Inclusive Education

At the center of B.C. provincial Inclusive Education Policy are the following beliefs:

• Everyone can learn; all children can, and do, learn.                                                                                     
• Learning is an individual an​d social process, each student benefits from learning with their peers. Each student needs to feel like they belong, are valued, and have a contribution to make.
• Learning requires active participation: each student needs purposeful roles and responsibilities.
• Learning occurs in a variety of ways and at different rates; each student is unique in their abilities and needs.

Inclusive Education Supports:

The District Inclusive Education Team is a group of specialists who collaborate with classroom teachers and families to establish and monitor the interventions, goals and strategies being put in place to help your child be safe and successful at school. For some learners, this also involves the creation of an Individualized Education Plan or Learning Plan. Referrals for these services are made through your child’s classroom teacher to the School-Based Team. Your child’s teacher is the best place to begin when you have a question or concern.

School Based Team

• Principal and Vice Principal can help guide parents with the next steps in how to support your child through the education system. Principal/Vice-Principal ensures that every student who has special needs is assigned a case manager, an individualized education plan is developed and implemented and that parent/guardians are regularly provided with information concerning their child’s educational progress. The Principal/Vice-Principal is available to consult with parents/guardians who are concerned with their child's education program.
• Classroom teachers have the primary responsibility for establishing and monitoring your child’s plan. The classroom teacher is responsible for the planning, implementation, assessment and reporting of the student's educational program.
• Literacy Teachers focus on improving the reading skills for their students working specifically with students in grades k to grade three. Literacy support teacher work in classrooms.
• Resource Teacher provides services to students and staff in the regular classroom as well as alternate environments and works in collaborative and in a consultative manner with classroom teachers, principals, the school-based team, special education assistants and others.
• School Counsellor: School counsellors facilitate social-emotional and behavioral support for learners at school (i.e., self-regulation, friendships, anxiety in the school setting). Where a student is experiencing difficulties across a variety of settings, or is presenting with a need requiring more intensive, individualized support, the school’s counsellor will work with the student and family, to refer the student to an outside service provider.
• Educational Assistants are assigned to learning environments and provide additional support to a variety of students.
• School Based Team is a problem-solving group that works with classroom teachers to develop educational programs for students who require additional support. SBTs make decisions regarding case managers, referrals (to other services, speech language pathologists, psychologists, etc.) and the allocation of resources. School-Based Teams meet on a regular basis in all schools.

District Inclusive Education Team

Referrals for these services are made through your child’s classroom teacher to the School-Based Team. Your child’s teacher is the best place to begin when you have a question or concern.

• Inclusive Education Teacher works with your child’s classroom teacher to provide support to your child and co-ordinate your child’s support plan. Assist classroom teachers with adaptations and modifications to meet the diverse needs of all students in an inclusive environment. Connect school teams and students to Provincial Outreach Programs, including POPARD (Autism Outreach), POPFASD (Fetal Alcohol Spectrum) and PIOP (Inclusion Outreach). Help to facilitate communication among classroom teachers, special education teachers, paraeducators, administrators and other support personnel.
• Integration Support Teacher works specifically with students who are designated under the Ministry of Education and Child Care category A, physically dependent with multiple needs. Students who are designated under this category need complete support in feeding, toileting, dressing, mobility (walking), and personal hygiene.
• Speech Language Pathologist supports school teams in developing strategies to support communication and speech skills. SLP services may include a range of services encompassing prevention, identification and assessment, therapy, program development and planning through consultation and collaboration with other educators, in-service training, information sharing with families and other service providers.
• Teacher of the Deaf or Hard of Hearing provides direct service to students whose educational and social emotional development is significantly impacted by hearing loss. https://popdb.sd38.bc.ca/
• Teacher of the Visually Impaired provides direct service to students whose educational and social emotional development is significantly impacted by vision loss. A student with visual impairment is one whose visual acuity is not sufficient for the student to participate with ease in everyday activities. The impairment interferes with optimal learning and achievement and can result in a substantial educational disadvantage unless adaptations are made in the methods of presenting learning opportunities, the nature of the materials used and/or the learning environment. It is not intended to include students described as having visual perceptual difficulties unless they also have a vision loss. https://www.prcvi.org/default.aspx
• Teacher of English Language Learning support classroom teachers and ELL teachers to increase student academic success by enriching English development in the areas of listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Students qualify for ELL support through a needs-based assessment and must meet Ministry of Education criteria.
• School Psychologist have specialized training in evidence-based approaches to assessing and supporting students’ learning, behavior, social skills, and mental health. They are also trained to support systems-level services, such as school-wide and district-wide approaches. School Psychologists work collaboratively with the Inclusion Support Team, School-Based Staff, Families, and Community Service Providers and help with identifying, assessing, and interpreting learning challenges.
• Occupational Therapists aim to enable the student to actively engage in learning, participate in all aspects of school life and ultimately, achieve his/her potential. OTs do this by Assessment, planning and goal development in relation to a student’s fine motor development, visual perceptual skills, sensory processing abilities and activities of daily living skills. Evaluation of the environment and making recommendations to improve the fit for greater access and participation.  Priority 1 is to support students with wheelchairs, lifting, toileting, and equipment protocols.
• Physical Therapists address the physical and health needs of students who require mobility support. They look at student performance by focusing on gross motor skills, assess alignment, posture and coordination skills and provide adaptations for student participation in a variety of areas including physical activity within the school and community.
• Hospital Homebound is a service that is provided for students who have been away from school for an extended period of time as a result of a recent hospitalization. The purpose of Hospital Homebound Education Services is to support students to continue their education program while absent from school for periods during the school year because of illness or related medical reasons and help the student transition back into their school setting.
• Alternative Schools: Parkside Secondary and Kitimat City High

Provincial Supports:

• SETBC is a BC Ministry of Education Provincial Resource Program established to work with school districts to support students who require or would benefit from using technology to access their educational programs. SET-BC services to school districts include consultation and collaboration; Professional Development and training; classroom and student resources; and technology loans. https://www.setbc.org/
• POPARD: The Provincial Outreach Program for Autism Related Disorders Provides consultation, training, and support services to all public and independent schools across the province or British Columbia (BC). We provide support and training to both students and adults, including teachers, educational assistants, community partners, and parents of students with ASD. https://autismoutreach.ca/ 
• POPFAS The Provincial Outreach Program for Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder. The mandate of the program is to increase educators’ capacity to meet the learning needs of students with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder. https://www.fasdoutreach.ca/
• PIOP Provincial Inclusion Outreach Program Inclusion Outreach assists school teams and families in developing meaningful and inclusive programs for K-12 students with multiple and complex disabilities within BC schools. The strategies, learning modules and other resources in this website are provided to maximize student learning. The Inclusion Outreach team builds capacity in schools by providing direct training and ongoing distance mentoring support to district partners, teachers, therapists, itinerants, and educational assistants. https://www.inclusionoutreach.ca/

Our goal is to create inclusive learning environments where students feel accepted, valued, confident and safe to engage in learning, and where collaborative teams are committed to a shared vison to support students in reaching their full potential.