Hello and welcome to Stage Two of the Masters programme
and Year Three of the TDA national pilot project.
Most of you watching this video will have completed the first three modules
and, so far, attended two of our national conferences.
In a project such as this there are always points for further development,
but overall your evaluations of your experiences have been very positive.
We're now commencing work on Modules Four, Five and Six.
This year our aim is to prepare you all for the final assignments,
which involve planning, implementing and reflecting
on an intervention in a mainstream school other than your own
and as appropriate to your local circumstances.
Your work this year will again be supplemented
by the ability to link,
through this CD-ROM and through your university websites,
to the many resources on the internet.
As before, we intend that the topics and reading materials
will encourage and enlighten you.
They are intended to support three main areas for learning.
These three main areas for learning are,
firstly, the importance and the role of evidence bases
in developing and enhancing practice
in supporting and including pupils with special needs and disabilities.
Secondly, we aim to provide opportunities
for you personally and professionally
to develop your interpersonal skills
and understand the significance of their role
in supporting and advising colleagues.
And finally, we want to give you a structured experience
of assessing the school context,
making an intervention
and reflecting on that intervention with the direct help of your tutors in situ.
We were very pleased to welcome Micheline Mason
to the second conference in September.
She gave us valuable insights into the nature of inclusion in our society.
That presentation is also available in full on this CD-ROM.
If you remember, at the very first conference
I mentioned that you and your tutors are a key element
in this national project
in terms of gathering evidence and being part of the impact evaluation.
During this year I'd like you to think
about the ways in which you can help gather evidence
in the following areas.
We need to know about the impact
first of all on yourselves in undertaking this learning experience.
What has it been like for you?
Secondly, we need to know about the impact on your own school
and your colleagues,
those immediately close to you and those not so close to you.
And thirdly, we need to know about the impact
on a small number of pupils in your school and their parents.
And then, when we've done that, I'd like you then
to extrapolate and extend those reflections
and your understanding of gathering the evidence
and your ideas for gathering evidence
to the mainstream school where you will be doing your intervention,
to the colleagues who work there
and to other colleagues who will be involved
in working with pupils with special needs.
And finally, last but definitely not least,
the impact on the pupils and their parents
in that school where you are intervening.
Above all, though,
we hope you have enjoyed and benefited from the first year
and that you will continue to enjoy your learning experiences this year.
I shall see you again at the summer conference.
All the best.