Where do resource teachers operate?

evolving_doors

Just wondering in general do the schools usteachinfolk are in;

A. Withdraw students for 1to1 and small group resource hours..
or
B. operate in some manner within the classroom during the mainstream teacher's class?

I'd be interested to know what teachers general experiences are.

My 2cents is that there is a danger of a resource teacher being used as a 'classroom assistant' as some sna's (special needs assistants) currently are (which is also unethical). In Ireland (as far as i'm aware )there is no position called a 'classroom assistant' so I think the practice of people being used to fulfill this role should stop until the roles are clearly defined. Similarly if you are 'team teaching' with another teacher under the guise of providing resource then does this benefit that particular student in the mainstream class who is entitled to those hours.

Essentially should resource teaching be similar to a 1 to 1 grind?

byhookorbycrook

It very much depends on the need of the child. If social skills are the issue ,withdrawing one to one will not be of much use. If your school does IEPs you need to draw up targets for the child and decide which is best for the individual.If you are taking a child alone, you need a glass panel in the door or else leave the door open.

evolving_doors

I suppose it does depend on the student alright, I was mainly wondering if any resource teachers out there are expected to be in the class during the resource time.
If social skills are an issue then maybe sitting beside them in the class might be even more of an exclusion than withdrawing them from class. e.g. in a school I taught in a few years ago I was expected to shadow a student and keep them 'on task'. Really not a good situation as the class wouldn't sit near them when they knew i'd be present. I think this was more isolating than if the student had been withdrawn for certain times to keep them up to speed with the rest of the class. Maybe this is not such an issue in primary school but with teenagers in a secondary school I think withdrawing is the usually the best way to go.

amz5

The learning support teacher is supposed to spend about 50%+ time in the classroom now.
This is obviously a different role to the resource teacher, but I'm just putting that information out there.

Many resource children have difficulties in social situations. Sometimes they have conflict management difficulties. Our resource teacher takes these children in groups for conflict management classes. Some could say that this is wasting the class teacher/other childrens time more so than the resource teacher and resource child's time. However, most of the time both teachers are working in the best interest of the child.

I know that one of the children who has resource time in our school has some of his time during PE time and the teachers team-teach, but the resource teacher can leave with the child if he has a tantrum. This means that he has support from a qualified teacher when he has an outburst on a 1 to 1 situation. He can discuss his emotions and a qualified professional is with him to note the triggers rather than depending on the class teacher who has 30+ other teacher to keep her eyes on. This means that he has extra support in a group situation. It has been noted that outbursts happen in social situations and especially when there are competitive games, so the alternative would be that the whole class would never have games after learning the skills involved with basketball etc. The SNA isn't qualified to take a group and teach them at PE so that isn't an option. However, the resource teacher can take a group and work on the skills. The SNA also isn't allowed to take the child out to discuss the outburst etc - they can only go for a short walk with the child if there is an outburst. They can't supervise or teach in that situation.

Just my 2c.