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Module II
Didactic Basics
for
Learning Assistants
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Module Curriculum
Summary of Contents
Module Title
Purpose
Preferred Entry Level
Special Requirements
General Aims
Units
Specific Learning
Outcomes
Time
Presence Content
Indicates the module content. This title appears on the learner’s
certificate.
Describes in summary what the learner will achieve on successfully
completing the module and in what learning and vocational contexts
the module has been developed. Where relevant, it lists what
certification will be awarded by other certification agencies.
Recommends the level of previous achievement or experience of the
learner.
Usually ‘none’ but in some cases detail is provided here of specific
learner or course provider requirements. There may also be
reference to the minimum safety or skill requirements that learners
must achieve prior to assessment.
Describe in 3-5 statements the broad skills and knowledge learners
will have achieved on successful completion of the module.
Structure the learning outcomes
Describe in specific terms the knowledge and skills that learners will
have achieved on successful completion of the module.
Time spent for a training session. Time unit represents an hour.
Presenting / providing a content of the training
Method
The established, prescribed process of achieving certain success at
module implementation with accuracy and efficiency.
Portfolio of Assessment
Provides details on how the learning outcomes are to be assessed.
Literature
Published source, written or spoken material related to training topics
and aims
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Introduction
A module is a statement of the standards to be achieved to apply the vocational
educational training. Participants are assessed to establish whether they have
achieved the required standards.
The standards in a module are expressed principally in terms of specific learning
outcomes, i.e. what the learner will be able to do on successful completion of the
module. The other elements of the module - the purpose, general aims,
assessment details and assessment criteria - combine with the learning outcomes
to state the standards in a holistic way.
It is the course providers who are responsible for the design of the learning
programmes. The duration, content and delivery of learning programmes should
be appropriate to the learners’ needs and interests, and should enable the learners
to reach the standard as described in the modules. Modules may be delivered
alone or integrated with other modules.
The development of learners’ core skills is a key objective of vocational
education and training. The opportunity to develop these skills may arise through
a single module or a range of modules. The core skills include:
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taking initiative
taking responsibility for one’s own learning and progress
problem solving
applying theoretical knowledge in practical contexts
being numerate and literate
having information and communication technology skills
sourcing and organising information effectively
listening effectively
communicating with people with learning disability
working effectively in group situations
understanding health and safety issues
reflecting on and evaluating quality of own learning and achievement.
Course providers are encouraged to design programmes which enable learners to
develop core skills.
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Module Title
2
Purpose
Didactic Basics - for learning assistants
This module is a statement of the standards to be achieved to provide effective training of
didactic basics for the participants based on the aims expresses in this document.
The module is designed to equip the learner with knowledge and skills in supporting
individuals with learning disability.
This module is particularly appropriate for staff who work and care for adults with learning
disability.
3
Preferred Entry Level
Relevant life and work experiences.
4
Special Requirements
Room with chairs, alternative space for role-playing in small groups
Materials according to the chosen self-awareness experiment.
The participants should have knowledge about the precise descriptions of the
differences in disabilities and the different categories of mental development
disorders.
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General Aims
Learners who successfully complete this module will: learn the principles of
working with people with special needs, adult education organizations as tutor,
communication with disables, understand the role of an educational assistant, and
interaction with disables and their learning methods.
6
Units
The specific learning outcomes are grouped into 7 units.
Unit 1- The principles of working with people with special needs
Unit 2- The fundamental principles of adult education using an example from an
educational institution
Unit 3- The wishes and needs of people with special needs
Unit 4- Examination of the role of the educational assistant
Unit 5- Learning principles with special reference to inclusive adult education
Unit 6- Social behaviour
Unit 7- Self-awareness
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Specific Learning Outcomes
Unit 1
The principles of working with people with special needs
Learners should be able to:
The assistants are familiarised with the fundamental principles and central
ideas of working and living with disabled people.
