The Teacher’s Diploma SEN  programme  is being run for the second cohort for practitioners in the primary sector of education. The course has been revisited taking into account best international practices in the field of special educational needs and local classroom realities.

In line with government’s declared policy of inclusive education as a means to eradicate poverty, the targets set  by UNESCO and articulated in the Millenium Development Goals, MIE is systematically integrating aspects of special needs  education across all its teacher education programmes .   However, conscious of the need to strategically re-engineer teacher education to address more frontally failure at CPE, the Institute has, for the past years, synchronized and focused its efforts in the area of special needs through direct intervention at the school level, research and training.

The Teacher’s Diploma SEN programme is a product of the collective effort of many departments and experts in various fields. It will, no doubt, equip teachers with the relevant knowledge, skills and attitude to identify, diagnose a broad range of learning difficulties, develop individualised education programme tailor made for children with specific learning difficulties, propose and implement diverse strategies and also to explore innovative methods. This programme also aims at helping teachers become autonomous practitioners and create their own teaching and learning tools to cater for a diversity of learners and learning difficulties.

It is also our fervent wish that all the teachers would not only become competent professionals and specialists but that they would also help transform practice by modeling the appropriate skills and attitudes. Working with special needs students is not a profession, it is a vocation requiring dedication and sustained effort, and is altogether a most rewarding and fulfilling journey.

I wish all of you a very enriching learning experience.

S. Thancanamootoo, Ag. Director, MIE.

9 Oct 2008

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

It has taken us long to review and restructure the previous Diploma SEN into its new version in order to give the basic competencies for screening, diagnosis and follow up of needy pupils to would-be-SEN teachers, wherever they may be.

It is good to note as well that slowly but surely, the concept of SEN which covers from severely disabled to gifted is being acquired by relevant stakeholders and the battle to include the whole population of the needy is moving ahead.

We hope that this Diploma in SEN will ensure a much desired bridge between MIE training/teacher educators and implementation of classroom SEN practices in a professional way.

The road to more focused training for more specific needs is still left to be covered, and hopefully will be, in the near future.

Finally, I wish hereby to thank all who have dedicated themselves to mount up this programme: MIE colleagues, Course Coordinators, resource persons from private and public agencies (ENT, Ministry of Health), members of the Teacher Education Committee, colleagues from abroad, SNDT University, India and Rectorat, IUFM, Réunion, for their contribution in the validation exercise, the auxiliary and administrative staff of MIE for their valuable contribution and, last but not least, the Directorate for necessary guidance and support.

L N Raghoonundun (Mrs)

Associate Professor & Programme Coordinator for Diploma in SEN