TEACHER’S PERCEPTIONS ON DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY IN RELATION TO THE IMPACT OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC SITUATION IN MACAU EDUCATION

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: APPROPRIATE SUPPORT SERVICES HAVE AN IMPORTANT IMPACT ON INCLUSIVE STUDENTS. IF THERE IS SUFFICIENT AND APPROPRIATE SUPPORT IN SCHOOL, IT WILL HELP IMPROVE THE LEARNING, SOCIAL INTERACTION AND SOCIAL ADAPTATION OF INCLUSIVE STUDENTS. THE MACAU SAR GOVERNMENT HAS PROPOSED TO PROMOTE SCHOOL-BASED THERAPY SERVICES IN THE FUTURE. THIS POLICY WILL HELP IMPROVE THE APPROPRIATENESS OF SCHOOL SUPPORT FOR INCLUSIVE STUDENTS. LANGUAGE IS THE BASIS OF LEARNING, SO THE IMPLEMENTATION OF SCHOOL-BASED SPEECH LANGUAGE THERAPY SERVICES WILL INEVITABLY HELP SUPPORT THE LEARNING NEEDS OF INCLUSIVE STUDENTS WITH LANGUAGE DISORDERS IN SCHOOL. HOWEVER, A DEEPER UNDERSTANDING OF THE CURRENT SITUATION IS NEEDED IN ORDER TO FORMULATE AN APPROPRIATE IMPLEMENTATION PLAN. THIS STUDY AIMS TO UNDERSTAND THE CURRENT FRONT-LINE PRIMARY SCHOOL TEACHERS' UNDERSTANDING OF THE WORK OF SPEECH LANGUAGE THERAPISTS, CHARACTERISTICS OF RELATED IMPAIRMENTS, DIFFICULTIES IN IMPLEMENTATION, SUGGESTIONS FOR SCHOOL-BASED SPEECH LANGUAGE THERAPY, SO AS TO SERVE AS REFERENCE INFORMATION FOR FUTURE IMPLEMENTATION PLANS. METHOD: THIS STUDY CONDUCTED SEMI-STRUCTURED INTERVIEWS WITH 8 CURRENT PRIMARY SCHOOL TEACHERS FROM INCLUSIVE SCHOOLS WITH DIFFERENT BACKGROUNDS. THE INTERVIEWS WERE RECORDED IN THE FORM OF AUDIO RECORDINGS, TRANSCRIBED VERBATIM, AND THEN CODED AND ORGANIZED ACCORDING TO THE RESEARCH QUESTIONS. COMBINED WITH THE SUPPORT OF LITERATURE REVIEW, IMPLEMENTATION SUGGESTIONS WERE GIVEN FOR THE SCHOOL-BASED SPEECH LANGUAGE THERAPY. CONCLUSION AND LIMITATIONS: THE RESULTS SHOW THAT TEACHERS WHO STUDIED SPECIAL EDUCATION AND EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY HAVE A HIGHER UNDERSTANDING OF THE SCOPE OF SPEECH LANGUAGE THERAPY THAN TEACHERS WHO STUDIED GENERAL EDUCATION. MOST TEACHERS BELIEVE THAT THE WORK SCOPE OF SPEECH LANGUAGE THERAPISTS IS MAINLY IN ORAL EXPRESSION, COMMUNICATION SKILLS, AND ARTICULATION CORRECTION. THE INTERVIEWEES ALL POINTED OUT THAT THERE IS CURRENTLY