Expert warns over learning ‘labels’
Professor Áine Hyland, education professor and chairperson of a Government committee on education disadvantage, said learning support should be in mainstream classrooms as much as possible.
She was addressing the annual conference of the Learning Support Association, representing teachers who help children with literacy and numeracy problems, in Dublin at the weekend.
Professor Hyland, who is also vice-president of UCC, said: “Learning support teachers should work as far as possible in the classroom because if children get labelled early on in life as being remedial or special, it might stick with them.
“Even though it might not be meant in a bad way, such labelling can be more problematic than leaving them as they are.
“If children identify themselves early on as being failures, they will lose their self esteem and continue to live up to that identity.”
Most of the country’s 3,500 learning support teachers work in primary schools, and are concentrated in schools in disadvantaged areas.
Their main work is helping children with literacy and numeracy problems, but they also help build confidence in young people.
The issue of educational disadvantage has been highlighted recently, with education professionals saying young people’s chances of studying at third level go right back to their earliest learning.
The expert committee chaired by Professor Hyland was appointed last March and has invited submissions on the matter ahead of a forum at Dublin Castle next month.
“The Government has ordered a lot of initiatives to support young people in disadvantaged areas but they need to work more closely together,” said Professor Hyland.
“A school alone can’t address the problem. They need to work with other local groups and bodies, like social workers and community liaison officers.”
Professor Hyland also suggested greater efforts be made to recruit qualified teachers for schools in disadvantaged areas which often have difficulty hiring trained staff.
