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European School Manosque – Educational support policy additional to the official documents.

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1. Local policy for educational support

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1.1. Concept

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1.2. Organisation/ Differentiation

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1.3. Who is it for?

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• students:
  • in need to improve their learning / organisational skills
  • studying in a language section different from their mother tongue
  • arriving late in the system with gaps in the language of the section
  • coming from completely different school systems (e.g. lack of incorporation of certain subjects in their previous schooling)
  • with a mild educational difficulty (e.g. lack of concentration/hyperactivity, etc.)
  • with a diagnosed special educational need

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1.4. Priorities

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• Educational support applies to all subjects; priority is given to:
  • Languages
  • Maths and Science subjects
  • Compulsory subjects
  • Exam subjects

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1.5. Limitations

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• Financial restrictions – Budget
• The school timetable (e.g. Cross sections: compiling courses for students from different sections)
• Timetable of students
• Timetable of teachers
• Availability of teachers

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1.6. Objectives

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2. Specific Educational Difficulties

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3. Organisation of Educational Support

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3.1. General Support – Procedure and Documentation

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3.1.1. Role of the Educational Support Teacher

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• The support teacher:
  • will use appropriate differentiated teaching methods
  • will undertake detailed observation and assessment
  • will decide on the most appropriate teaching strategies for the student and catch up in the areas in which the student shows weakness; in consultation with the class or subject teacher and any other professionals

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3.1.2. Role of the Student

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3.1.3. Role of the Parents

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3.1.4. Duration and General Characteristics of the Lessons

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3.2. Intensive Support A

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3.2.1. Special Arrangements up to and including S5

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3.2.2. Medical Reports

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3.2.3. Criteria for the Reports

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• Reports must:
  • Be legible, on headed paper, signed and dated
  • State the title, name and professional credentials of the expert(s) who has/have undertaken the evaluation and diagnosis of the student
  • Through medical/ psychological/ psycho-educational or multidisciplinary report, state specifically the nature of the student’s medical and/or psychological needs and the tests or techniques used to arrive at the diagnosis

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3.2.4. Procedures

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• A need for Intensive Support is identified either on enrolment or during the school year by a student’s legal representatives or teachers.
• A written request is made to the Learning support coordinator for Intensive Support by the teachers or a student’s legal representatives.
• The support coordinator contacts the student’s legal representatives and requests documentation (as outlined above) so that a meeting of the Support Advisory Group can be held.
• The Support Advisory Group meeting is held to discuss how best to meet the student’s needs and to advise the Director on the arrangements to be put in place.
• The Support Advisory Group meeting is chaired by either the Director or his/her delegate.
• The support coordinator prepares the minutes of the Support Advisory Group meeting and the Intensive Support Agreement for signing by the Director and the student’s legal representatives.
• Following the signing of the Intensive Support Agreement the support coordinator organises the Intensive Support and any other arrangements required.
• An ILP is written by the support teacher(s) in cooperation with the subject/class teacher and/or support coordinator.
• The Intensive Support Agreement is valid for one school year only and a full Support Advisory Group meeting should be held each year to begin, renew or terminate Intensive Support.
• If necessary, a meeting of the Support Advisory Group, in either plenary or restricted session, may be held at any point during the school year to evaluate and/or amend the Intensive Support Agreement.
• When the school cannot provide an appropriate education for a child it can declare itself unable to meet the child’s needs.
• In such cases, the Director takes the final decision, taking the Support Advisory Group’s opinion into account.

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3.2.5. Request for Special Arrangements in the European Baccalaureate

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• All requests for special arrangements in the European Baccalaureate cycle must be accompanied by a justifying medical / psychological / psychoeducational and/or multidisciplinary report. The reports must fulfill the following criteria:
  • Be up to date. It must not be more than two years old, i.e., it must not be dated earlier than October when in year S3 and not later than October when in year S5.
  • Be legible, on headed paper, signed and dated.
  • If not written in one of the working languages, be accompanied by a translation into French, English or German.
  • State the title, name and professional credentials of the expert(s) who has/have undertaken the evaluation and diagnosis of the student.
  • Provide a clear diagnosis according to DSM-V or ICD-10.
  • State the nature of the student’s medical/ psychological/ psycho-educational needs.
  • Contain a summary or conclusion stating the special arrangements required as well as where appropriate, recommendations for teaching/learning for the school’s consideration.
  • Reports for learning disorders need to describe the student’s strengths and difficulties through standardised scores (cognitive assessment) and their impact on learning (educational evidence) and the tests or techniques used
  • to arrive at the diagnosis.
  • Reports for medical/ psychological issues need to specify the student’s medical/ psychological needs and their impact on learning (educational evidence).