NO COMMUNICATION CHANNEL AND DIRECT CONTACT POINT BETWEEN TEACHERS AND SPEECH THERAPISTS. THE CURRENT DIFFICULTIES RELATED TO SPEECH LANGUAGE THERAPY INCLUDE MULTIPLE ASPECTS: TEACHERS, PARENTS AND POLICIES, SUCH AS TEACHERS' LACK OF UNDERSTANDING OF RELATED IMPAIRMENTS, LOW SOCIAL ACCEPTANCE, AND LACK OF TRANSPARENCY OF SCHOOL INFORMATION. THE STUDY ALSO SUMMARIZED GOVERNMENT POLICIES, SCHOOL RESOURCES, ENVIRONMENT AND OTHER FACTORS THAT AFFECT THE EFFECTIVENESS OF SPEECH LANGUAGE THERAPY, INCLUDING EVALUATION PROCESS AND WAITING TIME FOR THE EVALUATION, SCHOOL SUPPORT FOR GOVERNMENT POLICIES, PARENTS AND TEACHERS' UNDERSTANDING AND ACCEPTANCE OF SPEECH LANGUAGE THERAPY, ETC. THE INTERVIEWEES ALL AGREED THAT THERE IS A NEED TO PROVIDE SCHOOL-BASED SPEECH LANGUAGE THERAPY SERVICES TO SOLVE THE CURRENT DIFFICULTIES IN IMPLEMENTATION, AND ALSO PROVIDED A NUMBER OF IMPLEMENTATION SUGGESTIONS AS A REFERENCE FOR THE MACAU SAR GOVERNMENT IN IMPLEMENTING RELEVANT POLICIES. HOWEVER, THE NUMBER OF RESPONDENTS WAS SMALL, AND IT IS SUGGESTED THAT A LARGER-SCALE STUDY SHOULD BE CONDUCTED. IN ADDITION TO CONSIDERING THE NUMBER OF SAMPLES, DIFFERENT STAKEHOLDERS SHOULD ALSO BE INCLUDED AS RESPONDENTS TO FORMULATE A WELL-BALANCED IMPLEMENTATION GUIDELINE FOR PROMOTING SCHOOL-BASED TREATMENT SERVICES FROM A MORE NEUTRAL PERSPECTIVE, SO AS TO IMPROVE THE TEACHING QUALITY OF STUDENTS WITH SPECIAL LEARNING NEEDS. 目的：合適的支援服務對融合生有著重要的影響，若在校內有足夠且適宜的支援，有助提升融合生的學習、社交、以及其適應社會的能力；澳門特區政府提出未來致力於推行校本治療服務，此政策有助提升在校支援對融合生的適切性；其中語言為學習的基礎，故校本語言治療服務的推行必然有助支援伴隨語言障礙融合生校內之學習需要。然而，在推行前需要對現況有更深入的了解，以便制定合宜的落實方案，是次研究旨在了解目前前線教師對語言治療師工作的認識、對相關障礙的了解、與語言治療相關的支援及溝通、實行上面對的困境、對校本語言治療的想法及推行建議，以作為日後推行計劃的參考資訊。 方法：是次研究透過與 8位不同背景現職融合學校小學教師進行半結構性訪談，訪談以錄音形式記錄，以逐字稿形式轉錄後，再根據探研究問題進行編碼及整理，結合了文獻回顧的支持，為日後落實校本語言治療給予落實建議。 結論及限制：結果顯示修讀特殊教育系、教育心理學系的教師對語言治療工作範疇的認識較修讀一般教育系的教師為高；大部分教師認為語言治療師的工作範疇主要在口語表達、溝通能力，以及構音糾正等面向，可見對語言治療師工作了解不透徹；受訪者均指出現時教師與語言治療師處於零溝通、零接觸的狀況，現時與語言治療相關的困境包括多個面向：教師、家長及政策，例如教師對相關的障礙認識不足、社會接納度低、校內資訊不透明等；研究亦歸納了政府政策、校內資源、環境等多項影響語言治療成效的因素，包括評估流程及輪候時長、校方對政府政策的支持度、家長及教師對語言治療的認識及接受程度等；受訪教師均一致認為有需要提供校本語言治療服務，以解決現時實行上的困境，亦對推行校本語言治療服務提供多項落實建議，以作為澳門特區政府在推行相關政策的參考資料；然而是次受訪人數太少，建議進行更大型的研究，除了人數的考量，亦可加入不同持份者作為受訪對象，以更中立的角度研判並平衡各持份者對推行校本治療服務的實施方針，以提升有特殊學習需要學生的教學品質。