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A study of the Remedial Programme at a Herzlia Primary School.
Mirah Stein
Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Education as a 4th year full-time
student.
Centre for Creative Education
October 2007
1
Contents
Acknowledgments ........................................................................................................……………… 5
Statement of authenticity ...................................................................................……………....6
CHAPTER 1: DESIGNING THE RESEARCH PROJECT................................………………..
1.1 Introduction....................................................................................…………………………7
1.2 Research focus...........................................................................................……………….7
1.3 Research questions....................................................................................………………10
1.4 Purposes of research.................................................................................………………11
1.5 Research perspective.................................................................................………………12
1.6 Conceptual framework ..............................................................................……………....13
CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODS...........................................................…………………
2.1 Description and justification of research method...............................…………………….14
2.2 Selection of research site........................................................................………………..16
2.3 Ways of dealing with possible threats to validity....................................…………………17
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH FINDINGS..........................................................………………….
3.1 The purpose and structure of this chapter..............................................………………...19
3.2 SECTION 1: THE PROGRAMME.........................................................……………………
3.2.1 The context of the study..........................................................................……………..19
3.2.2 Selection for the remedial programme...................................................……………...21
3.2.3 The organisation of the remedial programme.......................................……………….23
3.2.4 The application of reading in the programme.......................................……………….26
3.2.5 The sub-programmes in the remedial programme..............................………………..27
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3.3 SECTION 2: THE CHILDREN............................................................…………………..
3.3.1 The three children selected for study.................................................………………..31
3.3.2 Background information about Ashley..............................................………………...31
3.3.3 Background information about David................................................………………...33
3.3.4 Background information about llana...............................................…………………..35
3.3.5 How the three children engaged with the programme..........................…………………
Interview report 1: The remedial teacher, Mrs Venter.........................…………….36
Interview report 2: The class teacher, Mrs Donald..............................…………….43
Interview report 3: The facilitator, Lara Stern........................................……………47
3.4 Conclusion.............................................................................................………………...48
CHAPTER 4: DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS.............................................……………………
4.1 Introduction.............................................................................................………………..50
4.2 The main features of the remedial programme.......................................………………..50
4.3 The importance of reading within the programme.................................…………………52
4.4 The contrast with how reading is taught in a Waldorf school.....................
………………………………………………………………………………..53
4.5 How do the skills acquired in the remedial class help the child to cope in the mainstream
classroom?…………………………………………………………………………………………54
4.6 The problems of missing mainstream lessons..........................................……………..56
4.7 was it possible the children could have the remedial after school hours, as this would
mean that they would not have to miss out on the lessons during the day?........................57
4.8 How does the relationship of the remedial teacher and the child affect
learning?...........................................................................................………………………...58
4.8 Remedial teaching and the art of observations……………………………………………59
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4.9 The importance of patience........................................................................………….59
4.10 Communication and cooporation between the remedial teacher and the class
teacher...............................................................................................……………………..60
4.11 The social and cultural benefits of the inclusion of the remedial programme in the
Herzlia system...........
……………………………………………………………………………………61
4.12 How have these children integrated themselves into their class socially…………..63
4.13 Conclusion................................................................................................………….64
Bigliography……………………………………………………………………………………..67
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Acknowledgments
I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge and thank the following
people who have helped and guided me in successfully compiling this thesis
through helping me to achieve the goals and outcomes of the course and
answer the questions which I set out to answer. A big thank-you to the
remedial teacher, Mrs Venter, at Weitzman school who spent hours talking
with me about the remedial programme and all the components which make
up the programme, as well as giving me a full descriptions of the three
children I was researching which really helped to bring the research alive. I
also want to thank her for letting me sit in on classes and watch her while
teaching. Another thank you goes to both the class teacher, Mrs Venter and
the facilitator Lara stern who have the helped me to gain a first-hand insight
into how the programme has helped the children. I would like to acknowledge
these people for giving up their time and providing me with honest, in-depth
and valuable information to enhance my research findings as well as Megan
and Janine for the help and support during our meetings. And to Jo Stein
thank-you for all the last minute support and guidance, your knowledge was
invaluable.
Lastly, I would like to acknowledge and thank my professor, Clive Millar, for
guiding me throughout my research. Without his ongoing support and help
this thesis would not have been possible - Thank you.
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Statement of Authenticity
I, the undersigned, confirm that the research and research report are my own personal work. The report has not been submitted previously (entirely or in part) for a degree or other qualification.
Date: ____________________________________
Place: ____________________________________
Signature: _________________________________
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CHAPTER ONE
1. DESIGNING THE RESEARCH PROJECT
1.1 Introduction
The purpose of this project is to gain insight into an aspect of teaching which I
am particularly interested in: remedial teaching. The research approach I have
adopted is qualitative as opposed to quantitative as it deals with a case-study,
i.e. one small scale, real life situation which I have been researching over
approximately nine months during the course of 2007. The research has
involved the use of formal and informal interviews, as well as observation and
the analysis of children’s personal files. I chose to study one remedial
programme in depth in order to gain deeper insight into the nature of remedial
teaching as I am considering becoming a remedial teacher.
1.2 Research focus
While deciding on my research focus I kept the following things in mind:
My research needed to be manageable as I am currently attending
college full-time and have little time to do my fieldwork.
I wanted my research to deal with a real school context. I wanted to be
able to go into a school and see for myself, “hands-on”, how remedial
education was working or not working to help children cope and
hopefully, thrive.
I wanted my research to hold my attention for the duration of the year
and to be of long term benefit and value to me.
As a young child in school I attended a remedial programme similar to
the one which I decided to research. I wanted to see what went on
behind the scenes and what made the programme either a success or
a failure.
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When thinking about what my research focus would be, I initially wanted to do
an experimental research project. Since I am studying Waldorf teaching and I
am considering teaching in a mainstream school I was hoping to use my
knowledge of Waldorf teaching and conduct research which involved
implementing Waldorf teaching methods in a mainstream classroom context
in order to compare and contrast the two teaching practices and assess which
was more beneficial to the children’s learning. After talking to my professor
about the pros and cons of undertaking such a large research project,
however, I decided against it.
I thought again about teaching and what it meant to me. I thought about my
school experience and what compelled me to become a teacher. It was
certainly not the money! Rather, it was almost a “calling”, or a “knowing” that I
could help children, especially those with learning difficulties, to have a
positive primary school experience such as I was privileged to have had.
As a young child I received remedial lessons, as I needed the extra support.
Luckily the school I went to provided a comprehensive and well-developed
remedial programme, which I attended throughout primary school. So
naturally the second thing that came to my mind was remedial teaching, as it
has always remained dear to my heart and is one of the reasons I was
attracted to teaching in the first place.
My first instinct was to go back to the primary school where I had received my
own schooling. I have fond memories and strong bonds with many of my
teachers including my dear remedial teacher Mrs Redomsky. I was kept back
in grade two and started received remedial support from then.
The Herzlia group of schools are private schools which have access to good
resource materials including books, educational games, computers and
activities which helped me to acquire the skills I needed in order to keep up
with the rest of my class. The remedial support gave me the confidence to
participate in my class lessons and to be confident about my work. It also
taught me not to be afraid to ask for help if I did not understand something
and that it was not a bad thing if I was not at the same standard as the rest of
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my classmates and friends. During my primary years at school I was taught
that each child is an individual with different strengths and weaknesses and I
never had the feeling that I was being compared to the rest of the class.
If I think about remedial teaching, the first thing that springs to mind is my
lower primary remedial teacher. Her kindness and support made me feel
confident and proud of my work even though I knew I was far from being the
brightest in the class. She would always encourage me to do my best and
seemed to have an intuitive ability to know when my spirits were down. She
made school and learning fun and enjoyable and I really do believe that she
contributed greatly to my learning progress in the primary years. Therefore
when the idea of doing my research dissertation shifted to remedial teaching,
my primary school remedial teacher was the person I knew I should contact. I
wanted to research a school remedial programme which I knew really
supported learning and a remedial programme which really worked with the
children’s individual needs to make the learning experience as positive and
enriching for the pupils as possible. Therefore I realized there was only one
place where I wanted to do my research and I was sure that my old remedial
teacher would be only too pleased to help me during the process.
I called and spoke to my remedial teacher who, as I had expected, was only
too happy to help me, especially when I told her that I was considering
becoming a remedial teacher. She said, “You can come and do your practical
with me.” This put a smile on my face and I said I would call in a couple of
days to set up an appointment with her to discuss what I needed to do
concerning my research project. When I called I was told that she had
suddenly fallen ill and would not be coming back to school until further notice
when a diagnosis had been made.
I wanted to do my research in a school where I knew the needs of the children
where really catered for and which offered a good and thorough remedial
programme. My second option was Herzlia Weitzman. I had done practicals
there and my aunt, uncle and mother had gone to the school. While doing my
practical there some years ago, I had felt that the school really focused on
learning needs of the children in a positive way. I had had a brief interaction
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with the remedial teacher and she seemed friendly and the children leaving
my class to have lessons with her always seemed pleased and happy to go to
their remedial lessons.
I called and spoke to the remedial teacher. I explained who I was, what I
needed to do and that I had gone to Herzlia Highlands and was going to do
my research there with the remedial teacher Mrs Redomsky, but due to
circumstances I could not. She was very obliging and so I set up a time to
speak to her. After speaking to her informally about what my research entailed
she agreed to help me as much as possible and so my research began at
Weitzman.
Although I did not have a research question yet, I had a focus as well as a
school where I would do my research. The school and the remedial
programme had given me my general focus which I would refine and work
with as time went by.
1.3 Research questions
Initially I formulated tentative research questions which reflected my interest in
remedial education. These questions were:
Whether the remedial programme offered by the school was
individualized to cater for the different needs of each child,
Whether the remedial programme helped children to cope within the
classroom situation,
How the remedial programme worked and what it included.
These questions were of interest to me because of my first hand experience
in a remedial programme. I was eager to assess whether the programme was
individualized or if the children were all given the same work. Most
importantly, I wanted to know if the work that the children did during the
remedial lessons was beneficial and helpful to the learning process they
underwent in their normal classroom. In fact, all the questions I wanted to
10
research were based in my personal experience and prompted by my
investment in possibly becoming a remedial teacher myself.
After my initial conversation with the remedial teacher and talking to her briefly
about the programme, I felt confident about doing my research at Weitzman. I
felt I had hands-on experience with the remedial programme offered at
Highlands Primary and that focusing on another school with another
programme would be beneficial as it would tell me if other schools provided
children with as positive a remedial experience as I felt I had received.
1.4 Purposes of the research
I have found Maxwell's distinction between different research purposes helpful
(Maxwell 1996).
