Stronger Educator Training is Needed
October 2, 2019 Greg Thomson
Our last article explored how educator training makes school accessible to some students with disabilities. In this article, we discuss how stronger educator training is needed to support students with disabilities in the classroom.
Stronger Educator Training
The regulations in the Information and Communications Standards provide an important starting point for educational accessibility. However, there are few guidelines advising organizations on how to implement these requirements. For instance, the mandate about educator training lists the topics that the training needs to address. However, the mandate does not state how institutions can educate themselves on these topics to train their employees. In addition, institutions can choose types of educator training that offer different levels of information, such as classroom sessions or handouts. On one hand, this lack of direction can be helpful. For instance, institutions developing their own training can tailor it specifically to their students and staff. On the other hand, the lack of guidance is harmful when educators responsible for training development have no experience with accessibility.
Accessibility Training
Some educators may choose to create brief training modules that do not cover everything they should. These educators may make this choice because they are uncomfortable [...]