ACTION PLAN DRAFT PROPOSAL

GROUP 2: DICKIE-ANN RICHARDSON, NICOLE LEWIS, KARISHMA BHIMSINGH,

SHENICE NEPTUNE, DIXIE-ANN MC KENZIE

TOPIC: SPECIAL NEEDS

RESEARCH DESIGN/PROCEDURES: GIBBS REFLECTIVE CYCLE

RESEARCH QUESTIONS:
(1)HOW DOES BEING MAINSTREAMED INTO A PUBLIC SCHOOL AFFECTS THE
CHILD SCHOLASTICALLY?
(2) HOW ARE FACILITIES AND EQUIPMENTS DESIGNED AND INCORPORATED TO
FACILITATE EFFECTIVE MOVEMENT AND LEARNING?
(3) HOW DO THE TEACHER, STUDENTS AND CLASSMATES FEEL ABOUT THE CHILD
IN THE CLASSROOM?

RESEARCH OBJECTIVE: OUR RESEARCH OBJECTIVE IS TO FIND SOLUTIONS TO

THE PROBLEMS FACED BY TEACHERS AND STUDENTS IN INCORPORATING
STUDENTS WITH PHYSICAL NEEDS.

METHODOLOGY:
A qualitative research approach is proposed for this study. The action group will use various
means of collecting data to identify the challenges and to discharge solutions for those
challenges. Semi structured interviews will be conducted amongst the students and
questionnaires with their written response will be given out to the teachers. Written observations
on how the physically disabled child interacts with the environment, other students, the teacher
and his engagements in the lessons. Notes will also be made of the classroom structure.

LITERATURE REVIEW:
To determine the focus on facilitating children in with physical needs, we researched articles
relating to the questions. Similar concerns arrosed in the article by Bouabdellah (2017),But how
can people with disabilities contribute to this development if their work and environment are not
fitted to them? As we are going to focus on the environment and facilities of disabled children
in a preschool it is also our concern that these children would have the proper facilities placed in
school so that they can take advantage of every opportunity for development. In the journal by
David Ludie (2009), the paper identifies three factors which motivate students, a failure to
engage with the aims and ends of the educational project, a failure to see that a particular
learning aim is worth attaining, and a simple lack of will-power to attain it. These three failures
are as a result of a lack of socially friendly tools which are to be used to cater for the disabled
learner. Having the proper facilities can cater for the physical needs but necessary tools are
needed in the classroom to engage and motivate disabled children for inclusion in learning. In
comparison to the two articles, they both had a concern for the physical needs of students, not
just for their disability but also for their inclusion in learning.

WHY IS THERE A NEED FOR THIS RESEARCH

To make notice that there should be facilities and tools in the classroom environment to
accommodate students in their inclusion in learning experience and that their physical needs are
not being hindered.

WHAT ACTION OR CHANGE WILL OCCUR

School teachers will be able see the need for training and why they should conduct needs
assessments to identify potential areas for change in order to create positive environments for
teachers and students with disabilities. Teachers can take an action to collaborate with other
school personnel who can help to establish school policies that introduce respect, high
expectations, and interest in the outcomes for all students. They also can bring to the attention of
administrators the importance of ongoing professional development for school personnel in
relation to working with students with disabilities, whether it be through direct services offered
to students or in collaboration with teachers, school counselors, parents.

TIME FRAME/SCHEDULE
The study will be a 10 week study beginning in September of 2017.

Week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Meetings * * * *

Submission *
of Proposal

Data * * * *
Collection
Methods

Literature * * *
Review

Case Study * * *
Analysis

Field * *
Project

Data * * *
Analysis

Finalizing * *
the Project

Submission *
of Project

The following are some questions that would be included in the teachers questionnaire:
1) What are some of the challenges faced when teaching this student....

2) How do you as a teacher measure the learning progress for this special needs child.....

3) How do you anticipate and plan for any potential barrier to the students learning.......

4) How do you create a safe and mutually responsive environment to engage the student in
meaningful learning activities and social interaction.

5) How did you organise the classroom to meet the needs of your students.

6) How do you implement instruction that is individually developed to address the specific
child's needs that result from his or her disability.

7) How do you articulate areas in need of improvement in your lesson delivery for the
disabled child, and then identify a plan of action?

8) After teaching a lesson, how do you identify strategies to try to better support students
with disabilities and rationales for how those strategies will increase their learning?
 First Meeting Minutes

Call to order
A meeting for the Action Research Project was held at UWI Roytec South Campus Room 8 on 23 rd
September 2017.

Attendees included:

Dixie-Ann Mc Kenzie
Nicole Lewis
 Shenice Neptune
Jathia Ar-Razi
Dickie-Ann Richardson
Karishma Bhimsingh.

Reports
Discussion:

Creating the group and taking notes of the guided questions provided by the lecturer.

The creation of the group's ethical statement.

Meeting:

2:45pm: Formation of the group.

2:48 pm: Ms. Mitchell gave the class guided questions that can be used during the assignment. After the

group took note of the questions that were given by the lecturer. We then shared our thoughts on what our

ethical statement should be.

2:53pm: Dixie-Ann Mc Kenzie came up with the idea of speaking about disabled children in schools and

what difficulties they may be going through. Then we all worked together in phrasing our ethical

question, until we came up with the following question, Should disability be allowed or prevented in

public schools? Then we continued by discussing how we were going to use this statement for the

project.

2:57pm: Jathia suggested that we go through the ethical points that Ms. Mitchell used earlier that day in

class. Class were coming to an end so we worked on obtaining contact information from each other so we

can communicate during the week to discuss more about the assignment. Certain roles were selected by

group members on the following meeting.

Unfinished business
Going through the guided questions.
Answering the guided questions
Using the text for guidance.