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Unit 2
The fundamental principles of adult education using an example
from an educational institution
Learners should be able to:
Know the principles of adult education
Become acquainted with the organization and structure of an institution in
the adult education sector
Know what is expected of them from the educational institution and the
course tutor.
Unit 3
The wishes and needs of people with special needs
Learners should be able to:
To communicate with disabled people instead of talking about them,
To listen and to learn from them and to examine personal opinions
(prejudices).
Unit 4
Examination of the role of the educational assistant
Learners should be able to:
Examination of the role of the educational assistant
Be clearer about their motives and their images of disability. The nature of
the “assistance” should not only be understood on a cognitive level,
but also as a process, an inner attitude, which requires a willingness to learn
on different levels (cognitive and emotional).
Unit 5
Learning principles with special reference to inclusive adult
education
Learners should be able to:
The educational assistants get an insight into learning principles and
methods concerning people who have mental or learning disabilities.
Unit 6
Social behaviour
Learners should be able to:
To reduce the fear of educational assistants in problem situations and
present ideas as to how they can be supportive in their roles as assistants.
Unit 7
Self awareness
Learners should be able to:
To experience a change of role; from someone who can cope with daily life
without aid, to someone who relies on help for daily activities.
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Time
This module consists of a total of 10 hours divided into 8 hours of presence learning and
approximately 2 hours of online and self study.
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Presence Content
Recommended
Time (hours) Unit
1
Unit 1; The principles of working with people with special needs
Unit 2; The fundamental principles of adult education using an example from an
1
educational institution
1
Unit 3; The wishes and needs of people with special needs
1
Unit 4; Examination of the role of the educational assistant
2
Unit 5; Learning principles with special reference to inclusive adult education
1
Unit 6; Social behaviour
1
Unit 7; Self-awareness
Total 8 hours
* One unit is the equivalent of approx. 50 to 60 minutes based on tranferred project of “Iam2003”
descriptions, except Unit 5.
Content Details
Unit 1
The principles of working with people with special needs
The guidelines of working with disabled people in general and the fundamental ideas of inclusive adult
education include the basic principles of general adult education:
- Voluntariness: The disabled participant decides for himself which educational course he would like to
attend. He takes part in the course chosen voluntarily and for his own interests.
Possible help from the assistant: To ascertain the wishes of the participant and his interest in certain courses.
- Co-determination: All course participants voice their wishes and suggestions with regard to course content,
learning aims and teaching methods within the course. Possible help from the assistant: To give ideas, to give
assistance to the course participant in the formulation of wishes.
- Participation: Participation in cultural or societal life. Adult education enables disabled people to acquire or
develop social and personal competence and skills, this consequently eases participation and prevents
discrimination.
- Self-determination, self-determined life and emancipation:
The disabled person is no longer an object of well-meant welfare, but has the clear right to have a say in how
he should live his life and in things concerning daily life.
(Examples: choice of clothes, choice of living area or workplace, to be involved in
institutions and in society). This does not mean the complete independence of aids, but individual decisions on
the type of aid needed.
The ability to choose: The participant can choose his favourite course from a variety of different offers. He
should be aware of the spectrum of courses, and those on offer should be widely varied.
Possible help from the assistant: To allow for the access to programmes of different educational institutions,
support during the choice and registration, organizational support.
- Normalisation principle: “To allow the mentally disabled person to live a normal as
possible life” Not the disabled person, but the living conditions should be normalised, so that to a large degree
a normal life is possible.
- Help towards self-help: He will be supported on his way to a self-determined and independent life. One
does not carry out things for the disabled person; that is on behalf of him, but one gives him the capability to
do it himself. In this way he gets the aid he needs and wants.
- Empowerment: “Self-authorisation”, “capability”
A process, in which the person (with disabilities) develops his own strengths, and should use both his own as
well as social resources to improve his circumstances. The disabled person is an expert in his own right, he
does not need incapacitating care; he needs professional support, cooperation and personal assistance.