Personal purpose
The purpose of my research project was personal, as I had hands on
experience with remedial teaching and I am considering at a later stage
studying further and becoming a remedial teacher. The subject of remedial
touches a special place in my heart. My remedial teacher, in fact most of my
teachers, were extremely supportive about my learning difficulties. I can
remember that I was a shy child. Because I struggled and was often lost in the
class, I did not participate much, and only contributed when I was asked an
individual question. After staying back and starting remedial support lessons I
started to look forward to and really enjoy the time in remedial lessons.
Practical purpose
The practical purpose for this research was firstly that I needed to complete it
in order to obtain my bachelor in education. Secondly, because I was thinking
about studying further and teaching children with remedial needs, I felt that
doing my research on remedial teaching would help me practically in finding
out more about what remedial teaching entails and seeing if it was in fact the
direction I want to move in. I also wanted to see the difference between
teaching a whole class and teaching a child one-on-one, as I am not sure if I
11
want to teach a whole class or individual children who are having difficulties
with their learning. This research I think will have prepared me to become a
better teacher generally and broadened my knowledge about remedial
teaching in particular, at the same time.
Theoretical purpose
My theoretical purpose in this research was that I wished to understand more
about remedial teaching, what it entails and how it works. As a pupil I had a
child’s perspective of the programme. I wanted to go back as an adult and
explore and understand the programme on a deeper theoretical level. I
wanted to find out about the impact the programme has on the children; this
was very important to me. This would give me a clear understanding of how
remedial teaching works as well as allowing me to understand how it helped
me when I was young.
1.5 Research perspective
I understand a research perspective to be the glasses which we wear to make
things seem clearer. (Maxwell 1996). As a researcher I would almost have to
put on a pair of these glasses when I was researching. I wanted to see not
only what was on the surface, but also what lay underneath. As a researcher I
could put on many different glasses in which to learn more about the remedial
programme which I am researching. These perspectives may include:
psychological, sociological, linguistic.
After considering my options, however, the perspective I chose was an
anthropological one. Anthropology is a form of social science which studies
how people live, work and think in natural everyday activities. And this is
exactly what I wanted to do in my research; spending time researching a real
life remedial programme.
Anthropologists typically use qualitative research as opposed to quanitative
research with measurement. I understand qualitative research to have the
following characteristics:
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It attempts to make sense of small-scale, real life situations, and not
experimental situations.
It describes and interprets what is happening: qualitative research does
not measure like quantitative research does.
It begins with the subject’s own account in his or her own words, of
what is happening.
It tries to avoid preconceived understandings of what might be
happening.
It is an open-ended exploratory approach.
It provides insight and raises new questions but does not encourage
simple generalizations beyond the situation studied.
It is concerned with how to make sense of the situation studied not with
explaining cause and effect. (Maykut and Morehouse 1994: 43-47).
1.6 Conceptual framework
My conceptual framework was a common sense one. Because of my positive
remedial experience as a young child and because both schools fall under the
United Herzlia Schools I assumed that the programme offered by the school
where I did my research would provide the children with as good a
programme as Highlands Primary did. However, I had no idea of the details of
the remedial programme. Furthermore my common sense assumptions about
the remedial programme might have turned out to be wrong or misleading as
my study progressed. I also considered that the answers to my research
questions might differ depending on the school context, though I did not know
in which ways they might differ. My research questions remained crude and
quite general but I was sure that the more I researched about the programme
the more my questions would home in on the key aspects I wanted to find out
about.
13
CHAPTER TWO
RESEARCH METHOD
In this chapter I will give a description of my research method and a
justification as to what I am researching and why. As well as justifying the
reasons why I selected the specific site at which to conduct my research and
what the site includes. I will then deal with possible threats to validity.
2.1 Description and justification of research method
Given my research questions and that I am working in a qualitative research
tradition, there were two methods which seemed to be the most appropriate
and helpful in my research inquiry.
Interviews, both formal and informal, allowed me to gain the insight and
knowledge that I was looking for. Another important method for acquiring my
research data was through observation and I spend five days observing the
children during their remedial lessons as well as watching and observing the
remedial teacher while teaching. I was also given permission by the parents
of the three children I am researching to look at the personal files of these
children. I wanted to use all these methods as I felt that this would give me a
rich source of data which I would be able to work with. It would have been
ideal to also interview the children themselves, but permission was not
granted for me to do this. Due to time constraints and for practical reasons, I
was only able to interview the remedial teacher formally twice although we
talked informally on a regular basis. I had one interview with the class teacher
of the children who I am conducting my research on and one interview with
the facilitator of one of the children. All data was recorded by way of detailed
note-taking during the course of the interviews and observations. Over the
course of five days, I watched the remedial teacher teaching. I found that this
was valuable and helped to bring my data to life.
I am interested in researching a school which provides a remedial programme
which the children can attend while also attending their normal classes. I
needed to find a school which provided this extra service.While doing my
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practical teaching over the years I have found that not all schools provide this
extra service to the children and often they have to find this extra support
elsewhere or go without any support at all. My first option was to spend time
researching the remedial programme offered by Highlands school which I
attended when I was younger. I wanted to research a remedial programme
which I thought would be well planned and thorough. I wanted to have a full
and rich remedial programme to pull from. Then I would be able to have a
good example of a programme to work towards creating for the children I
might teach later on. I was unable to do my research at Highlands but I knew
that all Herzlia schools aim for the highest level of education and that the
programme which Weitzman was giving the children would be just as rich and
full for the children.
When starting out my research I realized that my research question was wide
and vague. I was interested in researching a remedial programme because it
was of personal interest to me. I could narrow down my topic once I had a
focus and a set of research questions I was wanting to explore. Initially I kept
my interview questions open and used them as a guide which helped lead me
to the more focused questions that interested me and would hold my attention
over the months of my research.
When interviewing the remedial teacher, class teacher and facilitator I wanted
to encourage the interviewees to be as full and honest in their answers as
possible. I wanted to get to the truth of each question I asked. I wanted to get
to what these teachers really thought of the programme. I knew that my
interviews were vital for gathering what it was that was the essence of the
programme. I was very lucky when doing the interviews as I had created a
close and friendly bond with the remedial teacher who talked openly and did
not hold back on what she though or felt. I had done my practical teaching in
the class of the class teacher interviewed, so this was not the first time I was
meeting her and she too seemed open and willing to answer the questions as
truthfully and honestly as she could. My interviews really enlightened and
transformed my understanding of how the remedial programme worked and
how the children engaged with the programme.
15
2.2 Selection of research site:
Ideally a research question determines the appropriate site for the
investigation. Once I had decided on my topic the site immediately came to
mind and after my disappointment concerning Highlands Primary, the Hertzlia
Weitzman Primary was the obvious choice.
However I did take into account the possibilities and limitations of the site I
had chosen for answering the research questions and finding the data I was
looking for.
The site I selected had the following features
It is a school which has an extensive remedial programme in place
which it is providing for children who need support.
It is a private school. This however does not mean that all the children
can afford to pay the high fees as any Jewish child who is unable to
pay is subsidized.
The school has access to a good selection of resource materials.
The teachers work closely with the individual needs of the children.
The teachers are motivated to work.
The school has been providing remedial assistance for many years and
the programme has been well integrated into the school.
The remedial teacher knows most of the children in the school and is
seen as very much a part of the school system.
The class teachers whose pupils attend the remedial programme as
well as the remedial teacher and occasionally the extra curricular
therapy teachers will get together to discuss each child.
The level of work at the school is of a high standard.
16
The school provides a safe and nurturing environment for the children.
These characteristics will have a bearing on my interpretation of the research
data and therefore are important factors to keep in mind.
2.3 Ways of dealing with possible threats to validity
Qualitative research relies on the researcher’s interpretation of the different
kinds of data and not on the measurement of the data by way of statistics.
Because of this I had to be careful to make sure that I wrote everything down
that I heard in the interviews or saw in observations, as accurately as
possible. I needed to be very aware that when I was interpreting what
someone had said I did not change, distort or contradict the evidence which I
had been given. My research findings needed to be as close as possible to
what the interviewees had told me. I planned to guard against invalid findings
in the following ways:
I would not generalize beyond this small scale particular case which I
was researching.
I would make it as clear as possible when I was interpreting what
someone had said.
I would try avoiding vague statements in favour of careful and precise
ones.
I would cross check my data by comparing and contrasting what I saw
during observations with what I was told by the teachers and facilitor.
I gave my research subjects the records to read of the interviews which
I conducted with them.
I would expose my on-going interpretations to critique by an informed
outsider.
17
I would explain to the person reading my research report what my
research was about so that he had a clear understanding of what I was
assuming and the direction my thoughts were taking.
I would share doubts, uncertainties, and all the thoughts that came to
me, positive or negative, with my supervisor and classmates
throughout my research process.
18
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH FINDINGS
3.1 The purpose and structure of this chapter
The purpose of this chapter is to summerise the findings of my research at
Hezlia Weitzman.
Section one looks at the United Hezlia school programme, the selection
process of children coming into the programme, the organisation of the
programme, the purpose of the remedial classes and the application of
reading in the programme, the different stations in the programme and the
tools and techniques for working with this programme.
The second section of this chapter provides a brief background on each child
as well as a summary of other therapies that the children were currently
attending, were previously tested on, or had previously undergone. I also look
at how the children engaged with the programme provided to them, as well as
the class teacher and facilitator’s perspectives on the remedial programme. I
thought that doing my research on three children in the same grade in the
same class with the same or similar learning difficulties could be interesting
research. This chapter also shows how the programme benefitted the children
within the classroom situation.
The structure of this chapter flows from section one into section two, followed
by a linking of the chapter and a chapter summary leading into chapter four.
3.2 SECTION ONE The Programme
3.2.1 The context of the study
The remedial programme is located in the Atlantic Seaboard area in Cape
Town, South Africa. It is a Primary school which caters for children from grade
one to grade seven. The school is called Herzlia Weitzman and is one of the
Herzlia schools which fall under the United Herzlia System. Weitzman Primary
was established in 1976.
19
The United Herzlia schools are community Jewish day schools that follow the
National Traditional ideology, which embraces Zionism and traditional
Judiasm. The schools fall under 3 regions which make up 10 campuses in
total: three primary schools, a middle and high school and five pre-primary
schools.
As an independent community, Herzlia schools (UHS) have a policy to never
deny a Jewish child a Jewish education as a result of genuine financial
difficulties. Over 90% of Jewish children in the greater Cape Town area attend
one of the Herzlia schools. The UHS cultivates a culture of learning by
concentrating on the holistic development of the child.
Jewish education in Cape Town is given by the Herzlia system to any Jewish
child who wants to be educated in this manner. It is a unique system in that it
is a community school embracing all the different and diverse branches of
Judaism and what it stands for. The mission is to provide the best possible
Judaic, secular and cultural education for Jewish children in order to foster
their Jewish identity and to enhance their potential for participating within both
the Jewish community and the wider society.
As a young Jewish girl I went to a Herzlia pre-primary and then moved on to
Highlands Primary school and the Middle school and finished my schooling at
the High School. I feel that Herzlia gives Jewish children a sense of
belonging; you defiantly feel that you are a part of a greater community while
attending school and to this day when I talk about my school I often refer to it
as my “family”.
