Estonian e-course Pille Tina-Kuusik, Merje Pors Copenhagen Inclusion of SEN pupils in mainstream schools

Learning platform: Estonian e-learning platform Koolielu ( Period of validation Time: Tutor: Pille Tina-Kuusik

Participants Training group completed within 24 hours! 20 people signed up 19 started 16 finished 13 primary school class teachers, 1- 6 grade; 2 representatives of school administration;

Topics 1. week ( ) Special Educational Needs and Inclusion 2. week ( ) Monitoring student´s development. 3. week ( ) Supporting SEN students, individual educational curriculum (IEP)

Topics 4. week ( ) Universal Design of Learning 5. week ( ) Assistive technology 6. week ( ) Conclusion, feedback

Feedback questionnaire 1.Teaching experience (years) 2.What kind of SEN students have you taught? 3.Was English problem for you? 4 said No 4.To every topic: importance for this course sufficiency of instructional materials topic novelty

Relevance of topics TopicImportant Instructions, materials were sufficient Novelty SEN100%83%42% Inclusion100%67%42% Characterization100%67%33% IEP100%58%42% Legislation100%75%25% UDL92%67%58% Adaptation of learning material 100%58%25% Assistive technology92%83%92% Bulling85%83%8%

Positive feedback from 14 participants Topic is very essential. The course gave knowledge not covered by university curricula and needed in practice. Interesting and useful materials and forms. Enough feedback received from tutor. Convenient e-course format. New learning environment and materials. Peer to peer learning. Tutor was nice and professional :-)

Further improvements requested Materials shall be translated into Estonian (10 respondents). Some students expected more feedback from tutor, also from co-students (4). More examples to IEP and UDL (2). Course shall be longer and more detailed (1). Too theoretical (1). More IT tools to be used (1)

My lessons: what did I learn? Some things take much, much more time than expected. Universal Design of Learning must be used in teaching teachers, too. Instant feedback is expected by students. Students do, what they are asked to do. Not more.

Future plans There is considerable need for trainings in this topic in Estonia.