- Partnership: dealing with each other as partners, participants have equal rights and are equal, respect the
responsibility of the disabled person, acceptance of individuality, Respect and promotion of joint
responsibility and co-determination. All course participants and the course tutor learn together and from one
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another.
- Self-advocacy: The ability to vouch for one’s causes and oneself, to demand one’s rights, and to speak for
oneself. The possibilities of adult education offer people with learning difficulties room to learn and develop;
this is a prerequisite to be able to represent oneself.
Self-advocacy requires learning processes in society and the willingness to learn of all people, inclusive adult
education can make a contribution to this.
- Self-organisation means to be in posUnit of the ability to plan the course of one’s life without outside help,
in such a way that with the existing opportunities this is possible.
In educational work this means that the disabled person sets himself aims and is actively and responsibly
involved in the formation of personal learning processes.
- Principle of equality:
Equal rights for all people. With reference to lifelong learning, this means that the possibilities of adult
education should not be withheld from people with mental or learning disabilities.
Unit 2
The fundamental principles of adult education using an example from an
educational institution
The basic principles of adult education in general;
The aims of the educational institution;
The organization of the educational institution;
The range of courses, course spectrum;
Target group, structure of participants;
The financing the courses, costs of individual courses;
Possibilities of financial support for people with low income.
Unit 3
The wishes and needs of people with special needs
One or two disabled adults who are interested in educational services will be invited to this unit.
The seminar participants (educational assistants) will think about the following, prior to the
lecture, in small groups:
1. What they know about the schooling of disabled people,
2. Questions that they would like to ask the visitors concerning:
a) Their learning experiences at school;
b) Their interest in educational services/courses;
c) Their experiences with educational courses as adults;
d) Their requirements concerning help and support;
e) What they think the tasks of the educational assistant should be;
f) What would make a “good” educational assistant in their eyes;
g) Their experiences to date with carers/assistants;
h) Their opinion of what an educational assistant should not be able to do.
The questions should be left open.
Questions with yes/no answers should be avoided.
In this way the visitors have the possibility to talk and a lively discussion could develop.
The questions should serve to examine individual ideas in comparison to the actual wishes and needs of the
visitors.
The moderator of this discussion should put emphasis on a positive, friendly atmosphere; give the disabled
people enough time to formulate their wishes, recognise the constructive content of statements and be able to
formulate statements positively and constructively (reframing).
Unit 4
Examination of the role of the educational assistant
a) Personal motivation
Each participant thinks about what motives he has for the work of an educational assistant. Afterwards these
motives can be collected and sorted into concepts (ego –disabled person– society).
b) The personal impression of “mentally/learning disabled”
Do the participants have contact with people who are mentally/learning disabled?
Personal fears and insecurities with this contact?
What does mentally/learning disabled mean for you?
Has your impression changed due to what you have previously learnt and heard?
Stimulus for discussion:
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“There are no disabled people” (Feuser)
“Other people at first often only notice what we cannot do. That is why others also judge us by our inabilities.
We would like to emphasise that we are people with abilities and inabilities just like everyone else. And we
would like to be respected as people, persons”
(International League of Associations for People with Mental Disabilities)
“Disability: not a characteristic of a person, but a need for service”
c) “Assistance” is an inner attitude
“Assistance” needs...
A FORMAL CONTRACT, because without a clear agreement on what one means by assistance and what is
to be done, there is a lack of clarity and uncertainty and this really impedes self-determination.
A clear COVERAGE (insurance) within the hierarchy of the institution, because assistance includes risks.
TRUST, that people develop over and above themselves, also people with mental/learning
disabilities.
PATIENCE, because assistance is a process, and self-determination and decision-making must be practised.
TOLERANCE, because there are many ways to manage one’s life and to be happy, not only those that
I know of, the ABILITY TO HOLD BACK, when my competence is not required, even if I think it would be
urgently needed.