Because the school does not deny any child a Jewish education each of the
schools has included a remedial programme so that the children who are
struggling can have learning support. For this reason, as well as for the
children who may not necessary need a remedial school, but nontheless
require additional support the remedial programme was made part of the
school system.
20
3.2.2 Selection for the remedial program
The remedial programme which I am studying has been well thought out and
planned by a remedial team so that all the child’s remedial needs are catered
for within one programme. There is a standard test in which the remedial
teacher asseses the child in order to see where the child struggles and which
part of the programme will best suit the child’s individual needs. There is one
remedial teacher who runs the whole remedial programme from grades one to
seven but she feels this is not an ideal situation. In her opinion the ideal
situation would be to have different remedial teachers who focus on the lower
and upper primary sections of the remedial programme, and a different
programme for the foundation and senior phases. This would allow the
remedial teacher to focus on a more compact age group and there would be
more time to specialize the program for the age-specific needs of the children;
this would allow for greater specialization on the part of the teacher regarding
the needs of children of different ages and stages in their development. The
school is currently in the process of seeing if it can bring on another remedial
teacher to work with the older children in the programme.
According to Mrs Venter, a lot of the children come from Alon Ashel, which is
the pre-primary school on the school grounds. At the end of grade R, the
teachers have a hand-over meeting for all the children leaving the pre-primary
school, who will be attending the primary school, giving relevant background
information about each child coming into the pre-primary school system. The
teachers also discuss any children who they think need remedial support and
give reasons why and information that the primary school should know about
the child both on a personal level as well as information about how the child
copes in class activities and socialize with classmates. This meeting involves
the pre-primary teachers as well as the grade one teachers, the principal and
the remedial teacher.
During this meeting, the child's pre-primary teacher will say whether she
thinks the child needs remedial support (which is given during school hours).
This will be noted by the primary school. The child’s profile, which he or she
will carry throughout their school career, will be handed over to the primary
21
school. During the hand-over meeting the teachers will also discuss any other
therapy that a child may need outside school time or is currently receiving i.e.
Occupational therapy, speech therapy and the other therapies that any
children need.
In grade one the whole class is not assessed. If the teachers think that a child
needs remedial teaching they will do individual testing on the child. From
grades 2-6 the tests are used for the whole class. If the child has a deep-
seated problem, the parents will be referred to specific therapists if the
teachers believe that the remedial support given to the child at the school is
not sufficient. The school works in conjunction with different therapists. Just
across the road there is a centre which holds speech/ language and
occupational therapists who work closely with the school and the school will
refer parents to the best kind of therapy available. All three children who I am
doing my research on have had outside assessments done and go to other
therapies after school hours.
Once the problem/s is identified the teacher will fill in a referral form for the
child stating where she has seen the child having difficulties and what she
thinks they are. The teacher will contact the parents and once the parents
have given their consent, the school remedial teacher will assess the child.
The school has devised an assessment which helps them to see what level
the child is at.
Remedial is teaching the child to be able to apply skills and make the child
feel confident. Often these children have low confidence levels and the
remedial teacher tries to improve the child's confidence by improving skills
they can use in the classroom. The remedial lessons are trying to empower
the child giving them the necessary skills to keep up with their class. The
remedial teacher is aiming to make the skills conscious for the child and by
practicing these skills over and over again the skills the child is learning will
become unconscious i.e. At first the child may struggle with letter recognition,
but through a variety of skills that the child will learn the letters will become
familiar and he will start recognizing them with ease and the skill of letter
22
recognition and reading will become something the child can do
unconsciously and with little effort.
The programme uses some movement and senses in the different activities
but it is not the major focus of learning as it is in a Waldorf school where these
things would be regularly used as teaching tools to make learning easier.
Because I have studied the Waldorf approach to teaching I feel that more
movement should be incorporated into the programme as I have seen the
positive effects movement has with learning. I feel that stories and images
would also greatly help these children with their learning as often the work is
given to the children in the form of dead pictures, by this I mean that the work
has no meaning to the child; the work is purely directed at the child's thinking
and not engaging the child with the feeling and the will. Again I have seen
from being in Waldorf schools the importance of balancing the lessons so that
a lesson includes movement, feeling and will. I do understand though that the
lessons are only half and hour and that to do this would be difficult, but I think
that it may greatly influence learning in a positive way as well as help to
develop a well balanced person in the future.
Lessons are one-on-one so they allow for a good relationship to develop
between the child and the teacher.
3.2.3 The organisation of the remedial programme
The remedial programme is organised in such a way that it keeps in mind the
major learning areas which are fundamental for learning in the younger years
and the most important skills a child in the primary school years needs to
master, know and apply in the class in order to keep up with the tasks
required in the primary school years.
The remedial programme is organised as a combination of “training stations”
or that the children will work at when attending the remedial lesson. The
training stations are the different sub-programmes that deal with the different
learning areas that the child will work on during the remedial lesson.
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The child will work on the sub-programmes which most support his learning.
During a single lesson the child does not necessarily work on each individual
station he/she rather works on the stations that will benefit their learning most
or where the child is struggling most and needs the most attention.
The remedial teacher may vary the stations; one lesson concentrating on a
specific section of the program for a lesson a week or a term depending on
the needs of the child. She may concentrate on a combination of stations.
This depends of the individual child and his needs. The stations that each
child will work on are chosen individually for each child's learning needs.
The remedial programme teacher believes that concentrating on reading is
the most important area as reading is the essence of all learning. The
programme tries to incorporate using the child's senses as well as working
with movement as much as possible. i.e. sounding out words by jumping them
with hula hoops or clapping the different parts of the word. The programme
also tries to incorporate rhythm with long and short sounds, the child will also
draw pictures connected to words. The remedial teacher tries not to tell the
child he has something wrong, but rather guides him to the correct answer.
The remedial teacher mediates the child through the learning process.
While observing I noticed that the teacher did in fact did tell the child that
something was wrong. At the end of the lesson she said that she needs to
catch herself and be more conscious of not doing this as it is not helpful to the
child.
According to Mrs Venter, the lessons are often too short and because of this
it is difficult to concentrate on one specific area. What happens often is that a
child will work for a certain period of time in one area of learning and then
move to the next area of learning. This can be positive as the children are
having a variety of activities.
While observing I definitely agreed that a half hour session was too short as
the child often took a few moments to settle and have a short chat with the
teacher. Often the child was working well and very involved with the lesson
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when the bell would ring or the teacher would have to tell the child the lesson
was nearly over and to finish up on what he was doing.
Mrs Venter has planned the lesson so that she can fit in a certain amount of
activities for the child to do within the half hour, but she feels that a lot more
progress could be made if she had more time with each child.
The school team has created a remedial program that they believe best suits
all the remedial needs of the children combined into one programme. This is
the reason for the different stations. The stations are not set up around the
room, but are rather seen as different sub-programmes within the whole
programme. The structure of the programme is standardised, by standardised
I mean that the programme has been constructed into different sections that
each child will work at but they will work from where they are and at their own
level. As they master the different skills they move onto other skills and harder
work.
Mrs Venter does her best to individualize the program to cater for the
individual needs of each child. She decides on the individual programme for
each child through the remedial test given to the child by the school as well as
gaining information about the child's weakesses through prior tests and
meetings with outside therapists of and the pre-primary teacher. Many of the
therapist work with a lot of the children from the school and so the remedial
teacher and the different therapists know one another and are often in
contact, holding regular termly meetings to discuss the children i.e. speech,
occupational therapist.
If a child is coming from another school and joining the grade, the remedial
teacher will try to have a meeting with the previous teacher if the child was
already receiving remedial and get any records and assessments previously
done to help her understand where the child has come from and where the
child's weaknesses in learning are. This is important so that the remedial
teacher knows where the child is at in learning and how to move forward as
well as giving the child the remedial test provided by the school in order to see
if a child is needing remedial support or not.
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3.2.4 The application of reading in the programme
The children at Herzlia will learn to read before they learn to write. I found this
very interesting because in the Waldorf system the children will first learn how
to write and then they will learn to read. In this area of learning, the
mainstream approach and the Waldorf approach are totally different. Mrs
Venter strongly believes that learning to read is fundamental to all learning.
And the remedial programme puts a lot of emphasis on reading in the first
years of the programme. Reading is considered the basis for all learning. This
is why so much emphasis has been placed on improving the child’s reading
and teaching them the different skills that will help the child with reading.
The child will learn the following skills when learning to read: visual skills,
auditory skills, auditory perception, sight word vocabulary, comprehension
skills, word recognition skills, phonic skills, left right eye movement. There are
different ways of teaching reading and Mrs Venter will use a variety of ways to
teach reading to the child. She will also establish as soon as possible once
the child has come into the remedial programme how the individual child
learns and will use the method which most compliments the way in which the
child best learns to read. Mrs Venter will also combine the different methods
of reading and use them in the different activities she uses while when
practising their reading. Mrs Venter says, “It is important to use all the
different kinds of methods as this strengths the child’s reading ability”.
The different methods Mrs Venter uses in the programme are:
Whole word method The child will look at a word. The teacher will say the
word and the child will repeat the word. The child will either make his or her
own word cards or the cards will be provided. Usually the cards will have a
picture that will help the child to read the word. The child will associate the
word with the picture.
Decoding Teaching the alphabet (names of letters) as well as phonics
(sounds) of the letters. Another part of the decoding method is the linguistic
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method where you teach the children lots of words that sound the same, the
same recurring spelling patterns.
Kinesthetic method This method is used a lot with remedial teaching and
learning. The child learns through touch and movement e.g. walking the
letters, feeling the letters e.g. the letter may have a rough surface that the
child needs to follow with his finger. The children also use this with breaking
words up into parts. Mrs Venter has found that she does not use this method
as much as she should as often the lesson is short and she sometimes leaves
this out but when she does use movement it has helped the child a lot in
remembering and learning the work.
I did see this method of reading being done and the children really seemed to
enjoy doing this, the child seemed more awake and lively and very
enthusiastic. This re-enforced to me how important it is that movement is used
as a teaching aid to benefit the child in learning.
3.2.5 The sub-programmes in the remedial programme
The remedial programme has been set up so that the children will work on
different sections of the remedial programme during their lesson. These
different sections can be called sub-sections. There are six sub-stations in the
programme. The child will not work on all the sub-stations during one lesson.
The teacher is constantly trying to work with the individual needs of the child
and assessing the child to see where he is improving or where he needs the
most support and working with the different sub- sections of the programme to
support the areas of learning where the child is struggling.
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Phonological Station
The aim of the phonological awareness station is to train the underlining phonological skills in a systematic way to support reading and writing.
The remedial teacher will work with graded phonological tasks. The teacher
will asses the child when he/she first comes into the remedial program and
then works from there, working through the different task levels:
Teaching the different vowels. How the different vowels sound in
different words.
