Special Education in Vocational Schools, Research Paper Example

The students with special needs may apply to the vocational schools of their choice to be equipped with skills of trade. The student counselors in vocational schools work hard to find a suitable placement depending on the interest of the student. The development of special education in the vocational schools can be traced to the elementary schools system even before the introduction of the comprehensive school system (Jorgensen, 2008). In the beginning, the special education concentrated on providing instructions for the pupils who had sensory disabilities. Some of the first schools to be established to provide for special education were catering for people with visual impairments, motor impairments and the hearing impairments. There was a period in which fork education was said to be the responsibilities of the local authorities, the consequence was that a lot of children with disability were excluded from schools during the period the system was undergoing reforms. As a result, the education for the people with disability was provided through philanthropic initiatives of charitable individuals and organizations (Rainforth & York-Barr, 2005). The second period is when the compulsory education act came into existent after the Second World War, while all the children were given the right to education the children with intellectual disabilities were left out from undertaking education. The third phase is characterized by the launch of the comprehensive schools and the development for the care programs of the disabled. In addition to the provision of medication and rehabilitation, the vocational rehabilitation programs were also established. The process of unification of educational started and there was also increase in the number of special education and specialization in different disability areas. As a result, ne form of educations emerged to meet the needs of the disabled people. Later in the 1970, the concept of normalization and integration of the children was brought up (Tumbull, 2002). This was aimed at making the live of the disabled as normal like the other people. The aim was to increase the opportunity of people with special needs to attend the regular schools that they would have attended without disability and they were given special support and instructions (Stainback, & Stainback, 2005).

1. How has inclusion worked to date in vocational schools?

Inclusion being a principle that require the development of both the system and he operational structures for the provision of quality education to the special needs children, more so require the development of supportive culture and the legal tools that will promote the success of all the children in the learning process. As such, when planning for the education of the children with special needs, the possibility of such a child attending and being trained in the local schools are given the first priority. This process involves assessing the resources needed by the schools in order to provide the education that will help the child learning. It is only when the assessment has indicated that the support required will be very demanding that the child will be transferred to an institution that will offer the best education possible. As a result of a few challenges that are inherent in the mainstream educational system, the stakeholders in the special education have proposed that provision of special education be changed to concentrate on prevention of the situation or support for a much early age than currently practiced (Karen & Saker, 2006).

As a result of the inclusion program that sought to make the lives of the people with disability as normal as possible, the student with disabilities were admitted in the mainstream education system. The process involved providing the special needs support to the affected so that they can earn like the other students and pupils in the learning institutions. This involved including the children with special needs in the mainstream classes and providing the needed special needs educations to the pupils allocated in small groups in the classes. It is only when this first alternative to inclusion of the children with disability in the education system fails that the student will be placed in special classes or even schools depending on the level of support required (Gaylord-Ross & Robert, 2002). To date, the process of inclusion has developed in the following process, to start with, the separate curricula for the students with special needs was abolished making them use the same curricula with the able students and pupils. The curricula are only individualized using the education plan so that the student with special needs is provided the special support they require to learn and develop. Secondly, inclusion as currently practiced has provision and demand for the inclusion of the welfare of the pupil with the disability welfare in the curriculum.

III. What teacher and curriculum initiatives are needed in vocational/special education to form a successful partnership?

Vocational institutions can establish a system in which the pupils and student can be provided education in the hospitals and in custody. This is especially helpful for the children who are aggressive or suffering due to the fact there emotional life. Such children students can be referred for psychiatric examination to be treated and have flexibility to return to school. The problem experienced now is that some of the student waits to be admitted to the hospital by welfare officials for a long period of time interfering with treatment program. The other difficulty is the fact that it is difficult for the teachers to organize lessons for the pupils returning to schools after treated in hospitals (Gartner,& Dorothy, 2002).

The early childhood education should be included in the system so that the students will be able to learn the social skills as he or she grows. This will help them in their vocational trainings. This is argued will enable the special need children to proceed with education more flexibly form early years to pre primary and then to the basic education.

It is imperative that the curriculum and the teachers of the special need children to take extra strength to come up with initiatives that support eh pupils’ emotional and social skills from an early age of learning (Bowe, 2004). This is because the values that special need education and inclusion program is based on the aspect of human right and equality of the child that require special support. While the children have a right to safe learning and growing environment, the schools should stress the inclusion aspect and well being of all the children and respect of the special needs children. It is therefore imperative that they are protected from bullying and discrimination of other students (Goodman & Libby, 2008).

1. How can your shop/shop related programs integrate mutually compatible career goals for all students?

The special talented people can be effectively trained and equipped with Vocational skills like automotive repair shop so as they are able to earn a living at the end of their education. In the vocational trainings, the student with special interest in given area can be provided with instruction in the form of special education. it is important that there welfare need are also taken into account when they are being trained in the vocational schools using the special education and treatment (Goodman, Libby, 2008). The vocational training schools have gone through an evolutionary process. This is because it is majorly influenced by other factors like economic development, societal issues and the development of the entire educational system as a whole. These development process has played an imperative role in not only the definition of the vocational education, but also the important issues like how, where and when it is provided and to whom. It is important that there are many legal definitions of vocational education which are critical in determining how the service is provided and for what purpose. The common definition of special education in vocational schools is the attempt to integrate the job in the career skill education (Smith, 2007). Some of the components of vocational education include agricultural education, health occupation education, business education technology education and family and consumer education among many other programs.

Works cited

Bowe, F., Making Inclusion Work. Upper Saddle River, N.J: Prentice Hall.2004.

Gartner, A.,& Dorothy K., Inclusion and School Reform: Transforming America’s Classrooms. Brookes Publishing Company. 2002.

Gaylord-Ross, Robert K. Integration strategies for students with handicaps. Baltimore: P.H. Brook.2002.

Goodman, Libby. Time and learning in the special education classroom. Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press. 2008.

Jorgensen, C.M. Restructuring high school for all students: Taking inclusion to the next level. Baltimore: Paul H. Brooks Publishing co.2008

Karen Z., Sadker, M., Teachers, Schools and Society: A Brief Introduction to Education with Bind-in Online Learning Center Card with free Student Reader CD-ROM. McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages. pp. 48, 49, 108, 2006.

Rainforth B., York-Barr, J. , Collaborative Teams for Students With Severe Disabilities: Integrating Therapy and Educational Services. Brookes Publishing Company. IBHBN 1-55766-291.2005.

Smith, P., “Have we made any progress? Including students with intellectual disabilities in regular education classrooms“. In O’Brien, John. Intellect Dev Disabil 45 (5): 297–309. 2007.

Stainback, S & Stainback, S., Support Networks for Inclusive Schooling: Interdependent Integrated Education. Paul H Brookes Pub Co. IOCLC.2005.

Turnbull, Ron “Exceptional Lives: Special Education in Today’s Schools (3rd ed.)Merrill Prentice Hall. New Jersey. 2002.