SUPPORT in the form of supervision,
because it relieves and qualifies, and this is very important in this type of work.” (Taken from the paper „Von
der Freizeitpädagogik zum Reisebüro für Menschen mit Behinderung“ von Helmut Walther, [“From leisure
pedagogy to the travel agent for disabled people”])
d) Exchange and support
Discussion
- For the possibility to exchange thoughts on what has been previously learnt, and about
one’s expectations and fears;
- About wishes concerning future support and further exchange with other educational
Unit 5
Learning principles with special reference to inclusive adult education
Priority is given to practical work in inclusive adult education and not to theoretical teaching of general
methodology and didactics.
The contents of both teaching units are not only very important for potential educational assistants, but also
especially for course tutors in adult education.
Due to the individuality and heterogeneity of the target group of people with special needs continual creative
and personal dedication from the educationalist is necessary, in order to achieve the best possible learning
results. In the following, general didactic and methodological principles are combined with
knowledge from special education and practical experiences from working with this group of
people.
Selected teaching principles in theory
Individualisation/participant orientation: Taking the individual starting position and individual possibilities
into account, taking the level of development into account.
Learning by doing: Give possibilities to try things out as individuals, to touch things, encourage independent
activity.
Holistic approach: Appeal to all the senses, multisensory lessons.
Structuring the learning aims: Subdivision of the learning material in to small steps.
Revision/learning loops: Strengthen the learning process and secure learning results by revision.
Reduction: The condensation of the learning material to the most important elements, to cut down a great deal
of material to those contents that are important for the intended learning of the participants.
Illustration: Presentation of the learning material in illustrated form, visualisation, learning in authentic
environments (do not talk about it, go there).
The significance for adult education in practice/ practical implementation
Individuality and participant orientation
- Observe the learning speed of the individual, give everyone time to learn people with special needs learn
slower
- Take the ability of the learning disabled person to think in abstract terms into account
- Orientate the learning aims on the needs of the participants, do not make an abstract learning aim, no
stipulation of learning aims by the course tutor
- Take the individual circumstances into account
- Orientation on the abilities of the participants, not on the deficits
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- Slow speech, easy to understand formulations in teaching materials and speech
Group size and composition
- The group size depends on the theme of the course.
In courses where knowledge transfer is important the groups should not have more than 8-10 participants.
- In the preliminary stage, perhaps even before the course announcement, the target group that this course
could address should be considered.
Experience from practice: The participants of a course with the topic “Introduction to Computer Use” were
senior citizens and people with mental impairments. This group fitted together well. The reasons for this being
the comparable speed of learning, similar inhibition levels towards the new technology, lack of knowledge in
foreign languages.
Teaching methods
- A variety and alternation of methods
- Combination of working in small groups and individual work
- Combination of teaching and exchange of experiences
- Observation of a balanced relationship between knowledge transfer and reflective methods
- Combination of cognitive and creative methods
- Active inclusion of the participants by suitable moderation methods
- Visualisation of the subject matter
Practical tip: Write down what is being discussed and pin it onto the wall, include the use of symbols and
pictures, use a digital camera
- Multisensory lessons, appeal to all the senses, allow for grasping (comprehending) in the actual sense (e.g.
touching of the material)
- Revision and learning loops
The learnt material is exercised and strengthen by revision. This allows for transfer performances; i.e. an
application and use of the learnt matter in different daily situations
- Allow for different forms of work, an open concept
- Change between partner work, group work and didactic teaching
- Practical orientation and true-to-life
Fill abstract contents with life; i.e. point out the meaning in practice or daily life
- Use handouts that may be filled in and corrected by the participants at their own pace.