Blending; eg, blot; desk; the child will learn to blend sounds together,
which will help with reading. The children will learn many groups of
different blended words. This makes reading easier for them as they
learn the skill of blending and can always use it when reading.
Manipulation of the words.
All the children who I am researching have learning difficulties in the
phonological awarness area of learning. Mrs. Venter uses a lot of this in her
programme with these 3 children.
Letter knowledge station
The aim of the letter knowledge station is to develop instant recognition of letters and letter groups. This remedial program uses an adapted version of the “Hickey” reading cards.
The children will make a set of cue cards with different letters and words as
well as a picture of a word that reminds them of the word the have written
during the remedial lessons. This becomes the child’s learning materials.
Once the child knows the first word on the card, more words with the same
sound/grouping will be added to the card. These cards will become the child's
reading cards. eg, ball; the child will draw a picture of a ball on the other side.
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Later when the child is very familiar with the word “ball” more words will be
added “mall”, “wall”, “call”, “tall”. This helps the child with word association.
The exercises involve with making the cards include letting the children make
the cards themselves. The child is encouraged to make the card as neat as
possible and to take pride in his work. David is one of the children who needs
to be more conscious and take more pride in his work as often his work is
very messy, Ashley likes to make her work very colourful and beautiful and
often tends to spend too much time. Mrs. Venter does try wherever possible
to reinforce the children to take pride in what ever they do giving positive
reinforcement when they do put effort into their work. Mrs. Venter always
encourages the children to take pride in their work. When she writes
something she will write it beautifully or if she is sounding out something she
will sound it out carefully and pronounce the sounds or letters clearly and
carefully as the children are imitating and learning from how she does
something.
While observing I did notice that when she had positive comments for the
children this motivated them to work. They liked it when they felt that Mrs.
Venter was proud of them.
Then the child reads the different cards, becoming familiar with the words.
Then asking them what other words end in “ll” and then adding the new words
to the card. Later on to make this fun and challenging for the child he/she is
timed. The Hickey card system is connected to helping the child with his
phonics and word pattern skills.
Mrs Venter thinks that this is the most important station in the program. All the
children who I am researching have learning difficulties in this area.
Sight words reading/spelling station
The aim is to build up a store of sight words that can be read and spelled automatically.
29
This station will help the child with reading fluency and written language.
Activities include: hangman, work shark, flash cards, word recognition on the
reading set called readers is leaders, and the 200 most common words in the
English language.
This station practices:
Sight words and spelling
Sequential processing
Partial spelling
This spelling approach uses multi-sensory approaches to spelling the words,
i.e. different textures, mediums and movement.
Reading in context
Two kinds of books are used when reading. One set of books concentrates
on phonetic words, words the children can sound out. “touch and sound
words”. The other series of books contains mainly sight words; these are
words that the child cannot touch and sound for himself.
This station works with the programme “Readers are Leaders” and is divided
into different sections:
Word definition
Eye exercises
Timed passages (words per minute)
Memory sequencing
Word recognition
Grammar
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Vocabulary
3.3 SECTION TWO THE CHILDREN
The three children selected for study
I have chosen to focus on three children in grade two. Each child has unique
learning difficulties, but at the same time they have similar learning barriers
that connect their weak areas of learning. I thought it would be interesting to
study three children in the same grade who are also in the same class and
therefore have the same class teacher. I could then try to answer the question
I have about how the remedial programme has helped or not helped the
individual children to improve in the skills that they are weak in and how they
cope within the mainstreamed classroom environment.
After my first few informal meetings with Mrs Venter and talking to her about
my history within the Herzlia system we spoke about all the different learning
problems I had and how they were similar learning problems to those of the
children she teaches now. She felt positive for the children to see that I had
managed to overcome problems and master many of the skills. My research
was becoming more fascinating to me as I could now research children who
had the same or similar learning barriers that I had as a young child. This was
a strong motive and reason for my selection for these three children.
The following information was derived from both interviews and the children’s
personal files.
3.3.2 Background information about Ashley
Ashley is one of a twin, born prematurely at 31 weeks, through a cesarean
delivery. Mrs Gannon was hospitalized 6 weeks prior to their birth and the
pregnancy was complicated. Ashley showed no sucking reflexes until she was
eight weeks old. She was fed through a tube. She spent the first two months
of her life in an incubator. Ashley was an easy, cuddly baby who achieved her
motor milestones normally and walked on her first birthday. Her speech onset
however was slow; she only started putting words together at the beginning of
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2003. Ashley still has difficulties now at age nine, pronouncing sound, she
makes mistakes when building sentences and has difficulty following
instructions and remembering rhymes and songs. She is described by her
mother and teachers as happy, friendly, outgoing, cuddly, curious and
imaginative. She relates very well to her peers and family, but she does not
always listen when spoken to and often chooses not to hear if she is told to do
something. She enjoys playing with dolls, games and is especially good at
imaginative play. She found it difficult to adjust to pre-primary school at first,
but was soon used to the routine of the day and the new environment.
Ashley was referred by her class teacher at Alon Ashel. (Alon Ashel is the
pre-primary school connected to Herzlia Weitzman and 95% of the time the
children who attend Alon Ashel will continue onto Weitzman primary.) During
her pre-primary school years her pre-primary teacher reported concerns about
Ashleys overall performance at school. She reported that Ashley had
particular difficulty with concentration.
It was recommended by the primary teacher that Ashley attend a remedial
school. Her parents, however refused. It was therefore suggested that she
has a facilitator during her primary years at Weizman and that she attend
remedial classes. Her parents were not happy with this suggestion. Although
they agreed to remedial lessons they wanted to see if she could cope without
a facilitator at first. Once grade one was completed her parents agreed to pay
for a facilitator and Ashley has had a facilitator from grade two with her in
most of her lessons.
The nature of Ashley’s problems included a variety of learning and other
problems.
During pre-primary and primary school Ashley has been tested by a number
of outside therapists. She currently attends: speech and language therapy, as
well as occupational therapy.
During her pre-primary years her difficulties were accommodated as much as
possible in group and individual activities although she couldn't keep up as
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her language and speech were very poor. She was very and could not sit still
during lessons. Her parents were aware of this but found it very difficult to
accept. Her mother had been very bright as a child and struggled to accept
the reality of her daughters needs.
The school has a remedial test which they give to children who they think will
need remedial support. This test helps to show the class teacher as well as
the remedial teacher where the child has learning difficulties and what skills
the remedial teacher needs to focus on during the remedial lessons.
3.3.3 Background information about David
According to his personal school files, David comes from an English speaking
family. He has an older brother. David mother’s pregnancy went smoothly.
David weighed three kgs at birth. There are no other medical issues, David
being a very healthy child. According to David’s mother there does not appear
to be a history of learning difficulties in the family. David was a pupil at
Reddam house in Green Point.
His teacher at Reddam recommended a remedial assessment, as she was
concerned about his academic performance. He went for a series of remedial
tests and it was recommended to his parents that he have further language
and occupational therapy assessments. His hearing has been formally tested
and was found to be normal. He was assessed at 7 years 11 months when his
mother was concerned about his delayed language skills. The assessment
revealed age-appropriate receptive language and with expressive language.
According to his teacher David's expressive language progressed subsequent
to the assessments. David enjoys school, but tends to socialise more with his
older brother’s friends than friends of his age.
His teachers have reported that he prefers playing with his brother’s friends
and as a result of this he becomes frustrated because the children are more
mature and can do more things better than he can. Yet recently he has been
spotted playing happily with friends his own age. His older brother is in grade
three and has recently started attending remedial lessons too.
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David's early temperament and behaviour indicates that he was a very cuddly,
easy baby who was also strong and adaptable. His eating patterns were
regular. His present behaviour is not overly outgoing but he is willing to try
new things he is asked to. For some time now however, his parents have
been concerned with his increasing levels of anger and frustration.
His developmental milestones indicate that he did not crawl for a very long
time but went straight into walking at 14 months. However, he was a late
talker and only spoke his first word at three years old. At 2 years 10 months
his parents were very concerned that David had still not spoken and had him
assessed by a speech therapist who could not pick up a problem. She
recommended that he not be forced to speak and that he would talk when he
was ready. David started to talk for the first time when he started attending
nursery school.
David attended Alon Ashel pre-primary but then his parents decided to take
him out of the Herzlia system and sent him to Reddam School. During his
grade one year his parents noticed that he was not enjoying school and that
his relationship with his class teacher was not good. He found her to be strict
and complained often to his parents. His parents decided to take him out of
Reddam and put him back into Herzlia Weitzman where he went into grade
two at the beginning of the year.
David’s grade one teacher recommended a remedial assessment as she was
concerned about his academic performance. He was tested by the remedial
teacher at the school which in turn recommended him for a language/ speech
assessment as well as for an occupational assessment. Currently he attends
the remedial programme offered by the school as well as extra curricular,
speech and language therapy as well as occupational therapy.
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Background information about Ilana
According to her personal school files, Mrs. Teller reported a healthy
pregnancy and a normal birth. Ilana reached her motor milestones within the
average ranges. She was, however, slow to talk and her speech was
described as immature. She started speech therapy while still attending Alon
Ashel. Ilana’s medical history reveals nothing of note. However, her mother
reported that Ilana was a poor eater. Ilana lives with both of her parents and
has a half brother and a half sister. Mrs. Teller reported that Ilana has a close
relationship with her family and loves to spend time with them. She would
rather spend time with family than play with her friends. It took Ilana a long
time to adjust to school, but it seems now that she is happy to say goodbye in
the morning and runs off happily into her class. She is outgoing, cheerful and
enthusiastic and very strong-willed. At home she will often not listen to
instructions given to her.
Ilana has needed support since she started at Alon Ashel. She stayed back in
group one and in reception year. She is a slow learner but once she masters
something she seems to remember it. She tends to get very frustrated with
herself when she makes a mistake. Her parents were advised to send her to
Tafelberg in class one but her parents were adamant that she stay in the
Herzlia system. The teacher did see progress being made in her final year of
pre-primary.
Ilana has been for a series of tests as well as attending remedial lessons
offered by the school and a range of different therapies after school including:
speech and language therapy as well as occupational therapy.
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3.3.5 How the three children engage with the programme: Reports on Interviews
Interview Report 1 The remedial teacher, Mrs Venter
While spending time in the remedial centre of the school observing and talking
to Mrs Venter formally in interviews as well as informally, she always
expressed her view that the teacher has a very important role to play in the
child’s education. She feels that her job as a remedial teacher is vital to these
children as the extra support can help these children in coping and learning
the necessary skills and therefore not being left behind by the rest of the
class. The children who are sent to her have learning difficulties in different
areas but it is her job to pin-point where the problems are and to teach the
child as best she can on their level of understanding where it is they are
having problems. Mrs Venter has put a lot of time and effort into the remedial
room so that the classroom is inviting and pleasant for the children while they
are having their lessons. Over time the school has managed to buy suitable
teaching materials, educational games, hula hoops, a trampoline, computers,
computer games, books, pencils, crayons, paper, textured letters and letter
and word cards that the children use during their lessons. She also
emphasized that it is her job to guide the children in the learning process by
helping them master the skills needed. This is done in a positive way, by
praising the children so that they become more confident with their work.
