these workshops is negotiated to
ensure that they are directly relevant to the teachers' needs and the Ministry
of Education requirements. They also equip SENA teachers with the skills to
provide in-service training to the school staff on the basic principles of
special education.
In addition, the SEU has
conducted school based workshops for educators where requested by schools. Its
aim is to create awareness in special education in an inclusive setting. This
promotes educators to work collaboratively in providing the appropriate service
to learners with special needs and to understand better the delivery of special
services.
Special
Education Unit Resource Library
The SEU plans to develop the
current Resource Library so that it
may be used as a National Resource Centre for Special Education. The SEU Resource
Library houses reference books and materials on special education for
professionals, parents and students. A catalogue of available resources is
being prepared.
Since early 2001, the S.E.U. has
purchased a variety of books on special education. Reference works held in the
library include Special Education Newsletters, Quarterly Reports, Bi-Annual
Reports, Annual Reports and Conference Proceedings (1996, 1997 and 1999). Two
sets of journals are available, the International Journal of Special Education
(1996 to 2001) and the British Columbia Journal of Special Education (1977 to
1996).
Support Services for Students with
Hearing Impairment
Students with
special needs include those who have sensory impairment. In
1998, a specialist from Canada in hearing impairment (HI)
trained 13 SENA teachers. Follow-up training on hearing
impairment was conducted by ISESCO. Identified students with HI
are studying in both government and non-government schools.
Regular teachers and SENA Teachers have been trained by the SEU
on strategies to assist these students in inclusive settings.
Workshops on Sign Language have been conducted for parents of
students with HI in order to facilitate more effective
communication.
The workshops
included training in the use of signing hand codes, finger
spelling, expressive and receptive communication, facial
expression and other non-verbal means of communication.
Different
resources for students with HI are also implemented. These
include the Microlink FM System, hearing aids and amplifiers to
assist the students to achieve their academic goals.
