Developing Curriculum Guidelines in Indonesia for Students Who Are Multiply Disabled and Visually Impaired

Chapters:

1. Introduction
2. Using an Assessment to Create a Student-Centered Approach
3. How Implementation Might Look in Practice
4. Challenges With Implementation of the Guidelines
5. The Challenge Moving Forward

CHAPTER 1: Introduction

WENINGSIH: The curriculum for students with multiple disabilities and visual impairment, or we call as MDVI, became very important in Indonesia because there are many reasons.

First is that there are a lot of schools for the blind that refuse to enrolls these students.

Second is that many students with MDVI, they couldn't follow the national curriculum and they couldn't pass into the evaluation system and as a result that with so many students sitting in the same class for many years. And they are in the same class with the young kids, which is not appropriate.

And then the third is that so many teachers ask students to do the inappropriate activity, like we saw 15-year-old students, they are doing a puzzle, they are doing the pegboard, which is really inappropriate for their age anymore.

And there is confusion for the teacher who has been working with the student with MDVI to implement or to design the program because the government requires them to make the program that's based on the national curriculum, but they understand that those do not meet the requirement for the student, so they have to make the two programs.

One is for the government, which is not really appropriate for the student, and the second is the program that's a functional activity that's appropriate for the student.

NARRATOR: In a photograph, we see an example of a functional activity that would not be considered part of the government's curriculum requirements.

Two teenaged boy students sit on low stools and coat duck eggs with a mixture of salt and wet clay under the supervision of a teacher. The eggs, a local delicacy, are sold to vendors in the nearby village.

WENINGSIH: And then the third is, among the schools who have the MDVI students, there is the inconsistency of using the curriculum. And then we also found that teachers, actually, don't really develop the IEP, although they understand that the IEP is the important part that they have to meet. But then they still do not know how to start, how to develop, what is the step.

CHAPTER 2: Using an Assessment to Create a Student-Centered Approach

WENINGSIH: We call this document as a guideline instead of curriculum because in Indonesia, the term of curriculum is considered as a set of documents that the teacher must follow and the student must achieve. And because of the uniqueness and the variety of our children in the MDVI or including deaf-blindness is that it's not possible to have the one curriculum that's applicable for all the children.

NARRATOR: We see the cover of the curriculum guidelines booklet that was published in Indonesia. On the cover are several photos of students involved in functional activities.

WENINGSIH: There are some important principles that we cover in this guideline.

First is that really, this requires the student-centered approach where everything is really individualized.

NARRATOR: In a photograph, we see a teacher undergoing training to familiarize herself with some of the challenges of students who are multiply disabled or visually impaired.

The teacher wears a red head scarf and a blindfold. A teacher in a blue head scarf is demonstrating the hand-under-hand technique that may be used with students.

WENINGSIH: And then the second is that we introduce the functional activities. As before, there are many teachers who ask children or students to do something that's not meaningful, like doing a puzzle or doing the pegboard, but we really asked the teacher really to consider about things that are really important for the student, is meaningful for their life.

NARRATOR: In a photograph, we see a boy who is blind holding a carrot and a vegetable peeler. The carrot rests on a cutting board and the boy leans close as he peels thin slices of the carrot to use in a soup that he is learning to make.

Next, we see the boy, a teacher, and a classmate, who is also blind, standing around a stove as they prepare to add vegetables to a soup pot.

WENINGSIH: Basically, it starts from the assessment. We assess the student to find out their strengths and also their needs. And then from this assessment, the teacher should make the IEP, or Individual Education Plan, that from the IEP, the teacher should refer into the team that we already developed based on our philosophy of to love, to work, to play, and to live. So when the teacher sees the student potential, then they can pull out some activity that they already profiled in team.

This activity is really based on the functional and meaningful things that the student requires through their life. The process of developing this guideline actually, we involve many people and many professionals.

First we identify the senior teacher from existing school for the MDVI. We already trained a lot of teachers including those who came to Perkins International, attending the Education Leadership Program in the past. We also involve some teachers who are actually already working with the children for many years.

NARRATOR: In a photograph we see five education professionals, three women and two men, who worked to develop the new curriculum guidelines. They are sitting at a table on a stage, presenting the guidelines to an audience of teachers.

WENINGSIH: We also involve the two faculties from the two universities who are already trained by Perkins International about the MDVI children. And the most important thing is that we involve the national government. In this case, it is the Ministry of Education and Culture in Indonesia.

CHAPTER 3: How Implementation Might Look in Practice

WENINGSIH: As in the national curriculum, it is required the academic skill such as math, language, science, and others. In the functional activity, we do also pull out some concepts that require academic skill. Like, for instance, in the gardening activity, the student may do the gardening, but they also learn about the concept that we take from the science.

For instance, the concept of wet, concept of dry, concept of death. If we didn't water the plant, it would die. And the concept of leaf. We also can take the concept from math, like measuring how much water they need to water. It's the concept of heavy, light, and just the thing that the teacher must really take care when they teach the student.