I chose to ask the remedial teacher the following questions because I wanted
to learn about how these three children engage in the remedial programme.
1. Do you adapt the program to each child's specific learning needs?
The programme is adapted as much as possible to suit the needs of the
individual child and therefore engage the children in a positive way which will
enhance learning.
The remedial teacher does an assessment on the child as well as taking into
consideration the outside assessments the child has previously received.
Then from her assessment and the other assessments the child has had the
36
remedial teacher will then work out which stations of the schools remedial
programme the child needs most and from there create a program for the
individual child's needs.
From observing I did however notice that the remedial teacher does seem to
follow a basic routine in her lessons doing the same or similar things with
each child. The reason for this could be because the three children I am doing
my research on have the same or similar learning problems. Later on that day
when sitting in I had the opportunity of observing her teaching a pupil which I
am not doing my research on and I did notice that the structure of the lesson
was slightly different so I came to the conclusion that the lessons I observed
with the three children I am observing may have been similar because they all
the similar learning difficulties.
2. What skills are developed in the lesson?
Through the different activities the participants will work on they will learn a
variety of skills most importantly the following:
Building up a store of sight words that can be read and spelled automatically.
Letter knowledge station is to automatic access to letters this remedial
program uses an adapted version of the “Hickey” reading cards. On the
phonological awarness to train the underlining phonological skills in a
systematic way to support reading and writing. Working on hearing the
different sounds in the words i.e. at the beginning or end of a word
3. What are Ashley, David, and Ilana main problem learning areas?
Mrs Venter will concentrate on specific areas during the remedial lesson.
Ashley experiences problems all round and because of this Mrs Venter finds
it very difficult to work on everything she needs help with. During the lesson
Mrs Venter works on improving Ashley is foundation skills as they are still very
weak. Ashley’s needs help in the following areas: Phonological awareness
(this is Ashley's weakest area in learning), verbal expression and written
37
language, spelling and reading, sight words reading/spelling, letter
knowledge.
Ashley also lacks confidence and is often despondent when she does
something wrong. Mrs Venter believes that Ashley has improved and is slowly
becoming more confident with her work. In meetings with the remedial teacher
class teacher and other therapists all teachers say that they have seen a
marked improvement in Ashley’s work and this has greatly helped to boost
her confidence. “She is not so frustrated now when trying to sound out a
word”.
David came to the school at the beginning of the year from Reddam and has
been receiving remedial assistance since his arrival in the school. David’s
main areas of learning difficulty are phonological awareness and verbal
expression, letter/sound knowledge, blending and decoding.
Ilana has all-round learning problems. She really needs a facilitator but her
parents do not want to pay extra at this point in time, despite the teachers
strong recommendations. Ilana struggles in all areas, blocking out and
switching off when the work is too difficult, which is often during the school
day. During the remedial lessons however, Mrs. Venter works at a level more
suited to Ilana. This is helping her become more confident and take hold of
the fundamental skills.
Both Ilana and Ashley have all round problems. David struggles more with
phonological awareness and verbal expression, letter/sound knowledge,
blending and decoding. All children have problems with decoding nonsense
words and manipulation of sounds. Mrs Venter strongly believes that once this
skill becomes natural/automatic they will “crack the code”.
While observing lessons with these 3 children I noticed that phonological
awareness activities were mainly focused on in different activities.
Mrs Venter has had meetings with the other therapists working with all three
of these children so that she can include in her working with her children work
38
that the other therapists are doing eg, working with movement, posture,
balance.
4. Can you tell me some of the successes or improvements you have noticed in the child's work or are you discouraged?
There have been improvements by all three participants, but at the same time
in some areas progress has been slow and volatile.
Ashley has improved in all areas of learning since she came to remedial
lessons in class one although her improvements have been slow. She is very
determined and through gaining skills in the remedial lessons there has been
a marked boost in her confidence levels. Her concentration is very volatile;
some days are better than others but she does try and when asked to focus,
she makes a concerted effort.
David David’s successes have definitely been in expressing himself more. He
struggles with his phonological awareness skills but he always persists till
either he sounds the word or asks for help. Overall he has improved his
phonological skills. Mrs. Venter has also noticed through that his balance and
posture while standing during activities that it has improved.
Ilana Ilana’s progress has been slow but steady some days see seems to
grasp the concepts she has been taught in the remedial lessons quicker and
easier than other days. She is making a effort to concentrate better in the
class and has been less distracted this term. Her confidence although it can
be volatile on a whole seems to have improved.
5. What is the child's attitude during the lesson?
The children on the whole enjoy attending the remedial lessons. “ While
observing I almost always noticed that the children were enthusiastic when
entering the lesson.”
The children are eager to come to the lesson and enjoy being there. They
play a lot of games and the work is seen as fun by the children. The work is
39
set at a more do-able level for the children and this makes the child more
confident and willing to work. Often the children are despondent about their
work because in their normal class as they are getting a lot wrong but in the
remedial lesson Mrs. Venter tries not to tell the children they have done
anything wrong. Instead, she guides them to the correct answer. Mrs. Venter
says that confidence within the child about his abilities is very important and
she always tries to give the child positive re-reinforcement.
6. Is twice a week enough?
More time to engage with the programme would benefit these children greatly
but due to the fact that there is only one remedial teacher and lack of time in
the day this is the maximum amount of remedial lessons allocated to each
child involved in the remedial programme.
Ashley and Ilana should ideally have at least three to four half hour sessions a
week. Mrs Venter would like to see the children every day but this is not
possible because she needs to see all the children in the school who receive
remedial lessons and it is not ideal to take the child out of too many other
lessons. David also needs more lessons, ideally at least three half hour
sessions a week. This can also become difficult for the parents as the
remedial support is not included in the school fees and the parents have to
pay extra for this. Mrs Venter thinks that the parents should not have to pay
as the school fees are high as it is.
7. How would you describe your relationship with each child?
Mrs Venter has established a good relationship with each pupil I am
researching and it seems to me that one of the reasons these three children
participate and engage so well in the programme is because of their
relationship with the teacher and their willingness to work well for her.
She not only engaged with them on a learning level but also knew what was
going on in their personal lives. In Ashley's/ Ilana's lessons, they both seemed
excited to tell Mrs Venter it was coming up to a dancing competition and how
hard they were practicing. When Mrs Venter asked David how his soccer was
40
he seemed enthusiastic to tell her how their match went. Despite the fact that
he is a shy child who speaks little.
“My relationship with each child is different”, says Mrs Venter. “I have a very
open relationship with the children and they feel comfortable with me. I
respect them and in return they respect me”.
She knows the children well and she can see when the child is struggling. She
will then pull the child back so they can experience success again. The
children are not scared to say they don't understand anything and she will
always ask the child who is struggling, “What can I help you with or what can I
do to help you”. Again, Mrs. Venter nurtures their confidence as she has seen
how a lack of confidence can really put a halt on the children's willingness to
learn. She has been working with Ilana and Ashley since the beginning of
grade one and with David since he came to the school at the beginning of
grade two.
8. Do you find the other therapies that the child receives work hand in hand yours to enhance the overall progress of the child?
According to Mrs Venter, all the participants receive extra therapy outside of
school hours. These therapies help to compliment the work that is being done
in the remedial lessons and therefore help with the overall progress and
learning of each child.
She works hand in hand with the other therapists. Every month the teachers
involved with the child will have a team meeting where the therapists get
together to discuss a child. The programme really tries to bring all the people
involved with helping the child together. During the month the teachers will
have regular informal meetings to discuss anything that may be worrying them
or that they feel is important information for the teachers working with the
children. If the teachers think that something is very wrong with the child’s
progress or that there may be something emotional affecting the child, the
child's parents are called in.
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9. Which areas do you think are most effective and valuable in helping the child cope within his class?
“Phonological awareness, because you are empowering them to work out
what the word is. You are teaching and giving them a skill to use when they
are not with you and are in the class to help them with all their work”.
10. What does the child enjoy most/least during the lesson?
These three children enjoy engaging with the computer as it is seen as a treat
if they have worked well.
The computer is seen as a reward at the end of the lesson if they have
worked well and completed all that was expected of them. The child is told at
the beginning of the lesson what needs to be done and if they complete this
they are rewarded with five minutes on the computer playing an educational
game. Mrs Venter does not really like the computer as she feels that it is very
important that the child has the contact and support of the teacher during
learning. But she allows it as a treat. The least enjoyed by all three children is
decoding nonsense words as they find this frustrating and difficult.
11. Does the child receive support and help from their parents with homework?
David has a very supportive mother. She phones regularly to find out about
David’s progress and if there is anything she can do to help him after school
and with homework. Ilana also receives more support than Ashley when it
comes to home work given.
Ashley seems to be the one out of the three participants who is progressing
the slowest, and I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that she gets
the least support from her parents concerning her remedial work. David on the
other hand gets the most support from his parents and after my interview with
the class teacher she told me that he has made the most improvement in her
opinion out of the three children.
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Interview Report 2: The class teacher, Mrs Donald
While interviewing the class teacher I wanted to see her perspective on the
extent to which the remedial lessons are helping the children to cope within
her lessons in the normal classes.
The class teacher plays a very important role in the child’s education. As the
teacher she has daily contact with the children and is often the first person to
notice and identify whether children in her class are having difficulties
learning. Every teacher should be observant and aware while teaching the
class so that she picks up on children who may be struggling and needing
extra support with their work. It is important that the teacher picks up on any
learning difficulties as soon as possible so that the child can be assessed and
the weak areas in the child’s learning can be supported.
While interviewing the class teacher I definitely got the feeling that the teacher
was very experienced and her strong presence is complemented by her well
structured lessons.
She does not expect the remedial children to keep up to the level of the rest of
the class. She knows the different remedial level these children are at and she
knows what to expect from them. I felt that she holds the class and knows the
children well, she has a good knowledge of the children’s learning abilities
and works closely with them.
1. Please explain in what ways the remedial work has helped in the case of the three pupils?
Ilana: Is starting to recognize sounds better and she is definitely reading with
more fluency and confidence. The class teacher has seen a definite
confidence boost with Ilana’s improvement. Her number work is weak but if
she is given enough time she is able to grasp it better. On the whole the
remedial support is definitely helping Ilana in the classroom environment.
David: The class teacher feels that out of these three pupils, David has had
the most noticeable improvements this term. He has really made a lot of
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progress. He is still struggling to recognize sounds. He has also recently been
able to make rhythmic words, which he could not do last term.