- Short teaching units that only address one topic and plan ample breaks
- Learn in authentic environments, make excursions (don’t talk about it, go there/do it)
Use of media
- Alternation by the use of a variety of media
- Use of audio-visual media (film, video, music), to accommodate for the heterogeneous abilities of the
participants
(picture and word orientation)
- The computer as a learning aid, the use of educational programmes
- Pin boards, blackboards
- Use of games, possibly educational games
- Use of illustrative material
- Digital camera, Polaroid camera
Development and drawing up of recommendations and written documents
- Simple language and clear structure
- Clear founts and word size > 14 pt
- Use of pictures and symbols as an illustration and to remember the learnt matter more easily
Practical tip: during the course take photographs with a digital camera build them in to the recommendations
(e.g. Photograph the individual steps during a cookery course or the practical steps during a first-aid course)
- Use of schematic representations
- Teaching with the use of tables
- Appropriate colour use, highlight important learning contents in colour
- Use of self-explanatory illustrations
Learning climate in the course
- Create a pleasant, trusting atmosphere and favourable learning conditions
- Recognise and use the mutual support possibilities of the participants, Encourage solidarity
- Promote an exchange of experiences, allow for mutual learning of the participants
- Allow for the collection of experiences
- Recognise and address tension and conflicts in the group
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Unit 6
Social behaviour
The participants, as a group, collect problem situations that may arise in their work as educational assistants,
they then role-play the situations and look for strategies to solve these problems.
Unit 7
Self awareness
Impairments are simulated. Impairments due to mental disabilities cannot just be simulated.
Therefore as a alternative physical disabilities are usually used.
This does not have any influence on the learning aim.
Possibilities for training self-awareness:
1. Roles are distributed by drawing lots; who is the assistant and who has what type of disability. The whole
group gets a joint task, e.g. the preparation of a fruit salad.
Impairments could be: wheelchair-user, blindness (with the use of suitable glasses), difficulties in fine motor
skills (thick gloves), deafness (earphones), speech impediment (e.g. only the use of 2-word sentences),
hemiplegia (use of only one body half) etc.
2. Explore the surroundings in a wheelchair or as a blind person and carry out small tasks; for example, take a
letter to the post office, buy a newspaper, make a phone call from a phone-box, use public transport to go to
the doctor, go to the toilet in a café etc. Turns are taken in being an assistant, wheelchair-user or blind person.
3. Experience support in activities of daily living such as; eating , drinking, brushing teeth...from the
perspective of the “assistant” and the “person in need” The role of the “helper” and the role of the “needy”
should be illuminated from different aspects:
Power - powerlessness, good - bad feelings, security - insecurity, assistance - education...
To conclude – Text by Wilfried Bieneck.
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Method
The course module will utilize a variety of learning methods, including group discussions,
sharing individual experiences, case studies, role playing, individual work, and face to face
lectures. The goal of combining methods is to make learning assistants competent with
disables’ abilities and improve their teaching ability. The methods are summarized below unit
by unit;
Unit 1- Sharing individual experiences and motivation with regard to adult education, own
moral concepts and basic needs in coexistence with others, basic social rights. These
comments will be collected and the principles listed above will be worked through
using the individual statements.
Unit 2- Didactic teaching by means of a lecture, the possibility for the participants to ask
questions, open discussion.
Unit 3- Work in small groups, discussion in plenum
Unit 4- Individual work, group work, presentation, discussion
Unit 5- Pedagogic teaching, lecture with the possibility to ask questions, visualisation of what
is being said by means of an overhead projector
Unit 6- Role-playing using case studies from practical experiences, work in small groups
Unit 7- Role-play
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Portfolio of Assessment
No assessment is considered for this module.
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Literature
Recommended Readings
National Literature, Turkey
Kök Publishing (2012) Changing Attitudes Towards PWD
National Literature, Italy
Diversabilità, Canevaro A., lanes D., Editori Erickson, Trento, 2003
Disabilità e politiche sociali, Ferrucci Fabio, Editore Franco Angeli, 2005
Lavoro e disabilità, AA. VV., Editore Hpress, Monza, 2003
Quaderno n.4 - La legge Stanca: i riferimenti tecnici (CNIPA - 2005)
Ridolfi P., (a cura di), I disabili nella società dell’informazione, Franco Angeli, Milano, 2002
AAVV “Ausili:dall'identificazione del bisogno alla soluzione. II edizione”, a cura della
Regione Piemonte, 2002
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