Listening to Every Child

On the outside, one classroom may look no different from another. On the inside, it could be a different thing altogether. No two pupils are alike, nor do they share the same needs.

A Chance to Speak

Every pupil is different, says Sarinajit Kaur, a Teaching Fellow at NIE. And just like all of us, they want to be heard too. She believes that acceptance and a sense of belonging is a core need that should be attended to in every classroom.

That is exactly what Sarina is doing for a group of primary school pupils. She is leading a research project she has fondly named Children’s Voices. “This project is anchored on the diversity in the classroom,” says Sarina, who has taught in primary schools for 18 years.

The term “special needs” usually makes one think of a child with a disability. But by “diversity”, she refers to a wide range of difficulties in children which may not be visible to the naked eye.

Sarina stresses: “One needs a larger lens to include and child who may be struggling in a regular classroom.”

“Have we ensured that that special needs child, or the one who may not be as conversant as the rest of his peers, or has issues reading, is really catered to?” she asks.

Meeting Simple Needs

To Sarina, ensuring that each child’s needs are met is key to their learning. A child with a particular need – no matter how simple – not met may start fidgeting in class, causing him or her to lose concentration.

One way to cater to all pupils is simply to listen to what they need.

When primary school children were asked how they would like their teacher to treat them, and how they wanted the classroom to be like, one said: “I want my teacher to talk to me nicely.”

This is a very diverse education landscape. It is this whole thing about welcoming diversity rather than running away from them.

– Sarinajit Kaur, Early Childhood and Special Needs Education Academic Group

Another said, “Allow everybody to take turns.” Yet another said: “I hope my teacher won’t say ‘wait’ when I ask to go to the toilet.”

The findings from her project made her realize that these children have very basic needs, and the solutions to them are actually very simple.

Take the boy who wished his teacher wouldn’t say “wait” when he needs the toilet. To him, the solution was simply, “The teacher should just let me go now so that I don’t need to go anymore later.”

For a boy who is asthmatic, having a dusty classroom may hinder his learning. Likewise, for a girl who is anxious, working in groups may not be the best way for her to learn if proper structures and support are not put in place.

Seeing Each Need

Bearing in mind the wide scope of special needs, Sarina reminds us that being in a mainstream school does not necessarily mean that the children don’t have diverse needs.

The child who is from a foreign land, the child who is a little bit more anxious, the child who has anger management issues, or the child who has violent tendencies: These are children with needs that may hinder learning.

A proactive approach is best, but with the diversity that abounds within the mainstream primary classroom, sometimes the best way to cater to the different needs is to watch out for signs. The teacher needs to be alert enough to know when a child starts to struggle and to respond to that need.

Sleeping during lesson time does not necessarily mean that the child is plain lazy or has no interest in studying. It could just mean that the child might be facing a problem at home or may have time management issues related to computer addiction. The only way to really know is to hear the voices of the children we are teaching.

“You cannot just look out for the special needs child who comes in with a clear diagnosis,” says Sarina. Having a broader definition of special needs can definitely help to cater to the class as a whole. Observing the child, or just asking how he is doing, is the first step a teacher can take to understand and meet his needs.

Breakfast with My Teacher

“Breakfast with me is something the children look forward to.”

For Sarina, going the extra mile to understand her pupils inside out is something that works well for her as a teacher. And this is how she does it.

To get to know them better, spending time with them outside the classroom is important. For a class of 40, she breaks them up into five groups and has breakfast with each group consecutively for 5 days.

This is done during their recess while she has her cup of morning coffee. “By Friday, I would have met them all,” she says.

What’s on the menu? Anything and everything that’s non-academic. It could be about what the children did over the weekend, what their favourite foods are, or even about their fears. To encourage more mutual interactions, Sarina also shares with her pupils about herself.

By the end of the week, she is able to identify which child will require more attention “either from their faces or their responses”.

If the child needs a little bit of “intensive care, or ICU”, as Sarina puts it, she will then proceed to have a one-to-one chat.

If one session is insufficient, Sarina will repeat the breakfast sessions the following week to ensure every child’s voice has been heard. And like her pupils, she also enjoys having breakfast and hearing their little voices every day.

Trained to Listen

For this project, Sarina found that conducting interviews in schools would create an unnatural setting for the children because they feel the need to say things that are politically correct. So all interviews were conducted in their homes.

At home, these children will not be pressurized to speak for the school. Instead, they can speak for themselves.

Sarina plays the video-recorded interviews to the student teachers in her course at NIE. Her heart is always warmed by the teachers’ responses. “Teachers respond by saying, ‘Hey, it is really just the simple things!’”

“This is a very diverse education landscape,” she says. “It is this whole thing about welcoming and embracing diversity rather than running away from it.”