Ashley: Her progress has been the slowest out of the three pupils. However
the remedial support has definitely helped her to manage more within the
classroom and when work is given to the class. She is participating more and
Mrs Donald has seen a marked improvement with her confidence with her
work and participation in class activities. One of Ashley's major difficulties is
focusing and concentrating during the lesson. Since having a facilitator from
the beginning of the year, the distraction has lessened due to the fact that her
facilitator sits with her and helps her with work when needed. The teacher has
noticed that sometimes she knows what she is doing and other times she
forgets and does not know what to do. Although her progress has been slower
than the other two, the teacher has seen a marked improvement in her work
and believes the remedial support is greatly beneficial to her.
2. Do you think that remedial lessons affect confidence or the attitude in class in any way?
These three children have all improved in their reading, recognizing and
understanding of the work they are doing in the class. The class teacher and
the remedial teacher often get together to discuss what is being covered in
the classroom and the remedial teacher will try todo work closely connected to
the class work. Because of the improvement in reading, recognizing and
understanding of the work the children all have more confidence with regards
to their work and participation is improved. The children love remedial lessons
and it is seen as a privilege to have half an hour with Mrs Venter; she is loved
by not only the remedial children in the school but also by most of the other
children. The class teacher told me during out interview that often she will
hear the class asking the child who has just been to remedial what they did in
the lesson and more times than not comments like “Ahh cool, can I come with
you next time”, was the response. The children feel supported by the remedial
lesson and teacher, Mrs Venter has a great relationship with all three children
and I can tell this by their enthusiasm to go to her lessons. Everyone in the
class would love to go to remedial perhaps because it is seen to be more fun
44
than their normal lessons. The teacher feels that one of the most important
things the remedial support does for the child is to boost the children’s
confidence. The children seem more willing to work the feel more confident.
3. Do you find the children miss out on valuable work while at remedial lessons? Are two half hour lessons enough?
They do miss out, but the input they get during these two half hours a week is
far more valuable to these children. The remedial teacher tries to structure the
remedial lessons so that the lesson covers similar work or work that will help
the child to cope, for example if they are learning a spelling sound the
remedial teacher will help the child with the spelling sounds the class is
working with. “Unfortunately this is the only option, but I do feel that it would
benefit the children if they could have more remedial lessons”.
4. How might the teacher change her teaching approach or work for the child who is in remedial?
The teacher tries to keep them up to class level as much as possible, but they
will do less work than the rest of the class. So on the whole they are doing the
same work, but with less or easier. The teacher does find that she spends
more time individually explaining and helping these children. Often she will
have the three children on the mat and re-do or re-explain the work and what
they need to do. Often she will do an activity example or two with them and
then let them do it in their books. Their class readers are at their own level
and they read at their own pace. The class work they do is mainly at their own
level and pace. They will listen to the teaching, but if they have not finished
work for the previous day they will complete it before going onto the work the
class is doing.
5. Would you consider stopping remedial lessons for any of these children? Under what circumstances would you do this?
“No, I have seen the improvements in the children’s work and confidence.
None of the children are at the level of the class. There has been steady
progress, but a lot more work needs to be covered and a lot more skills need
45
to be mastered. These children will need remedial support for a long time as
certain skills are lacking and need supporting.”
6. Which children do you think have benefited most from remedial lessons?
Mrs Donald said that she feels all three children have benefited. Over the last
term, David has shown the most improvement and progress, but Ilana has
also improved. Ilana is also starting to feel more confident and is tackling the
work instead of giving up so easily. Ashley has not improved as much, but
there has been an improvement with her confidence to tackle her work and
with participation and concentration in the class.
The remedial support is helping these children and without it they would be far
worse off. David has improved most out of the children although he
participates less in the class. The progress with Ilana and Ashley is slower.
Some days they understand things well and other days they don’t seem to
know what to do. While most of the time they do in fact have the skills they
require, the teacher often needs to patiently draw these skills out and show
the children that they do in fact know what to do. Both these two girls bring
enthusiasm to the class and to their work and they are a lot more confident
than before. They offer input where at the beginning of the term they did not.
After having the interview with the teacher I felt that she was very much on the
ball and knew exactly what was happening in the class. She is a very
observant teacher. She is a very thorough teacher; she holds the children,
and at the same times allows them to breathe.
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Interview Report 3: the facilitator, Lara Stern
The facilitator, Lara works closely with Ashley and has to monitor and help
her with her work. I thought having an interview with her would give me more
insight into how the remedial programme is benefiting Ashley’s learning in the
class. Lara has been working with Ashley since the beginning of the year.
1. Do you think that the remedial lessons affect Ashley confidence in the class?
Lara feels that there has been a gradual improvement in her confidence
which has affected her work in a positive way. At the beginning of the year
Lara noticed that when it came to class work, Ashley would always want to do
something else and became distracted and when she was finally settled and
ready to start she always wanted reassurance with the work that she was
doing. “You needed to do the work with her step, by step”. Over the past few
months she has gained an understanding of more skills she is learning in the
remedial lessons and because of this she is more confident with her work.
2. Do you find Ashley misses out on valuable work while at remedial?
Lara thinks that the work being done in the remedial lesson is far more
beneficial for Ashley’s progress because the remedial classes are focused on
what skills she needs to build on and develop. The remedial support helps her
build a stronger foundation as well as working on skills that will make the
classroom work easier and more understandable.
3. Are 2 half hours a week enough?
No, Ashley still needs to develop skills in many areas of her learning. Lara
thinks she should be going more than twice a week if it was possible, which at
the moment it is not. Lara may help Ashley one afternoon a week, but that still
needs to be finalised.
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4. Does the teacher change her teaching approach or work for Ashley?
Mrs Donald will teach the class as she always does, but often she will spend
extra time re-explaining and working with Ashley. Lara works closely with Mrs
Donald and knows the teaching methods and therefore she is able to help
Ashley if the teacher is busy with another child. Mrs Donald does not expect
Ashley to keep up with the class and she works at her own level and pace.
Lara feels that Mrs Donald balances her teaching the whole class and giving
the remedial children in her class the extra time they need.
5. Would you consider stopping remedial lessons?
Ashley still needs a lot of remedial assistance. She will probably need
remedial support for most of her primary years if not also in the higher grades.
6. Where have you seen the most improvements in Ashley?
Lara has seen a gradual but steady progress in her confidence when tackling
her tasks. Lara notices that sometimes her phonological awareness skills are
there and other days they are not.
7. What is your relationship with Ashley?
Lara knows the family personally. They have a good relationship. Ashley feels
comfortable with Lara and is not afraid to ask Lara anything she does not
understand. Lara is very fond of Ashley and thinks she is a well mannered
child. She does sometimes misbehave but that is often when the work is
difficult and she looses concentration. Lara and Ashley have a common
understanding. Lara knows what Ashley is capable of and the two have an
agreement to work together and if there is anything Ashley does not
understand that she can always ask Lara to help.
3.4 Conclusion
My findings in this chapter have shown me that the remedial programme that
is being offered at the school has been well thought out and tries to
incorporate the main learning areas which are important for learning in the
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younger years. The programme tries as much as possible to individualise the
programme to suit the individual needs of each child. I will attempt a full
analysis and discussion of these findings in the chapter that follows. I have
noticed from the data that these children seem to have low confidence levels
and that the teachers especially the remedial teacher, work hard to boost the
children’s confidence and I am starting to think that this is one of the key
elements to helping these children.
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CHAPTER FOUR
DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS
4.1 Introduction
In this chapter I will be analysing the data, which I have collected over the
past few months through interviews and observation. During this time a
number of new insights and understanding have developed as well as a
number of fresh questions. Sometimes I will attempt to answer the questions
from two points of view as I feel that I have a certain amount of insight of an
autobiographical kind that has helped me and deepened my insight into the
programme.
4.2 The main features of the remedial programme
There are different features in this programme which have been put together
in order to give the remedial child a well balanced individual programme as
well as providing a range of fundamental skills which the child will need to
acquire in order to cope with the work which is expected within their normal
classes.
The programme which I researched is divided into different areas of skills
which the remedial teacher thinks are fundamental for learning in the younger
years. These skills are of the utmost importance as they are the foundations
which the child will build upon in later years.
Skills are organized into a number of ” stations ” and during the remedial
lesson the child will work at a combination of stations as required.
The strengths of the remedial programme lie in a number of principles and
practices. First, that it aims to develop the necessary skills needed in order to
empower the child in his or her own learning process. Second, that the
remedial teacher plans a programme which the child to develop or improve
the specific skills the child is struggling with. The remedial teacher tries to
individualize each child’s specific learning programme within the remedial
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programme. Third, the teachers have monthly meetings to discuss the
remedial children, to access their progress and make adjustments to both the
child’s remedial lessons and in the classroom situation. Fourth, the school has
access to many resources and these children have access to a large selection
of materials. Fifth, a room has been allocated to the remedial programme,
designed to maximize learning and create an environment which is positive to
learning. Sixth, the remedial teacher has termly meetings with any additional
therapists the child might have, where they will discuss anything that is
worrying either the remedial teacher class teacher or the therapist.
An expressed limitation in the remedial program was that ideally there should
be two remedial teachers- one for the lower primary and another for the upper
primary. This would give each teacher more time to concentrate on an age-
specific phase in the remedial system and allow for more lessons if needed.
Another limitation is the fact that the child’s parents are required to pay
additional remedial fees. This is costly which may limit the number of remedial
lessons children can gave. In any event, there is only one remedial teacher
which also limits the lessons that can be allocated to each child each week to
a maximum of two.
Would a programme like this work in a school, which did not have substantial
resources and materials at its disposal?
During my research this was not a topic that I discussed with the remedial
teacher, but while reading through and analyzing my data this question
interested me. Would such a programme only be available to children who
were attending a school which had the money to have all the resources
needed including:
Up to date computers and computer software
A wide variety of educational games and equipment
A large number of teaching aids as well as a wide range of resources
and materials for use by the teacher
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A whole room dedicated to remedial learning
Large selections of reading material for the children
Could this programme run as effectively without all the resources? I think that
the remedial programme as a whole could be as successful without all these
resources.
Which resources could the programmer do without and why?
I think that the programme could do without the computer and the
computer programmes.
If one whole room can not be dedicated to the remedial programme
then the next best thing is a dual purpose room used for remedial at
dedicated times.
If a school lacks resources and teaching materials they can always use
the teachers library EDULIS just outside of Cape Town which all
teachers can use and which has a large selection of teaching aids
resources and materials for teachers to take out and use in their
classes.
I feel that for the most part a teacher who is passionate and driven to make a
remedial programme work will make it a success with whatever resources
they have available to them. This is not to say that having the money and the
resources does not make it easier. A school which may be disadvantaged
may not have it as easy as a school which has access to all the materials, but
I believe that this programme could be adapted to suit both privileged and
disadvantaged schools in both the private and public school environment.
