Inclusive Education: A Guide for
Student Support Services Teachers
Module 3: INSTRUCTIONAL SUPPORT
Engaging Students and Classroom Teachers
saskatchewan.ca 2019
Preface
Saskatchewan is guided by a Student First approach which puts the student front and centre by
focusing on each student’s strengths, abilities, interests, and needs. To create intentional and
responsive educational experiences in classrooms and in the school involves the entire school
community, including students and families.
The Saskatchewan Ministry of Education promotes the belief, attitude and approach of
inclusion for meeting student needs. A strong commitment to inclusive education by the school
community is demonstrated by inclusive educational practices that are part of the everyday
school experiences of the student. Environments where students feel safe, accepted, respected
and confident to engage in learning are essential to student success.
Supporting students through a needs-based service delivery model promotes the success of all
students, including those who have learning needs that require supports to optimize learning
opportunities. The needs-based model is a Student First strengths-based approach in which
responsive instruction, interventions and supports are identified, planned and provided to meet
student needs at the school and classroom level, through targeted and/or group approaches,
and at an intensive individual level. The needs-based model recognizes that a student’s needs
change over time and that individualized, flexible and responsive supports are required.
Instructional Support: Engaging Students and Classroom Teachers is part of a series of modules
that provide examples of high quality inclusive practices. This module provides suggestions for
student support services teachers to engage students and classroom teachers in authentic
inclusive school experiences.
Student support services teacher
Supporting documents and resources can be found (SSST) is a generic term used by
throughout the module by clicking on the underlined term, the Ministry of Education to
phrase or title. describe teachers who support
students facing a range of barriers
to learning to achieve their
Student Support Services Teachers and Their educational and developmental
Collaborative Roles potential by providing a range of
strategies and specialized support
at the classroom, targeted group
Student support services teachers (SSST) perform an array and individual levels. School
of roles and have a variety of responsibilities, such as: divisions may refer to this role in
different ways, for instance,
learning resource teachers or LRTs.
• collaborating with classroom teachers to identify and
implement adaptations, instructional strategies,
interventions and supports students need to be successful, contributing members of the
classroom and school communities;
• modeling/sharing strategies that support student learning;
• scheduling, facilitating and actively engaging in school and division-based student support
team meetings;
• engaging with classroom teachers and other collaborative team members to plan and
monitor student Inclusion and Intervention Plans (IIPs);
• working as part of the school leadership team to assign educational assistants (EAs) to
classrooms with diverse learning needs based on the school support allocation plan (see
Module 1: School-Wide Planning: Making Supports and Services a Priority);
• supporting EAs to acquire the skills they need to support the specific needs of students;
• collaborating with classroom teacher(s) to inform parents/guardians about student progress
towards meeting IIP outcomes; and,
• working with team members to plan for student transitions within the school day and year,
from grade to grade, to a new school and beyond high school.
Providing Instructional Support to Students
Inclusive education provides all students with equitable opportunities to learn with age-
appropriate peers within their school community. An inclusive school provides responsive
instruction that is differentiated to meet students’ needs, builds on students’ strengths for
learning and participation, and offers learning opportunities that are challenging, engaging, and
culturally and developmentally appropriate.
Student support services teachers help to actualize the inclusionary vision of the school. They
provide flexible services and work collaboratively with classroom teachers. Their collaborative
role may be that of a/an:
• learning support coach;
• co-teacher;
• peer collaborator;
• supportive teacher; and/or,
• interventionist (Saskatchewan Ministry of Education, 2015).
Learning Support Coach
The learning support coach role provides indirect support to students through consultation with
classroom teachers. In this role the student support services teacher
helps to strengthen the classroom teacher’s capacity to support Classroom teacher includes
students by working together to: teachers responsible for
teaching a grade or subject.
• administer classroom assessments;
• analyze the learning profile of students, including their strengths, needs and interests;
• interpret ongoing formal and informal assessment results to support instructional planning;
• identify barriers and opportunities;
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• design learning environments, experiences and strategies that are accessible, effective and
engaging for students; and,
• share materials, resources and ideas for leveraging technology to achieve student outcomes
(Alberta Education, 2015).
Co-Teacher
Co-teaching is a relationship in which teachers collaborate to provide instruction in an inclusive
classroom. Research suggests that co-teaching is beneficial for both students and teachers
(Villa, Thousand & Nevin, 2008).
Co-teaching Benefits
When teachers work • receive more teacher attention;
together, students: • have their needs met within the context of the classroom,
thereby reducing the stigma often associated with leaving the
classroom for support;
• improve academic performance;
• increase literacy achievement;
• experience increased self-esteem;
• see themselves as learners;
• participate more;
• experience improved social skills and develop stronger peer
relationships; and,
• receive more consistent instruction.
The benefits for • experiencing the everyday occurrences of the classroom;
student support • working with the curriculum;
services teachers • seeing how specific students perform in the classroom;
include: • improving problem solving and collaborating skills;
• modeling inclusive practices; and,
• strengthening the classroom teacher’s capacity to meet the
diverse needs of students.
