From remedial support teaching to the mainstream classroom

Abstract

The aim of this study is to document the effectiveness of Support Education provision on school achievement. The study was carried out m a state primary school. A battery of tests was administered with a group of 36 Year 2 pupils attending support lessons. These tests were administered at the beginning and at the end of the scholastic year. The tests included Letter Recognition (Upper and Lower Case), Number Recognition, Number Value, Maltese Word Recognition, Maltese Reading Comprehension, English Reading Accuracy, English Reading Comprehension, English Sentence Comprehension and English Keywords Reading List. Interviews with the support teacher, Year 3 class teacher, parents and pupils were also conducted. Observations and tests were conducted with these two pupils to establish how they integrated in the mainstream class. Results suggest that one year of support teaching is not sufficient; factors beyond schooling contribute to success in coping within the mainstream.