Adjournment
30th September, 2017

Karishma Bhimsingh 23rd September 2017

Secretary Date of approval

Second Meeting Minutes

Call to order
A meeting for the Action Research Project was held at UWI Roytec South Campus Room 8 on 30th
September 2017.

Attendees included:

Dixie-Ann Mc Kenzie
Shenice Neptune
Jathia Ar-Razi
Dickie-Ann Richardson
Karishma Bhimsingh

New Member:
Jackie Nurse Byro

Members not in attendance included:

Nicole Lewis

Reports
Discussion:
Going through the guided questions and ensuring that all members were on the same page

Previous Meeting:

Creating the group and taking notes of the guided questions provided by the lecturer.

The creation of the group's ethical statement.

Meeting:

2:30pm: We got a new group member by the name of Jackie. When everyone settled the group started by
picking up where we left off on our previous meeting. Which were the code of ethics. Jathia read through
the 22 ethical standards, the group then discussed each ethical standard one by one ensuring that everyone
understood what each one meant before moving on to the next ethical standard, until all were reviewed.

2:38pm: We all decided that it was time to work on our mission Statement. Earlier that day Ms. Mitchell
showed us how to use webbing to identify the main focus by the using the code of ethics. We then used
the webbing technique to help us find our main focus. Which also highlighted the main points in which
helped us in constructing our three main questions.

2:44pm: Jathia started in group in going through the guided questions ensuring that all the group members
understood the questions before we attempted to answer the questions. While answering the questions we
touched on informed consent and from whom should we seek this consent, then we moved onto
discussing the policies, confidentiality and contracts. We discussed what could be some policies in school
that have disable students and the confidentiality towards disabled students and their school record cards.
One of suggestions were that some school may ask teachers to sign contracts due to the level of
confidentiality towards special need students.

2:52pm: We then went on to discuss the diversity and some of the effects such as discrimination and how
it not only affects the student and the teacher, but society in general. We spoke about some of the
challenges special needs students face on a daily basis. For example; special students are often bullied,
students pick on these children, and many people would think that this wont not seem to affect the
student, but these students are affected emotionally and can be driven by negativity to stay away from
class or drop out of school.

Unfinished business
Finding a school that can be used for this research
Working on our three main questions
Creating questions for the teachers interview
Questions for the special student
Questions for the classmates of the special student.

Adjournment
14th
October, 2017
Karishma Bhimsingh 3oth September 2017

Secretary Date of approval

Third Meeting Minutes

Call to order
A meeting for the Action Research Project was held at UWI Roytec South Campus Room 8 on
7th Octoer 2017.

Attendees included:

Dixie-Ann Mc Kenzie
Nicole Lewis
Dickie-Ann Richardson

Reports
Discussion:

Choosing a school to visit and deciding the type of research to use.

Meeting:

2:00pm: opening question. (what school did we enquire and what disability the child has?)

2:10pm: Dixie-Ann Mc Kenzie gave useful information about a school we could use and we

started to draft the ides down.

2:25pm: Ms. Mitchell asked us to move closer to her and she asked use what information we had

thus far, and shared what we had with her and she gave use some ideas how to move alone with

it.

2:46pm: we discussed which research type we should use and wrote down some further

information we needed to obtain.

Unfinished business
Filling in the rest of the group
Creating the questioner
Deciding on a day to visit the school

Adjournment
3:00 pm

Nicole Lewis
???????
Co-Secretary Date of approval

Fourth Meeting Minutes

Call to order
A meeting for the Action Research Project was held at UWI Roytec South Campus Room 8 on 21 st
October 2017.

Attendees included:
Nicole Lewis
Shenice Neptune
Dickie-Ann Richardson
Karishma Bhimsingh

Members not in attendance included:

Dixie-Ann Mc Kenzie
Jathia Ar-Razi- dropped the course
Jackie Nurse Byro-dropped the course

Reports
Discussion:

Developing the three main question and giving our reviews on Article 1. Developing questions for the
questionnaire for the special student, the teacher and the classmates of the special student.

Previous Meeting:

Going through the guided questions and ensuring that all members were on the same page. Discussing the
code of ethics

Meeting:

2:00pm: Nicole and Dickie-Ann went over what they did in the third meeting with myself and Shenice
because we wont able to attend the last meeting.

2:10 pm: The discussion of Article 1 then took place. The discussion consisted of methods and ideas that
stood out to us while doing our reflection, and how we can incorporate it into our classrooms when we
become teacher. We also discussed why these ideas stood out to us.

2:15pm: Structuring the three main research questions for the project. We received help from our lecturer
with the proper wording of the questions. Our main questions were based on special needs students
development in school. The proper facilities to accommodate the special students.

2:20pm: The group then discuss some questions that can be used in the students questionnaire.
Unfinished business
Finding a school that can be used for this research
Creating questions for the teachers interview
Questions for the special student
Questions for the classmates of the special student.

Adjournment
28th
October, 2017

Karishma Bhimsingh 21st October 2017

Secretary Date of approval

REFERENCES:
Lahcene B., (June 2017). Fitting School Buildings to the Requirements of Physically Disabled
Students in Algeria: An Ergonomic Study. Faculty of BCIM, London South Bank University.

David L,. (2009). A Theory of Motivation and Ontological Enhancement: The Role of Disability
Policy in Student Empowerment and Institutional Change.

Sue Cox & Anna RobinsonPant, (2008). Power, participation and decision making in the
primary classroom: children as action researchers, Educational Action Research, 16:4, 457-468,
DOI: 10.1080/09650790802445643
Amy Trauth-Nare & Gayle Buck, (2011). Using reflective practice to incorporate formative
assessment in a middle school science classroom: a participatory action research study,
Educational Action Research, 19:3, 379-398, DOI: 10.1080/09650792.2011.600639