Over 800 teachers, trainers and school children benefitted from a weeklong series of workshops and trainings and a one day conference, as part of the British Council’s commitment to raising awareness of Special Educational Needs (SEN).
The British Council worked closely with MEHE, CERD and SKILD to ensure that the agenda of Special Educational Needs was being highlighted and addressed. Sally Farley and Marie Delaney (both UK SEN experts) came to Beirut and delivered sessions on dyslexia, strategies for memory and cognition, dealing with challenging behaviour as well as areas on the effects of trauma loss on learning.
Simon Shephard, the English Project Manager at British Council Lebanon said:
“We are delighted that we were able to bring out two renowned experts and support the educational work around Inclusion and to raise awareness to the importance of dealing with SEN. Participants have been able to take away real practical classroom strategies and tools to assist them in creating a more inclusive approach to their teaching.”
He continued to say that:
“As a global organisation we are committed to raising awareness of special educational needs through our work and we recognise that local ministries, education authorities, agencies, and schools are in the best position to understand their own professional Special Educational Needs within their local context.”
Our Definition of Special Educational Needs is:
‘Learners have a learning difficulty if they have a much greater difficulty in learning than the majority of learners of the same age. Or they have a disability which stops, or even hinders them from making use of the general educational facilities provided for learners of the same age.
Special educational needs can also be used as a term for learners who need extra provision because they have abilities significantly ahead of their peers.’
The week ended with an all-day conference attended by over a 100 educators from across Lebanon. The immediate feedback via text messaging was very good.
GISELLE Pempedjian, Lebanese American University:
"Very interesting conference - I learned many practical activities that I will experiment with my students. I strongly believe that implementing the suggested easy activities will leave a positive impact on my learners and myself. Conclusion, event above my expectations! Thank you!"