Full training necessary, says federation

Press, 27 February 1986, Page 36

Full training necessary, says federation

PA Hamilton Teachers must be fully trained to cope with emergencies which may occur when children with specific disabilities are placed in normal classrooms, according to the New Zealand Principals’ Federation. The federation has released a statement saying it is a source of alarm that teaching staff may be ill-equipped to deal with emergencies which may happen through having these children in normal classrooms with larger numbers of children. The statement says there are distinct advantages to having children with specific disabilities in the main stream of education.

But the principle of “mainstreaming” means school principals must let any child presented to them enrol, regardless of any problems the child may generate for the school and its organisation, the statement says. In some cases modifications to buildings, such as

ramps and special toilet facilities are required and in other cases extra staff assigned. But the federation questions the ability of normal teaching staff to deal with possible emergencies arising from mainstreaming. It gives the example of a school in Hamilton, which recently enrolled a child with a specific cardiac problem. On enrolment the school was made aware that at any time the child might suffer to the extent that cardio-pulmonary resuscitation should be administered immediately and correctly by the nearest teacher. “There is no assurance that the teacher or any person on the staff would be competent to do this and the child’s life could be in jeopardy.”

The federation wants to see full training “in techniques necessary to ensure preparedness for any emergency” provided immediately at departmental cost as an integral part of training for all teachers.