Classroom teachers • having someone to share the responsibilities of the classroom;
benefit by: • improving problem solving and collaborating skills;
• observing inclusive practices in action; and,
• strengthening their planning and adapting skills for diverse
learning needs.
Four common co-teaching approaches have been identified (Villa & Thousand, 2016):
1. Supportive: one teacher instructs while the other teacher rotates among the students to
provide supports such as one-to-one academic, behavioural, or communication
coaching or gather diagnostic information by observing and monitoring students.
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2. Parallel: teachers work with different groups of students on the same outcome(s).
Parallel co-teachers differentiate what they do with each group by providing students
options for accessing and interacting with content in ways that match their learning
preferences, styles and needs.
3. Complementary: one co-teacher provides instruction while the other co-teacher
enhances it. Both teachers are instructing the same lesson to the whole group of
students at the same time, building on each other’s instructional strengths and
expertise.
4. Team-teaching: teachers plan, teach, assess and assume responsibility for all students.
Team co-teachers decide who does what before, during and after the lesson, ensuring
that the work is equally divided.
Through co-teaching, educators are able to provide lessons in ways that allow students to
experience each teacher’s strengths and expertise and to target and support individual student
needs within the context of the classroom.
Peer Collaborator
When classroom teachers and student support services teachers work together to solve a
problem or develop a plan of support, they are peer collaborating. As peer collaborators, both
teachers discuss classroom and content challenges, brainstorm different ways to address
student learning and find ways to support each other. Some examples of peer collaboration
include:
• working together to create a behavioural or learning plan for a student;
• being part of the same Professional Learning Community (PLC);
• analyzing and interpreting student data;
• sharing resources and instructional practices; and,
• working together to identify adaptations and instructional approaches that will benefit the
whole class or individual students.
Supportive Teacher
Student support services teachers may take on the role of the supportive teacher. In this role
the student support services teacher provides direct instruction or support to individual
students or groups of students. This type of support may best be implemented for students
who require individualized or targeted supports and/or programming.
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Interventionist
As an interventionist, the student support services teacher works
Reflective questioning
within school-wide models (e.g., Response to Intervention, School-
provides educators
Wide Positive Behavioural Supports, etc.) to provide support at with the opportunity
multiple levels and across multiple settings. In this role student to think deeply about
support services teachers support students who are working below their educational
grade level, usually in the areas of reading and language instruction. ideologies and
practices and how
In addition to what is happening in the classroom, the student
they impact students.
support services teacher is responsible for developing, reinforcing
and teaching strategies to increase student success.
Reflective Questions and Considerations
Collaborative Roles
• Which collaborative role(s) best match my professional training,
strengths and/or experience?
o Which collaborative role(s) do teachers support?
o Which collaborative role(s) does the school administration support?
o What specific roles are better suited for different individuals or situations?
o What professional development may be needed in our school to develop a better
understanding of collaborative roles?
• How does the collaborative role support learning for students who require occasional or
frequent supports?
o Which classrooms have students requiring occasional or frequent supports?
• Which teachers need support to meet the diverse needs in their classrooms?
o Which classrooms’ needs can be met by an educational assistant? Which classrooms’
needs can be met through collaborative instructional support?
o For which subject? For how long? Do we need an exit plan?
• What is my capacity to support students collaboratively and still fulfill my other
responsibilities?
• How do I prioritize my support and responsibilities?
o Which students have the highest needs and require the most support?
o Have I had discussions with the administrative team regarding how to prioritize my
support and responsibilities?
• Has planning time been considered to properly support the collaborative role(s)?
o How will planning time be scheduled?
The role of student support services teachers requires flexibility in order to meet the ever
changing needs of students and actualize the inclusionary vision of the school. Classroom and
student support services teacher roles need to take into consideration the strengths, abilities
and needs of students while nurturing their independence, personal empowerment and self-
determination.
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Helpful Ministry Documents and Resources:
• Actualizing a Needs-Based Model
• The Adaptive Dimension for Saskatchewan K-12 Students
• Inclusive Education
• Stewart Resources Centre
• Supports for All Learners
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Bibliography
Alberta Education. (2015). The learning coach in Alberta schools. Retrieved from
https://education.alberta.ca/media/385006/learning-coaches-english_final-2011.pdf.
Brown, D. (2017). The responsibilities of an interventionist teacher. Retrieved from
http://work.chron.com/responsibilities-intervention-teacher-7660.html.
Government of Saskatchewan. (n.d.). Student First. Retrieved from:
https://www.saskatchewan.ca/residents/education-and-learning/student-first.
Saskatchewan Ministry of Education. (2015). Actualizing a needs-based model. Regina, SK:
Author.
Saskatchewan Ministry of Education. (2017). Inclusive education. Regina, SK: Author.
Saskatchewan Ministry of Education. (2017). The adaptive dimension for Saskatchewan K-12
Students. Regina, SK: Author.
Villa, R.A., Thousand J.S. & Nevin A.I. (2008). A guide to co-teaching: Practical tips for
facilitating student learning (2nd ed). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Villa, R.A. & Thousand, J.S. (2016). The inclusive education checklist: A self-assessment of best
practice. Naples, FL: Dude Publishing.
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