Educational servicesStudent Services The CÉF ensures the coordination of all its special services: speech therapy, occupational therapy, psychology and counseling. It also ensures the administration of the psycho educational evaluations to the fransaskois students, while offering support to the teaching staff in modifying the curriculum programs to respond to the needs of students with special needs or of gifted students. This person is also the leader for Shared Services, for the Division-wide Code of Conduct project as well as for Integrated services. She supervises the special education teacher's work and tends to the general administration of her sector. Student Services are presently the responsibility of Mrs. Frankie LaClare, Assistant Director of Education. eleves@cefsk.ca Integrated Services These services are offered by the provincial government to Saskatchewan families, particularly in the health, social services, justice and education sectors. These services, such as counseling which focuses on improving basic parental abilities, or the sharing of information to decrease drug, alcohol and tobacco abuse by students, are readily accessible to the province's schools. Since 1988, the CÉF and its partners (Assemblée communautaire fransaskoise, Association des parents fransaskois) have been working out plans to ensure the provision of Integrated Services IN FRENCH for the fransaskois schools. A model for the provision of services has been put together and will require a considerable financial contribution from affected government departments in order to be made accessible as resources or services to fransaskois families. While waiting for a positive answer, the CÉF proceeds with its efforts to eliminate learning disabilities by responding to the diverse needs of the students.
Shared Services Some rural school divisions may not have the capacity to provide the comprehensive range of services and supports for student diversity. The Shared Service Program was initiated to strengthen the capacity of rural school divisions to provide supports to students and teachers. The program provides the organizational structure and funding recognition for boards of education to enter into agreements with other boards and human service providers to deliver specialized services. Policy Saskatchewan Learning recognizes the need for school divisions to work together in Shared Service areas in collaboration with other human services to provide appropriate services for children and youth with diverse needs. Appropriate services include: - assessment, educational diagnosis, educational programming and consultation for students living in vulnerable circumstances and students with exceptional needs, - speech, language, communication and early literacy development, - core curriculum actualization, and - additional supports to address locally-determined needs. Special Education Teaching Aid The special education teaching aid assists the teacher in giving lessons and learning activities for the students as well as in supervising the students; he or she is responsible for the tasks and responsibilities assigned to him or her by the principal. Upon a recommendation by the Student Services coordinator, following the evaluation of a student, the CÉF can put a special education teaching aid in place to answer to identified needs. The aid will be assigned to a specific student. He or she will support the teacher in giving lessons and learning activities for the students as well as by supervising the students; he or she is responsible for the tasks and responsibilities assigned by the home-room teacher. Special Needs The CÉF is equipped with a team of specialists who can offer highly specialized services to fransaskois students with learning disabilities. Since 2 to 20% of children, no matter their first language, have learning disabilities, it is essential to be able to offer an education in their first language that will be adapted to suit their needs. Since the rate of learning is different for each student, we must expect an increase or reduction in the quantity of work, or diversify the presentation of the subject. In this case and in the identification of learning difficulties, the specialist's expertise can prove to be very useful. In addition to benefiting from the provincial coordinator's services and two of the hired counselors who tend to the well-being of the students, the CÉF also hires contractual employees. Guidance Counselor Available since September 2000, this service aims to : *train and accompany the high school students to help guide them in choosing courses that will allow them to realize their future plans, for postsecondary education as well as for the working world. Whether it concerns the necessary prerequisites for university or college admission, available bursaries, or the abilities and qualities sought for integration into the working world, the students will be well equipped thanks to the guidance counselor. *provide support for the schools and the CÉF to ensure that they offer the necessary options so that the student may reach his/her goal. Distance Education and the Learning Technology Unit All of the CÉF schools have access to the distance education program. The model rests on several methods and ways of delivery such as videoconferencing and the use of multimedia supported by the Internet. The videoconferencing equipment allows for the transmission of voice, texts and graphics, as well as the transmission of fixed or animated images of the participants. The distance education teachers also visit their students on a regular basis. Through its multimodal approach, the CÉF can offer quality distance education to all of its students, whether they live in a rural or urban region. This does not mean replacing traditional learning methods, but rather adds to the available resources. Also, this technology gives each student the opportunity to exchange ideas, defend their point of view, develop friendships around the province in addition to allowing them to reach several of the goals related to the integration of technologies. Distance teaching requires additional preparation time and at times, creates the need for more effort on the part of the teacher. To help make the teacher's work easier, the CÉF offers training and puts a considerable support network at the staff's disposal. The distance education staff is also involved in the Learning Technology Unit overseen by the Ministry of Learning. This program is aimed at developing resources which would be made available on the Internet to all Saskatchewan teachers. Thanks to the careful course preparation and the judicious use of the equipment, students, parents and teachers are able to benefit from this new technology. For more information contact Robert Lessard at rlessard@cefsk.ca . |
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