Introducing 鈥楢ctive Support鈥� for pupils with Intellectual Disabilities and Autism to local teachers

125 staff from Antur Waunfawr, Ysgol Hafod Lon and Ysgol Pendalar joined with academic staff from 麻豆网鈥檚 School of Education and Human Sciences recently for a training event providing an introduction to 鈥楢ctive Support鈥�. 

鈥楢ctive Support鈥� is a staff training method aimed at enabling people with learning disabilities to engage more in their daily lives. Staff trained in this method will then aim to increase the engagement levels of clients continuously throughout the day, in turn improving the quality of life for those individuals. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The School of Education鈥檚 Collaborative Institute for Education Research, Evidence and Impact (CIEREI) hosted the event to show how 鈥楢ctive Support鈥� can be adapted and used in a classroom environment. Leading the training day was world-class expert in the field, Prof. Sandy Toogood. 

PhD student Ceridwen Evans, who organised the training event explains: 

鈥淪o far, Active Support has typically been tested in residential settings housing adults with living with a learning disability who have more complex and severe needs. However, anecdotal evidence and a few small studies have suggested its potential effectiveness of implementation in special-school settings.鈥� 

As well as sharing the theoretical overview and practical experience of Active Support, the training showed how best to enrich the classroom environment and how staff can prepare and adapt their own behaviour in order to maximise engagement levels within pupils.  

Ceridwen added:

鈥淭he day鈥檚 collaborative planning also reflected the need for 鈥榚qual expertise from all stakeholders鈥� when designing training events and interventions within school settings (whether mainstream or special education); including expertise from those teachers and staff working directly with the pupils themselves. 鈥� 

Ceridwen Evans鈥� research will now progress to implementing school-adapted Active Support into both Ysgol Hafod Lon and Ysgol Pendalar classrooms. 

Ceridwen鈥檚research scholarship is part-funded by Antur Waunfawr, Ysgol Hafod Lon and Ysgol Pendalar; and is majority funded under the Knowledge Economy Skills Scholarships (KESS) Programme. KESS is a major European Convergence programme led by 麻豆网 on behalf of the HE sector in Wales. KESS II is part-funded by the Welsh Government鈥檚 European Social Fund (ESF) Convergence programme for West Wales and the Valleys, KESS II supports collaborative research projects (Research Masters and PhD) with external partners based in the Convergence area of Wales (West Wales and the Valleys).  Both the Research Masters and PhD elements are integrated with a higher-level skills training programme, leading to a Postgraduate Skills Development Award. KESS 11 will run until 2022 and will provide 600+ PhD and Research Masters opportunities across Wales.

If you would like to find out more about this research, or more about the event itself, please contact Ceridwen Evans on ceridwen.evans@bangor.ac.uk. 

Publication date: 12 September 2019