The purpose of this study is to look at the existing special schools’ approach to educating children with special needs. This study looks at an alternative to the approach and method of working with a child with special needs. The strength-based approach to education embodies a paradigm shift. It is a strategy to move away from a deficit-based methodology which inadvertently may lead to an extensive list of things that the child cannot do or is unable to do.

The strength-based approach supports the Ministry of Education’s Framework for 21st Century Competencies and Student Outcomes perspective of children as confident able and skilful learners and the view that each child is distinct with unique qualities and abilities (Ministry of Education). The strength-based approach to writing statements encourages educators to find out:

• • •  what a child is able to do
    • what a child is able to do when he or she is given educational support

This study involves the implementation of a questionnaire for about 150 teachers and from 7 different special schools to facilitate the investigation of this study regarding having a strength-based approach to education within a sample population of teachers. It also includes a qualitative analysis whereby the Individualised Education Plans (IEP) and interviews of teachers will be analysed. These 7 schools have been invited to participate in the study if approved and they have agreed. These schools and their profiles are as follows:

• • • Four schools from MINDS: Woodlands Gardens School, Fernvale Gardens School, Towner Gardens School, and Lee Kong Chian Gardens School. The students have moderate to severe learning disability ranges (students with IQ below 50).
    • Three schools from Rainbow: Rainbow Centre – Margaret Drive, Rainbow Centre – Yishun Park, and Rainbow Centre Admiralty Hill School. All three schools have a student population consisting of multiple disabilities and autism. All three schools have implemented the strength-based approach.

This study will use a mixed design methodology. The quantitative and qualitative part of this study will be used to compute the findings from the research questions. In the quantitative section, this study will seek to understand teachers’ perceptions regarding a strength-based approach in their schools. Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS) program will be used for the quantitative aspect of this study.

The qualitative section will involve interviews with teachers to understand practices towards supporting strengths and the process of IEP development. The use of a qualitative method will allow the researchers to focus on the experiences, thoughts, feelings and perceptions of the participants that are being interviewed. A thematic analysis design for the interview data will be adopted for this study.

In the qualitative analysis of the IEP, thematic analysis will be used to understand the degree to which the IEP contains information about and addresses the child’s strengths. Having the viewpoints of teachers via questionnaires, through teachers’ interviews and examining the IEPs will give triangulation to this study.