NARRATOR: In a series of two photos, we see a young student who is blind and a teacher outside of the school building watering some potted plants.

The second photo shows the teacher and student examining the long spout of the green watering can. The teacher uses the hand-under-hand technique to guide the girl's exploration.

WENINGSIH: Three important areas that we really want the student to learn is really about the communication and social, about the work or vocational, and also is about the self help. And then the next thing is about the schedule.

In the school for the blind or school for the single disabled children, it's very often for us to see the schedule is, like, measure-based. So, for instance, like, there is a time for math, for language, for science, and others. But here, in the school, you may only see the schedule, like, going for shopping, gardening, cooking, music, or other activities. It can be various or it can be different from its school, but still really important for the student life.

In the MDVI classroom, you will see that, for example, from 9:00 to 9:30, there is a schedule of shopping. It looks like only activity, but actually within this activity, the teacher also could integrate the math goal. For instance, like, counting how much money do they have and how much money did they spend in the market.

They also can work on the social skill, like greeting, like having conversation with the seller or with the people whom they always meet in the store. They can work in other social aspects like understanding the different provision that's available in the community. There is the shopkeeper and that is something that students have to learn.

NARRATOR: In a photograph, we see two boys from the MDVI classroom out in the community. Along with their teacher, they are examining one of the live chickens that a local shopkeeper sells.

One boy leans in very close to see the chicken.

The other, who is blind, is feeling the bird's back as the teacher guides his hand.

WENINGSIH: And also, there is the moral. The student can learn about sharing over what they buy and also what other peers buy, and this can be good implementation of sharing. It's not only theoretical understanding, but the children can really implement and can really experience within those activities.

CHAPTER 4: Challenges With Implementation of the Guidelines

WENINGSIH: This guideline was implemented and tested in the classroom first through the existing schools where the team was involved. So, we field-tested in the five schools who have the MDVI and with many teachers who didn't involve in our process. And then in the second phase of field testing, we also send this document to the teacher who's never been in our training.

We want to see the comparison with one teacher who already has the understanding about the children with MDVI and to the teacher who doesn't have any understanding about the MDVI student and learning strategy.

NARRATOR: In a series of photographs, we see a group of teachers around a table discussing the curriculum guidelines. The group consists of teachers with little or no training in teaching kids with MDVI and at least one experienced teacher who leads the training. There are a number of similar groups in the background.

WENINGSIH: The teachers reported — one is teachers who had been working with the children for many years — they say that it is easy for the evaluation because the IEP really helped them to make the very clear expectation and goal within the semester, so it's really helped them to evaluate easily. And then for the teachers who didn't work with the student before, they also found that now they have the idea about how to make the program step by step, easily, and I hope that this really happens and they really will use this book as a resource.

And then the next is about the evaluation process. In the national curriculum, its only mission is about the student achievement, and there is no reflection for the teacher, where the student achievement actually reflects about the learning strategy that the teacher implemented. But here, really introducing about ongoing assessment, about the teacher must really take care about the student achievement.

They must take that as a reflection of the learning strategies that they implemented, or maybe in the material that they used, the modification that they need. Students may not be able to eat if the spoon is not appropriate for the student, so these things need to be taken care of by a teacher. And then the next thing is about grading, or how the student is being placed in the class.

As in the national curriculum, they really simply asking, "A student will be placed based on the achievement," but in this curriculum, it's simply based on the chronological age, so there is no student that should be staying in the same class for two or three years.

CHAPTER 5: The Challenge Moving Forward

WENINGSIH: There are some students who have only a single disability and they should be in the regular school. In fact, many students who are bright, they stay in the special school. And this kind of limited the space for children who are MDVI to be enrolled in the special school, as the special school already has a lot of students that actually should be in the regular school.

The biggest issue that we are facing is really about the commitment, of really implementing the concept of inclusion, and having a belief that some children really may be able to be in the regular setting. And with that, then our MDVI students can be in the special school. And there must be a belief also from the teacher in the special school that these MDVI children have the right to be in the special school and also have the right to receive education and have the potential to learn.

NARRATOR: In a photograph, we see three MDVI students and two teachers working in the kitchen area of a school. The table is crowded with plastic bowls, a water pitcher, and the ingredients of the meal that the three students are preparing.

WENINGSIH: I'm really hoping something happens in the future in Indonesia. First is really that it would be really great to see the improvement of a quality education for the children with MDVI in Indonesia, and also the second is really that there would be open enrollment for students with MDVI in special schools or other institutions who can serve these children. And also, that there will be a policy in the national government about these MDVI students.

We're also hoping there will be a sustainability of teacher training in the MDVI field in Indonesia. The sustainability will happen when there is a statement in our policy about the MDVI student and their need for education.

At the moment, we are really lucky because the leader in the Ministry of Education has a great attention and has a great awareness to what an MDVI student needs, but as long as it is not stated into the policy, there is no guarantee about the support as we have at the moment.

NARRATOR: More information regarding the Indonesian curriculum and functional planning activities can be found online at TransitionPlanningAsia.org.