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3.2.6. List of Special Arrangements and Codes

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• The special arrangements listed below may be authorised by the school Director for S6 and S7:Separate room for the test/examination/assessment.
  1. Change of seating arrangements.
  2. Taking of medication and/or refreshment in the case of a medical condition, for example, diabetes.
  3. An assistant to provide physical care for a student to ensure his or her well-being and safety. This assistant may not be a relative of the student or a teacher of the subject that is being examined.
  4. The use of a specific learning aid which is normally used in class, for example, a magnifying glass; a hearing aid; coloured overlay; a low vision aid; coloured lenses.
  5. For colour-blind students colours can be substituted with words on the test/ examination paper or a reader can name the colours for the student.

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• The special arrangements listed below may only be authorised by the Board of Inspectors (Secondary) or the Inspector responsible for Support (Secondary). The justification for any of these arrangements needs to be contained in the specialist’s report and/or recommended by the school.
  1. Modifications to the format of the examinations.
     1 Severe dyslexia implies a Standard Score of 85 or less on a standardised academic achievement test in reading and/or writing.
     2 Severe dyscalculia implies a Standard score of 85 or less on a standardised academic achievement test in Maths
     3 Severe working memory deficits imply a standard score of 85 or less on a standardised cognitive test
  2. Additional time can be granted to students whose working pace is affected by their condition. For each hour of examination, a maximum of ten minutes can be granted. For 90 minutes’ assessments, an additional 15 minutes can be granted. For oral examinations, a maximum of ten extra minutes can be granted only for the preparation. The oral examination will take 20 minutes in any case. The examination time will not be extended.
  3. Use of a computer or laptop or a typewriter to replace handwriting for students diagnosed with dyslexia, dysgraphia or any other disorder affecting written expression. School ensures that any computer/laptop being used is cleared of stored information and the spell check function and is not connected to the Internet. It should be noted that in
     examinations, other than language examinations, competences and not language errors, are assessed.
  4. Use of a spell checker because of severe dyslexia¹. This request has to be confirmed by the school.
  5. A scribe to transcribe word for word the student’s dictated answers and to read back the student’s answers where necessary because of severe dyslexia.
  6. An audio recording of answers because a scribe is not available and because of severe dyslexia. A reader to read both the assessment paper and to read back the answers because of severe dyslexia.
  7. Use of a simple arithmetic calculator, whenever no calculator at all would be allowed, because of diagnosed severe dyscalculia², because of diagnosed severe dyslexia, severe ADHD or severe working memory deficit³
  8. Rest period(s) – during this time a student may not read, write or take notes of any kind and may leave the room under supervision.
  9. A communicator to provide assistance to a hearing-impaired candidate through sign language or lip speaking.
  10. A prompter to assist a candidate with severe concentration difficulties or neurological disability in paying attention to the assessments tasks.
  11. Written instructions for a hearing-impaired candidate.
  12. Written answers for oral examinations for a candidate who has severe difficulties in oral expression.
  13. Others
      The list above is not intended to be exhaustive. Where the student’s needs cannot be met by any of these arrangements, further appropriate arrangements may be proposed. These arrangements will be only applied if
      the school is able to provide them.
      Once the request has either been accepted or denied, a Learning Support meeting is called with the student and family and an ILP produced. This is then sent to all teachers of the student, with recommendations from the
      Learning Support Coordinator. Any arrangements are monitored by the Support Advisory Group, the form teacher, and the secondary secretary’s office, especially for implementing any special arrangements with regards to BTests or exams. Any computers that are authorized for use in exams are provided by the school, with either a QWERTY or AZERTY keyboard, depending on the language of the exam.

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4. Tasks of the Educational Support Coordinator

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• At the EIPACA, the duties of the educational support coordinator are distributed between three people; the Deputy Director of the School, the Director of Studies for European School and the Educational Support Coordinator.
• The duties of the former are:
  • to carry out a preliminary needs analysis for the following school year by gathering information from the end of the school year reports of class councils.

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5. References

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