4.3 The importance of reading within the programme
Reading is fundamental to all learning. The remedial programme puts a lot of
emphasis on reading for the first years of the programme, and teachers
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children to read before they learn to write. The programme teaches children a
wide variety of different skills that will help them to improve their reading.
4.4 The contrast with how reading is taught in a Waldorf school.
Waldorf education believes that initially the child should learn through oral
tradition, beginning with the teacher telling the children fairy tales throughout
the kindergarten and first grade. The oral approach is used all through
Waldorf education and the mastery of oral communication is seen as being
fundamental to all learning.
Reading is held back and writing is taught first. During the first grade the
children explore how the alphabet came about, discovering, as the ancient
people did, how each letter's form evolved out of a pictograph. The teacher
will tell the children stories using the different letters for example, a story
about a fish and from that the children will learn about the letter “f”. Writing
thus evolves out of the children's art, and their ability to read evolves as a
natural process through which they experience the letters and therefore
master the language and reading.
Waldorf schools have a very different approach to teaching reading in the
early grades. If you consider the reading skills of Waldorf students when they
are in high school and college, most Waldorf students become excellent,
enthusiastic readers. The Waldorf approach to reading is slow but I have seen
first hand through observing and doing practicals in a Waldorf school that this
approach to reading definitely has its benefits.
From the research I have done exploring one specific remedial programme, I
have seen that reading can also be seen as the fundamental and most useful
tool to teach learning in the younger years. Most of the skills the child learns
in the remedial programme are connected with reading and this approach to
learning appears to work well within the remedial context.
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4.5 How do the skills acquired in the remedial class help the child to cope in the mainstream classroom?
The remedial programme teaches the child the necessary skills to cope with
the work that is expected of him in the normal class environment.
Reading is one of the most important tasks the child will master in the
foundation phase years. There are a number of skills the child will develop
when learning to read: visual skills, auditory skills, auditory perception, sight
words, comprehension skills, word recognition, phonic skills, and left-right eye
movement. There are different ways of teaching reading; each way teaches
the child new skills which will help him with his overall reading success. This
remedial programme uses reading as a tool for teaching a wide variety of
skills that the child will use.
The remedial approach researched is based on the view that the most
important skill during the younger years are building up a store of sight words
that the child can read and spell automatically. This skill will help the child in
the class with the reading of books, worksheets and reading from the board.
These skills help the child to cope better within the classroom environment.
Phonological awareness is perhaps the most important skill taught to children
during the remedial lesson as it empowers children to work out what a word is
by themselves. The phonological awareness skills developed will help them
not only in the remedial lesson and classroom environment but also outside of
the class and throughout their school career. Empowering these children to
read better improves all aspects of their learning as well as their confidence
and self-esteem.
Both the remedial and class teacher and facilitator have said that the skills
being taught in the remedial lessons are benefiting the children studied in this
research. Because of the skills being learnt in the remedial class these
children are not getting lost as quickly in their normal classes and are finding it
easier to keep up and do the work required of them. However, in their classes
54
they are not expected to produce the same level of work as their peers who
are coping with the work.
Speaking for myself, the confidence I gained from the remedial lessons went
far beyond the skills I learnt and received through the foundation years of
school. It gave me the courage to believe that I could do anything that I set my
mind to even if it was difficult. The remedial programme of the Herzlia system
instills the feeling that each child is an individual and has the capability to do
anything no matter how large or outrageous that dream may appear. I carried
these beliefs with me throughout my school career and into tertiary education
and I will take it with me into everything I do, as it has helped me achieve my
goals. I think that the persistence I needed to grasp and learn the skills that I
struggled with day after day has helped to keep me motivated as an adult with
things that are not easy for me today. I hope to carry these beliefs with me
throughout my life.
One day when I teach I wish to pass the lessons and the skills I have learnt
on to children who are struggling as well as children who are coping within the
education system. I think that a major part of what inspires and motivates
children who are struggling is this belief in themselves and their abilities to do
whatever it is they set their minds to. This is a vital element in becoming a
strong individual and having the confidence to know what it is we want and
making it happen no matter the obstacle which may stand in our way. I think
that in many respects remedial gave me that confidence and determination to
keep trying. Observing the remedial lessons and seeing the children during
the lessons, I feel that these children are receiving this too. I think a lot also
has to do with the teachers and how passionate and motivated they are in the
teaching process. During my remedial lessons I could feel my teachers
passion and motivation and ongoing will to teach me and that is part of what
kept me wanting to learn and do well- partly to impress my teacher’s who I
loved and trusted and partly to do it for myself.
I stayed back in sub B and if it wasn't for both my class teachers and my
remedial teacher's dedication and ongoing support and belief in me I don't
think I would be where I am today. I still believe I can do anything I set my
55
mind to and if I keep trying I do not accept any limitations or obstacles that
may stand in front of me if there is something I want to achieve and I want it
badly enough. One day when I become a teacher I wish to show the children
my dedication to them and their learning and give them ongoing support in
their learning whether they struggle or not.
4.6 The problems of missing mainstream lessons
While doing my research a question which came to mind was that if a child
was struggling with their school work and was behind in the development of
the skills necessary in order to cope within the class, did this not mean that if
the child was taken out of the class for remedial lessons he would be missing
out on even more work and fall even further behind his classmates? Did it
really benefit the child to leave the class?
These children do miss out on work while they are out of the class, but it
appears that the input they receive during these two half hour lessons a week
is far more valuable than their normal classes. The remedial teacher tries to
structure the programme so that the children are learning similar work to that
the class is learning. However, this is not always possible as these children
are behind and struggle at grasping skills that the rest of the class can do and
the remedial teacher needs to work with those areas before the children can
progress to learning what the class is doing.
The work done in the remedial lessons will be done at a slower pace and is
set more at the child's level of understanding. Because of the one-on-one time
the teacher is able to understand the child’s learning abilities and can work in
a way that best suits the child’s learning. Unfortunately, because these
children attend a normal mainstream school and work within normal
standardized classes, leaving the class twice a week for half an hour is the
only option. More remedial lessons for each child would be even better but
due to time and money constraints this is not possible.
The teachers believe that what the child receives in the remedial lessons far
out weighs what they are missing in the class and I personally agree with this
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both from looking at and analyzing the data I have collected as well as from
my personal experiences.
The next question which came to mind was who decided what the child would
miss out on while attending his remedial lessons twice a week?
Was it an academic subject the child was missing out on and then did that
mean that the child would fall behind in this subject? Or was the child missing
out on one of the lesser academic subjects, for example art, singing,
computers or sport. I think that all the subjects are important for the child's
overall development, so is it fair that the child has to miss out on one of these
to attend the remedial lesson? I think that due to time constraints and the fact
that the child is receiving remedial help during school hours that it is inevitable
that the child will have to miss out on something. If I had to do this research
again I would definitely investigate who chooses what the child would miss
and why.
From what I can gather from my research, the teachers are all making the
same call about what they think is more important and beneficial to the child's
overall learning development. The costs are there and it is inevitable that the
child is missing out on certain subjects while attending remedial lessons, but
this is hard to measure as the work that the child is learning in the remedial far
outweighs what they are missing out on. I don't see a solution to this problem
as I think that the best is being done in the situation.
4.7 Was it possible the children could have the remedial after school hours, as this would mean that they would not have to miss out on the lessons during the day?
I did not think about asking this question when I was doing my research, but
this occurred to me as I was analyzing the data which was connected to the
children missing out on their class lessons during the day. I do not think that
this would work as there is one remedial teacher for the whole primary school
and many children receive the remedial support not only these three children.
The children have a long day at school and often have extra curricular
57
activities which they attend and this would make their days even longer. It is
also important that the child has time to play and not always be concerned
with thinking and academic studies. I think that although the children are
missing out on lessons during the day that the data states that the work and
skills that the children are learning during their two half hour lessons a week is
far more valuable. As I have seen from the data all three children are
improving although progress is sometimes slow remedial is not a quick fix and
the children will need to continue with the remedial support during their
primary school years at Weitzman.
4.8 How does the relationship the remedial teacher has with the child affect learning?
The remedial teacher has been working with two of the children since they
came to the school at the beginning of grade one. The other child she has
been working with started at the school at the beginning of grade two so she
has only been in the programme for a few months.
This is what the remedial teacher had to say about her relationship with these
children, “My relationship with each child is different. I have a very open
relationship with the children and they seem to feel comfortable with me.” She
respects them and in turn she feels that they respect her. She seems to know
the children well and can pick up if they are struggling or losing their
concentration. She invites the children to briefly tell her something from their
week. For example, both girls spoke to her about dancing competitions. Mrs
Venter seemed interested in what they spoke of and I think the children could
sense her genuine enthusiasm.
One of the main things Mrs Venter tries to give the children is confidence.
Because the children seem to enjoy the lessons and being with her I think she
really reaches these children and speaks to the part of them that may have
less confidence. I got the sense while observing Mrs Venter while teaching
that she really believes in these children and their capabilities. They trust her
and therefore she seems to have this ability to motivate the children and instill
confidence in them about their work.
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4.9 Remedial teaching and the art of observation
Drawing again on my personal experience, the remedial lessons were set
more at my level and I enjoyed the individual attention that I was given. I felt
comfortable enough to ask for help if there was something I did not
understand. Often my remedial teacher had a sense of knowing when I was
struggling and would step in and help me.
Looking back on this, I have learnt that is something that teachers need to
learn in order to be good teachers. I see it almost as an art, the art of being
observant. I think this was often harder for the teachers who were teaching
the whole class as there were more children to attend to and they couldn't
always attend to me. On the other hand, I did always feel that I was receiving
more attention when it came to the individual class work, as I often was
unsure of what I needed to do. My class teachers always tried their best to
help me when I was struggling. And it is due to their extra efforts and the
remedial support that I believe I was able to move forward with my learning.
4.10 The importance of patience
I think that patience is another key aspect of remedial teaching. The teacher
needs to be incredibly patient with a remedial child as a child can sense when
a teacher is becoming impatient or rattled. This upsets the child who then
tends to become insecure and may switch off. During my observation I
noticed that Mrs Venter showed an incredible amount of patience and
understanding of the child's learning difficulties. She seemed to know just how
long to leave a child lingering before intervening and helping the child. On one
or two occasions I did see her be slightly impatient, but this was because the
child concerned was not concentrating and was fooling around in the lesson.
Mrs Venter asked her to concentrate for one more activity and then she could
stop. This encouraged Ashley to stop fooling around and to participate.
After the lessons we discussed the way in which Mrs Venter had handled the
situation. She said that sometimes Ashley needs to be reprimanded, as she
needs to know the consequences to her actions. Mrs Venter says she knows
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that Ashley does have a concentration problem but that she has worked with
her since the beginning of grade one and knows what she is capable of.
Ashley seemed to respect what Mrs Venter had said and has buckled down to
work. I think this relates to the relationship Mrs Venter has with the children
she teachers.
