Inclusive education is one of the key priorities in the training of future teachers at Bolashaq Academy. This is due to the fact that, in contemporary education, teachers increasingly need to use specific methods and techniques for teaching children with special educational needs.
How can students from different educational programmes be prepared for real-life situations they may encounter in the classroom? To address this challenge, the Academy provides students with opportunities to gain relevant practical experience during their studies.
During the first semester, as part of the course “Special Psychology,” Alua Sabitovna Abdrakhmanova, Head of the Centre for Psychological Support and Inclusive Education and Associate Professor, arranged not only theoretical instruction on the characteristics of children with intellectual disabilities and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) for students of group DOV-24-1k, but also introductory practical sessions at Special Boarding School No. 6.
Within the framework of cooperation between Bolashaq Academy and Special Boarding School No. 6 of the Education Department of the Karaganda Region, educational visits are organised, along with meetings with teachers and psychologists who share their professional experience and effective practices in working with these children.
During one of these sessions, the students became acquainted with the school’s overall activities and attended lessons and educational sessions involving children with intellectual disabilities. They also visited workshops designed to develop and strengthen the pupils’ social skills.
The students identified several visual materials and techniques for working with children with ASD that they could add to their professional toolkit. This experience is particularly valuable because children with ASD are often enrolled in inclusive groups in preschool education settings.
In the future, the Centre for Psychological Support and Inclusive Education will continue its work in this area with students from all teacher education programmes.