Paper delivered at NCRE Conference in San Francisco, California, April 19, 2013.

1. Universal Learning Systems
Drs. Alan Bruce & Michelle Marmé
Education, Transition Support And
Comparative International Emerging
Professional Practice

2. FAMILIES. EDUCATION. TRANSITIONS.
STUDENT SUCCESS. COMMUNITY SUCCESS.
• Pervasive cultural messages about education & work, from earliest days
• As children join “systems,” those messages about where they fit in the
world/what they have a “right” to expect become altered by interactions
with others
• Fundamental belief: study hard, do a good job and you will have a good
job/life, in the end.
• Another paradigm shift…
US Department of Labor (March 2013) unemployment data (civilian population, 25 years and older
by education):
• If < high school education  11.2 % unemployment
• If high school completed, no college  7.9 % unemployment
• Some college and/or an associates degree  6.7 % unemployment
• Bachelor‟s degree and higher  3.8 % unemployment
• No indication provided as to whether or not pwd have been included
ULS PRESENTATION TO NCRE 2013 2

3. FAMILIES. EDUCATION. TRANSITIONS.
STUDENT SUCCESS. COMMUNITY SUCCESS.
• Focusing on 13 years old and beyond, “invisible” disabilities,
but
• May be best served to re-think when to start: youngest ages
(importance of “success identities”)
• Education: beyond the regular, in class, school day:
• In therapies, neurofeedback sessions, vision therapies,
• With tutors, LAPs, socialization groups, tests/medication changes
• Proper supports at key transition* points
• Big ones: school transitions, moves, losses, returning to school after breaks
• Incremental, critical ones: between classes, teacher changes,
Halloween parades, sports days, …
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4. CURRENT PRACTICE ISSUES IN US & EU
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Child
Legislation & Educational Policies
intended to increase opportunities for
CWD and improve attitudes of
“service providers”
Increased understanding
of neurological/
educational/social/devel
opmental factors
Employment of staff with specific
training in pertinent areas of
education, psychology

5. YOU MIGHT EXPECT …
• Coordination
• Multidisciplinary linkage
• Shared perspectives
• Meaningful progression
• Family engagement
• Flexibility
• Satisfaction and
engagement
ULS PRESENTATION TO NCRE 2013 5

6. BARRIERS TO
STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES
IN U.S. CONTEXT:
Unnerving peek into 504 training
for school psychologists, Fall 2012
ULS PRESENTATION TO NCRE 2013 6
• Lack of consensus
• Turf issues
• Mixed messages
• Attitudes
• Misinterpretations

7. DEFINITIONAL ISSUES
• Student = child, young adult, CWD, not “the problem”
• Transition = continual process,
• not JUST an annual event or every 3-4 years;
• begins at earliest times; may be many times within a day
• Parents = 1guardians/representatives of student
•
2 not the enemy, annoyance, intrusion
• Complicating factors
• Real shared, understanding of goals
• Membership in multiple marginalized groups …
• Parents have background in rehabilitation, education, medicine
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8. TRANSFORMED SOCIETIES -
TRANSFORMING EDUCATION SYSTEMS
• Models of schooling under critical review
• The re-positioning of purpose – Ivan Illich
• From industrial model to emancipatory discourse
• Hierarchy, control and managed behavior
• Appropriating competence in a multipolar world
• From teaching to guidance and learning support
• Integration and inclusion – the shifting paradigm
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9. EUROPEAN FRAMEWORKS
• From Common Market to political Union
• Managing the national frameworks – education in 27 Member
States
• From curriculum to competence – the Lisbon Agenda (2000)
• The four pillars:
• Innovation
• Adaptability
• Entrepreneurship
• Equal Opportunities
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10. DEVELOPING THE FIESTA NETWORK 2011-2014
SCHOOLS - PARENTS –TEACHERS – POLICY MAKERS
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Facilitating Inclusive Education and Supporting the Transition Agenda

11. • Ireland (Enable Ireland; Universal Learning Systems)
• Bulgaria (Center for Inclusive Education)
• Romania (EuroEd)
• Greece (Platon School)
• Netherlands (CMO; CSG)
• Scotland (University of Edinburgh)
• Cyprus (University of Nicosia)
• Finland (Context Learning)
• Spain – Catalonia (Pi del Burgar)
ULS PRESENTATION TO NCRE 2013 11

