•
Schools used a clearly established consultative process to decide
which children would participate in NEMP. Generally, this involved
principals discussing the children individually with at least one
other (and often more) staff members.
• Schools decided to include/exclude children with special needs
on a case by case basis: |
School
B:
We chose to keep the child as part of the testing process. . . . His
needs were physical and not intellectual, and he didn’t need
any extra assistance to complete tasks.
|
|
School
F:
As a staff we sat down and discussed this decision. We decided, why
put a child into a testing situation who would score all zeros and
only have an attention span of about two minutes? The main reason
was for the sake of the child |
|
•
Schools’ decision-making was influenced by their recognition
of the importance of maintaining the random sample in the NEMP process:
|
School
C:
We didn’t consider recommending that any of the students be
substituted or changed because it had been clearly stated that it
was a random sample. Substituting children or asking for them to be
replaced is not really an option. If you have special needs children
on the list and they are being catered for in a mainstream setting,
then why shouldn’t they participate
|
|
School
E:
They [NEMP] say that if there are any special reasons for a child
to be taken from the list because of special needs, then schools can.
Obviously they [NEMP] are aiming to be inclusive and not pre-empt
a child’s participation. |
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•
The support that NEMP gave schools was important in ensuring the success
of the assessment process in general and the inclusion/exclusion decision-making
in particular: |
School
C:
The whole thing was easy to do . . . and easy to run. . . . There
were no problems, and we were absolutely happy with it. |
|
School
D:
We had close contact with NEMP before they came. . . . There was good
consultation before, during and after the process. . . . They were
in tune with what we needed and what we said. . . . We have been fully
supported throughout the process. |