Developing your model
Staff and managers, with input from the wider school community as appropriate, can use this model to develop and review systems for identifying and responding to the diverse needs of students. The end result is a flowchart that reflects the school's unique processes.
The model evolved during the Special Education 2000 (SE2000) professional development programmes (see About diversity). The model consists of six to eight stages, depending on the size and nature of the school:
- Stage 1: Initial identification
- Stage 2: Class-based assessment
- Stage 3: Collaboration with teaching team
- Stage 4: Collaboration with learning support team or management
- Stage 5: School-based assessment and support
- Stage 6: Collaboration with parents, caregivers, family, and whānau
- Stage 7: Specialised assessment
- Stage 8: Ongoing monitoring, review, and evaluation
Apart from ongoing monitoring, review, and evaluation, which should happen throughout the process, the stages are in a logical order to ensure effective practice of class-based assessment followed by school, then specialist, assessment.
Schools are encouraged to take responsibility for their students and develop the capacity to respond to them within their wider school systems.
Each stage in the model includes:
- Rationale for that particular stage.
- Facilitator's notes to support the person responsible for coordinating the review process. This includes ideas on how to consult with staff, parents, and students throughout the process. See Getting started: the practicalities of facilitation.
- Questions to assist the school to create a customised flowchart that reflects the school's strategies and systems. Ideally, schools will ask their own questions. If they follow the given questions they will be led, step by step, through the review process. Answers to the questions, and notes taken at the review sessions, can be stored in a secure place on the website, and referred to at subsequent sessions (see Login).
- Professional development activities for the whole staff, or for syndicate and faculty teams, to enhance the overall school capacity to meet the diverse needs of students.
- References and resources, including relevant websites.