Special Education Needs (SEN) teachers have been urged to move out of their comfort zone.
The SEN unit of the National Centre for Educational Re-source Development (NCERD) yesterday hosted its annual conference under the theme ‘Come out of your comfort zone and enter your learning zone.’
According to a release from the Ministry of Education, National SEN officer Savvie Hopkinson called on the officers to “Come out of your Comfort Zone & Enter your Learning Zone.”
“We have over the years become comfortable and familiar with the vocabulary of our profession, and we have studied and retained lots of information. We have seen recurring situations and met recurring problems and have become comfortable in responding to them. They no longer challenge us”, she said.
She added that “the place you have come to is like entering a roundabout where you yielded to traffic before entering. But there is no stop sign, and there is no place to park. You must enter and proceed further in the same direction or go in other directions. You must move forward and that means entering the Learning Zone.”
Director of NCERD, Quenita Walrond-Lewis in her remarks said that it is important for the SEN officers to keep up to date with all that is happening within their field as this enhances their abilities in fulfilling their duties.
“What we understood about the world ten years ago or fifty years ago is definitely different from what we understand about the world today […] always remain at the forefront of your practice, always remain current in whatever is new in research, and in educational technology that serves the SEN space,” she advised.
She told the team to “never stay static, never feel you have come as far as you can in your professional journey […] never stop learning.”
The conference served as a platform for SEN officers to highlight and discuss their achievements and challenges for the year, the release said.
