A recent conference on A Child’s Right to Education organised by The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus (UNMC) witnessed the participation of many leading educators, researchers and representatives from NGOs from around the world.
“It was the first of its kind in Asia and included delegates were parents who have children with learning disabilities, who were attracted because of the lack of information and knowledge” said Dr. Lucy Bailey, Assistant Professor at UNMC.
Also among the delegates was Hong Cook Yai a teacher of more than 15 years from SJK (C) Kg Baru Semenyih, who heard about the conference from her headmistress. She decided to attend in order to learn about developments in special needs education. She was interested in learning to overcome problems often faced in classroom through one of the three hands-on workshops scheduled on the conference day itself.
The conference was officiated by YB Datuk May Yap, Deputy Minister of Education of Malaysia who in her welcome address, congratulated the University for organising a conference which explores new education frontiers, a topic which is timely in Asia and one which needs to be addressed.
“Educators need to work with the understanding that all students learn differently, some may recall information by simply copying notes from a board, others have to be active participants in hands-on activities,” said Datuk Yap, recalling from her experience as a teacher.
Datuk Yap pointed out that students learn best when not segregated, and that with the current education blueprint Malaysia is now entering a new frontier of progress where issues such as teacher training and physical accessibility need to be addressed.
According to Ng Swee Fong, Associate Professor of Mathematics from the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, different people have different capacities and that cognitively we all do.
“Imagine a class of 11 year olds, not children with special needs, just *neuro-typical children. Some are progressing as expected of an 11 year old, and some are very quick and bright, and some are slower and teachers have to repeat themselves. As teachers we have to be mindful of these differences. Quality teachers lead to quality education, and it is no different for special needs education,” said Professor Ng.
Keynote speaker, Dr Min Bista, who is the Acting Coordinator for the Asia Pacific Programme of Education for All, at the UNESCO’s Regional Office in Bangkok, insists that Asia has to enter into a paradigm shift, a new understanding and firm belief that all children should learn together., To do this all areas of society must be taken into account, and upon doing so society as a whole will realise that not only is the policy of inclusion an educational agenda, but that is an economic, social and political agenda too.
He believes that governments must ensure the ‘4a’s of Availability, Accessibility, Acceptability and Adaptability’ in relation to providing for children with special educational needs and that this is not the role of the child or their family.
Quoting the education blueprint, Dr Bista pointed out that 70 percent of students with special needs will be in inclusive education by the year 2025.
Dr Bista concluded his presentation by noting that there are gaps to be studied between policy development towards inclusive education and actual implementation. He suggested that a lot more research needs to be undertaken, specifically focusing on Malaysia, for Malaysian policies and Asia as a whole in regards to the academic and social benefits of fully inclusive education.
The conference also included a research poster competition on special educational needs.
Among the attendees at the conference are Professor Christine Ennew, CEO and Provost of UNMC; Professor Graham Kendall, Vice Provost, Research and Knowledge Transfer of UNMC; Professor Tony Bush, Professor of Educational Leadership, University of Nottingham; Lee Lay Wah, Associate Professor at the School of Educational Studies, Universiti Sains Malaysia; Prof. Zalizan Mohd Jelas, Associate Professor at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia; Dr Kannamah Mottan from the Education and Human Development, Faculty of Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris and Dr Ganakumaran Subramaniam, Head of School of Education at UNMC.
The conference was organised by The School of Education at UNMC.
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*Neuro-typical children are not developmentally disabled. They are able to process a great deal of nuanced social information that children on the Autistic Spectrum cannot.
More information is available from Josephine Dionisappu PR & Communications Manager on +60 (03) 8924 8746 or Dr. Lucy Bailey on +60 (03) 8725 3583.
Notes to editors: The University of Nottingham has 43,000 students and is ‘the nearest Britain has to a truly global university, with campuses in China and Malaysia modelled on a headquarters that is among the most attractive in Britain’ (Times Good University Guide 2014). It is also the most popular university in the UK among graduate employers, one of the world’s greenest universities, and winner of the Times Higher Education Award for ‘Outstanding Contribution to Sustainable Development’. It is ranked in the World’s Top 75 universities by the QS World University Rankings.
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Posted on 21st May 2014