12. EUROPEAN STRUCTURES & CONTEXTS
• EACEA
• EU Life Long Learning Program
• Comenius Program
• Issues:
• Youth unemployment
• Mobility
• Social inclusion
• Skills, and adaptability to social change
• Languages
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13. SUPIOT REPORT (2000)
• Major risk factors for
unemployment:
• Poverty
• Social exclusion
• Marginalization
• Illiteracy
• Poor education levels
• Inadequate guidance.
• Success Factors:
• Educational attainment
• Social mobility
• Adaptable schooling
• ICT and digital competence
• Languages
• Meaningful assessment systems.
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14. A WORD ABOUT PISA
• PISA (Program for International Student Assessment)
• International study launched by the OECD in 1997. It aims to
evaluate education systems worldwide every three years by
assessing 15-year-olds' competencies in the key subjects:
reading, mathematics and science.
• To date over 70 countries and economies have participated in
PISA
• Impact of Finland
• Impact of competence vs. content
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15. ECHOES OF VOCATIONALISM
„Job model‟ „Employment model
Standards based Non-linear
Devoid of context Adaptable
Passive Learning to learn
Routinized Creative Communication
Model behaviors Multidimensional
(F. Taylor) Active > empowering
(Slavoj Zizek)
ULS PRESENTATION TO NCRE 2013 15

16. SUPPORTING LEARNING
• Focus of motivation
• Problem solving focus
• From curriculum to competence
• Content to meaningful action
• From formal teaching to creation of bonds and links
• Mentoring
• Models of best practice
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17. TRANSITION IS RELATIONAL
• Change
• Diversity
• Security – uncertainty
• Befriending
• Networks
• Mutual interdependence
• Family critical – so is social identity
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18. DYNAMICS OF TRANSITION
• Defining needs
• Defining required supports
• Developing teams: communication
• Avoiding traps – the standardized label
• Critical and reflective thinking and practice
• Empathy
• Sensitivity and clarity – goal setting
• Evaluative review
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19. RECENT ISSUES: FIESTA WORKSHOP, KATERINI, GREECE (MARCH 2013)
Dyslexia
• Pieria 5% of 28,500 pupils
• Parents understanding
• Impact of „diagnosis‟ – rejection
• Teacher skills/training
• Lack of comparative analysis
Autism
• Fear, stigma, guilt
• Challenge
• Teacher competence
• School
• Medicalization
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20. SUPPORTING TRANSITION
• Modelling
• Empathy
• Compassion
• Roles
• Responsibility
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21. POINTS OF CONVERGENCE FOR
PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE IN EU & U.S.
Definitional
issues
Core Value:
Society is
responsible to
ensure equal
opportunities for
everyone & taking
care of weaker
members of
society.
Rationale:
Social exclusion
is extremely
expensive for
any society.
Key Success
Factor:
Concrete
collaboration and
coordination
among all
participants
essential.
Goals:
Develop skills in
reasoning,
problem solving,
nurture
intellectual
curiosity, working
through
frustration
Challenges:
European
Union
FIESTA
X X X X X ?
U.S.
X X X ? ? ?
ULS PRESENTATION TO NCRE 2013 21

22. PRELIMINARY REVIEW, IMPRESSIONS &
PLANS
• Need for networks
• Need for international best
practice
• Breaking barriers
• Facing a new future
• Beyond the „normal‟
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23. RECONCEPTUALIZING U.S. PRACTICES
TRANSITION
• Begins at earliest age
• Reconsider as stepwise process, of
increasing complexity
• Not inherent; strategies to learn &
reinforce
• Recognize as multi-dimensional
FAMILY ROLE
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24. INCLUDING FAMILIES
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• Communicate that parent input valued
• As valued observers
• As perceptive reporters
• As tutors, coaches, cheerleaders, therapists,
consultants,
• As collaborators throughout the process
• As “case managers”

25. TEACH PROBLEM SOLVING SKILLS
FROM EARLIEST DAYS, TO HELP
PREPARE CHILDREN TO RESPOND
TO TRANSITIONS WITH MORE
CONFIDENCE AND SKILL:
Shure, M.B. (2000). I Can Problem
Solve An interpersonal cognitive problem-
solving program. Champaign, IL: Research
Press.
Shure, M.B. (2005). Thinking Parent,
Thinking Child How to Turn Your Most
Challenging Everyday Problems into
Solutions. Champaign, IL: Research Press.
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26. RESOURCES
www.ulsystems.com
www.changelearning.eu
www.opendiscoveryspace project.eu
www.fiesta-network.eu
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27. Thank you!
and keep in contact…
abruce@ulsystems.com
marme1@rcn.com
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