Feedback - Awareness Training
Secondary School Students
(St Mary's College) - 15 Nov 2006
Evaluation from Questionnaires
The information below is based on the 15 participants who answered the specific questions, a few participants did not respond to all the questions. Although overall the response to most of the questions was very high.
100% participants felt information was well presented
The videos and particularly “Just Like You” (Donovan’s video) stood out as parts of the presentation which held most attention for the participants.
All (100%) of the participants felt they had a better knowledge of the family view of disability as a result of the session.
93% of participants would encourage others to participate in the Group’s events. Only one person did not answer this question, and she did not seem to be sure, so she put down a question mark.
91% of participants who answered this question desired more training, one participant did not wish to have further training, four people decided not to answer this question.
From these evaluations it is clear that the presentation on “the family view of disability” was well received by the students at Saint Mary's College, the first secondary school to receive such a presentation from our Group. This despite the fact that the presentation was focused on ability rather than disability and on the human side of disability rather than the medical conditions emphasised in the course handbook. This experience has confirmed a growing awareness that these presentations can be adapted to different audiences, with some advance preparations.
Thanks are due to all the students attending and to the class teacher for organising the event.
What You Said – quotes from the participants
(Saint Mary’s College)
- I now feel I have a better understanding of disabled people.
- The presentation changed my view completely on disability, for the better.
- Makes you think more about how you see disability.
- It helped me understand all areas of disabilities.
- I understand more about the family’s point of view.
- The videos helped me understand more.
- The videos were presented very well and each one had a message behind them.
- I look at the wider picture.
- Thank you for caring and helping me understand more about disability.
- It is better coming from someone who experiences the effects, every day.
- It raised issues I never thought about before.
What You Said – quotes from the Health and Social Care Teacher (Saint Mary’s College)
Re: Theme
“The “family view of disability” is a very personalised, first hand
view of disability, which looks past the disability to the “person.”
All too often we see the disability first and fail to realise that there is a normal person behind the disability. To me this was extremely interesting, as the text book that the pupils have been using shows a very clinical view of disability, showing the symptoms, treatments, effects, etc. without the personal touch.”
Re: Strategies used
“The strategies ranged from video clips, using a projector, to miniature figures, with various impairments. All of which worked extremely well and kept the attention of the girls.”
Re: Overview
“His (Brendan’s) presentation was insightful, his knowledge is tremendous and his presence and control with the pupils is excellent. It was an extremely enjoyable hour and the feedback from the pupils tells me the same.”
Analysis – Reflective Practice
It was very innovative for the class teacher, to invite a “user” to give a perspective to GCE A Level students, particularly from someone whose work has primarily been with adults. Indeed this is the first time that “the family view of disability” has been presented to students at this level. Previously elements relating to civics have been the basis of one short session through Common Ground.
From the actual day, written feedback from the students and the evaluation summary provided by the class teacher, it is clear that the presentation did make an impact, and did give the students and teacher an opportunity to reflect on disability issues. There are a number of questions that do arise, as a result of this.
Is this type of session appropriate for students at this level?
From feedback it does certainly seem to be. However for the greatest impact, as in this case, there needs to be advance preparation by the teacher, an understanding of what is being taught (the course-book provided information on this) and a commitment by the teacher to be and stay involved. The class teacher had prepared the students and stayed throughout the full presentation.
What type of material is being taught currently?
In this case there seemed to be an over emphasis in literature, on medical conditions, important as they are, they are not everything from a “user” perspective. This gave a quite unique opportunity to balance this, with information that would have been relatively new to the students, such as “the person not the disability” and “ability not disability.”
Also most of the students would have been more familiar with scenarios and case studies, rather than the real life experiences relayed by the presenter.
Drawing on the storyline of “Eastenders” (and the controversy over the birth of a baby and the impact of Down’s Syndrome), the use of plastic models with impairments, discussions, questions, real life experiences and videos, these tools seemed very effective in engaging the students. It was very important to engage them from early on, as this approach to disability would have been new to them. Also although at times the subjects and topics were quite deep and challenging, the session never became overwhelming and there were still moments of humour.
I feel there are lessons to be learned from this session, particularly that this presentation can cross over to secondary education. Much of the success of this particular session was due both to the teacher and all the students who attended, they were attentive, interested and willing to discuss issues. It was very worthwhile.
21 November 2006