4.11 Communication and cooperation between the remedial teacher and the class teacher.
The following forms of communication exist:
The remedial teacher and the class teacher will have a termly meeting
and discuss the children’s progress or lack of progress.
The teachers will discuss the child informally during the term. For
example, if the teachers fail to see progress the class teacher and the
remedial teacher will discuss and decide if a meeting needs to take
place before the term meeting.
If the child attends extra-curricular therapies the therapists are invited
and requested to come to the termly meeting.
Informal meetings, for example at break in the staff room, or in passing.
If there is a serious problem with the child the remedial teacher and the
class teacher may have a meeting with the parents of the child.
Of these forms of communication I think that the termly meetings are the most
important. Here the teachers will discuss each remedial child thoroughly and
give suggestions where things may need to be changed. This also gives both
the remedial teacher and class teacher feed-back on how they have been
teaching and where they might want to assess and change their approach.
However, I think that if there are serious learning issues that the teachers
involved will have to make a time and discuss the problems instead of waiting
for the termly meetings.
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All five forms of communication are important and all of these combined help
to make communication successful. Communication between the remedial
teacher and the class teacher is important and if done correctly can enhance
learning, while if good communication is lacking that this could be detrimental
to the child's learning. I also think that it is important that the remedial teacher
and the class teacher have similar ideas as conflicting ideas could be harmful.
For example, if the remedial teacher works closely with a child and knows
what the child is capable of, the remedial teacher will push the child as much
as the child can handle. A problem can arise when the child is in his normal
class and can’t keep up with the rest of the class, but is expected to because
everyone else is. This could cause the child to become despondent, as the
child cannot do the work. I feel that this is one of the most important aspects
that needs to be communicated, as the class teacher needs to know what the
child is capable of and not expect the same from every child.
4.12 The social and cultural benefits of the inclusion of the remedial programme in the Herzlia system?
While doing my research I did not ask the remedial teacher or the class
teacher what they thought about the cultural and social benefits of the
inclusion of these children in the remedial programme, but after doing my
research I felt that this was an important question that should be answered as
both the girls that I had observed had been advised to consider moving to a
remedial school.
There are a number of social as well as cultural benefits to a child being a part
of the Herzlia school system.
If a parents wants their child to have a Jewish education and be exposed to
Judaism both culturally and socially, then the Herzlia environment will provide
the child with this. I think this is important to parents as there may be more
than one child in the family who is in the Herzlia system and the parents want
the children to be educated together with their siblings and to be exposed to
the same experiences.
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Looking at the social and cultural benefits in the case of a remedial child who
has been advised to attend a remedial school instead of Herzlia, I think that
there are a number of social and cultural benefits and possibly limitations to
the inclusion of these children into the Herzlia system.
I think that the inclusion of these children socially not only benefits the
remedial child who is a part of the class. The rest of the class is also
benefiting as they are learning that not everyone is the same and that we are
all individuals both in personality and in learning abilities. This also helps to
make the children more accepting and tolerant of one another. Some people
may struggle in certain areas where other people may thrive. For example, a
child may struggle with their schoolwork but may be good at other things such
as dancing, sports, music or art. This is the case with all three children
studied. These children all do out of extra-curricular which they are good at
and where they thrive, in dancing for the two girls and soccer for the boy.
Probably most parents who send their children to Herzlia want their child to
experience a Jewish education. The school celebrates Shabbat each Friday
by saying prayers as well as having a short prayer service each morning
before the school day begins. The children have Hebrew lessons as well as
Jewish studies. The children learn religious prayers and songs, what they
mean and why we sing them. They will have insight into their religious and
cultural heritage whether they become religious or not. The Herzlia system
tries to give each child a sense of belonging not only to the school, their family
and community, but also to the Jewish homeland, Israel. I think that Jewish
parents, of whom the majority attended Herzlia themselves, want their
children to be a part of this greater community.
It seems that parents would rather the child is a part of the Jewish school
system than not and are prepared to pay for the remedial lessons and extra
therapies as well. I think a Jewish child who is not a part of the Herzlia system
is missing out on both the cultural and social benefits that the school offers to
the children. At the end of the day, the decision to keep a remedial child in the
Herzlia system or to send them to a remedial school is up to the parent.
However, from my own experience I think children benefit from being able to
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say “I went to Herzlia like my cousins, brothers, sisters or parents sometimes
even grandparents”.
4.13 How have these children integrated themselves into their class socially?
From information in all three of these children’s personal files I have gathered
that all three of these children have been socially integrated and are accepted
by their classmates even though they have learning difficulties. Both Ashley
and Ilana have been in the Herzlia system since the start of pre-primary and
have created for themselves an important social position within the class.
Ashley and her twin sister have all the same friends and this sometimes leads
to fights over who will play with which friends, but both the parents and
teacher say that these fights are more often than not sorted out quickly. Ilana
also has a group of friends who she has grown up with, one of her friends is
one of the brightest children in the class and often Mrs Donald will have her
help Ilana. Ilana likes this and her friend also enjoys being able to help her.
Mrs Donald says that she has never forced her friend to help Ilana, but can
see that this is something she enjoys and wants to do. Her mother says that
she prefers to spend time with her family but Mrs Donald says that she is well
integrated into the class and her group of friends. David attended the pre-
primary but his parents moved him to Reddem at the beginning of grade one.
He is a shy, quiet child and his mother and teacher have noticed that he
prefers to play with his older brother and his friends. Mrs Donald has noticed
though that over the past term, he has started to integrate more with the class
and is becoming more involved with classroom activities although he opts to
be with one or two of his closest friends.
The integration of the remedial programme into the school is positive in so far
as it allows children with learning difficulties to belong to a “normal” peer
group and a “normal” class. The remedial teacher takes part in the school
assemblies and activities and all the children know who she is. The children
are shown by example that different is not bad and that we are all unique and
special in our own way. This is shown through the teacher and her actions as
well as through stories about people having different strengths and
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weaknesses of which academic performance is just one. The class teacher
does this by always acknowledging when a child who may not be very clever
in the class has done well in something, for example in sports or dancing. This
also helps to integrate the remedial child into the class as the rest of the class
acknowledges and praises these children’s abilities. Apart from the benefit to
remedial children, there is therefore also a benefit to the rest of the class in so
far as they learn not to stigmatize other’s for their differences or difficulties.
From my own personal experience of being a remedial child, I was not made
to feel stupid or different because I was not as clever as the class or because
I was taken out of the class to attend remedial. If anything I felt that the class
was more patient and helpful as they knew that I struggled with my work.
The teacher is a very important role-model in the child’s life and the child will
learn many things from the way that the teacher behaves. If a teacher shows
through example that she accepts everyone and that we are all different and
special, children will imitate this same kind of behavior.
4.14 Conclusion
This study has enabled me to provide answers to my initial research
questions:
How the remedial programme offered by the school was individualized
to cater for the different needs of the child,
How the remedial programme helped children to cope within the
classroom situation,
How the remedial programme worked and what it included.
It has also enabled me to engage with additional questions, which arose as
my research progressed. During my research and while interpreting my data,
new questions came to mind which with foresight might have helped to give
me a deeper insight into the workings of this remedial programme. If I had had
more time I would definitely have asked these additional questions. I do feel,
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however, that I have gathered enough data and gained enough insight to be
able to answer the questions which I initially set out to answer.
In conclusion I think that the programme studied provides the remedial child
with a well-balanced programme which caters for the fundamental learning
areas of the foundation phase. The remedial teacher has worked out and
planned a programme which suits the foundation phase years of learning and
caters for the remedial needs of the children as a whole. She has also done
her best to individualize the programme to cater for each child. The class
teacher and the remedial teacher are motivated and committed to helping
these children and there appears to be good communication between them.
The remedial teacher is dedicated to her work and has formed strong bonds
with these three children, which I saw while observing their lessons. I believe
the strong and unique relationship she has with each of these children helps
to contribute to the overall learning process and to instilling confidence within
them.
The time situation is not ideal, but this is unavoidable as there is one remedial
teacher and she takes the remedial classes from grades one to seven. There
are limitations to this remedial programme, but I think that the school and the
remedial teacher do their best and that the work that they are doing is
definitely helping these children to cope better within their normal classes.
The progress of these children may be slow, but from my data I have seen
that here is steady progress being made. Remedial work is not a quick fix and
the process takes time, but with the support of Mrs Venter and the class
teacher I think that these children have a strong chance of mastering their
weaknesses and being able to cope within their classes. Any progress is
progress and a child will learn at his own pace and ability level. What the
remedial teacher and the remedial programme is doing is supporting this
learning by teaching the necessary skills required in order to keep up with the
level of the class as much as possible and giving the child the confidence to
stay motivated and engaged and not to give up.
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From my research I can say that this remedial programme is helping the
children both in developing the required skills and in building confidence in
themselves that at the end of the day, is just as, if not more, important.
After doing extensive research on a remedial programme I feel that at a later
stage of my life I would consider furthering my studies and becoming a
remedial teacher. I feel that it is important that children who are struggling but
who may not necessarily need to attend a remedial school receive the extra
support in helping them to keep up with the rest of their class and not fall too
far behind. The remedial I feel contributes to the confidence of the child and
with a remedial child this is often lacking. To me this is one of the most
important aspects as I feel that if a child remains motivated and enthusiastic
about his work and feels confident and good about his work then half the
battle is won. I also feel that because of my Waldorf background I would
definitely be able to implement a lot of ideas into a remedial programme which
would benefit children’s learning in a positive way. I feel that doing this
research has definitely helped to answer any questions I had about one day
becoming a remedial teacher. I have not decided if I prefer teaching one on
one or if I would prefer to teach a whole class but that then leads itself to
maybe teaching in a remedial school.
This research is something that I feel will be beneficial to me as a teacher as it
has given me insight into the importance of motivation and confidence in the
facilitation of learning. The data has shown me that confidence boosts the
child’s morale and therefore the child works better and harder. Confidence
and self-esteem are invaluable not only for a child who is receiving remedial
assistance but for all children. The data also shows me the importance of
pace and how matching a child’s learning pace contributes positively to
learning. The data has given me insight into the difficulties that these three
children in grade two have and what can be done in order to help them and
other children who are struggling with school. The children benefit from both
the remedial support which they received, as well as increased understanding
of the class teacher.
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Bibliography
1. Grove, M.C. (1982). Remedial Education in the Primary School. HAUM Education Publishers.
2. Cosford, Q. (1982). Remedial Teaching, A practical Guide for Class Teachers and Students. Longman Penguin Southern Africa.
3. Bielby, N. (1994). Making Sense of Reading: the new phonics and its practical implications. Scholastic Publications Ltd.
4. Maykut, Pamela and Morehouse, Richard. (1994) Beginning Qualitative research: a Philosophic and Practical Guide. London and Washington, the Falmer Press.
5. Maxwell, J.A, (1996). Qualitative Research Design. London Sage.
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