Mandie Boelen (SEVR): Visiting Teacher (Hearing stream)

https://player.vimeo.com/video/870934995

[Gentle music]

Mandie Boelen:

I chose the Master of Special and Inclusive Education at Newcastle University with a major in deaf studies. I was looking to move into the Visiting Teachers Service and it was a requirement to move into the hearing impairment stream.

[On-screen text: Master of Inclusive Education Program – Master of Special and Inclusive Education – Deaf Studies and Deaf Education – University of Newcastle]

Mandie Boelen:

The Masters focusing on the deaf studies really provided me with a really deep and rich understanding of deaf education. It provided greater understanding of students and their hearing loss and how the variations in that can impact their education in classrooms and in schools.

Sally Martin:

You look at audiology, you look at language and communication. You look at Auslan as language and then you can put all of that with your general inclusion knowledge and apply that within your school as well and working with those students.

Mandie Boelen:

Explaining and demonstrating to teachers what the hearing loss looks like and what that actually is in a practical sense, in a functional sense in a classroom really helps them to then employ more effective inclusive strategies.

Sally Martin:

Because a classroom teacher isn’t expected to be an expert in every single diagnosis or every single need that a student might have. The course gives Mandie lots and lots of skills to be able to then share that with the teachers and build their capabilities.

Mandie Boelen:

Through the studies that I’ve done, I now provide the teachers with a visual of what that hearing loss looks like so they can relate that to environmental sounds, literacy sounds so it has a lot more meaning and the feedback is really, really positive from the leadership and also from the teaching staff that they feel that they understand their students a lot better, they’re understanding how they can include their students. But they’re also understanding that a lot of the strategies that we’re talking about are actually really helpful for a lot of other students as well. And so we’re able to promote really effective strategies that meets the needs of a lot of students while making our student feel really included and as just a regular member of the classroom.

Sally Martin:

I think it’s fantastic looking at what schools and students are being offered in this space. I think we’re probably more inclusive than we’ve really ever been. Teachers coming out from these master’s courses are sharing that knowledge and helping schools build that and be ready for this sort of new stage of education as well.

[On-screen text: Disability Inclusion – Education for All. Victorian State Government – Authorised by the Victorian Government, Melbourne]

Updated 11 October 2023

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Mandie Boelen (SEVR): Visiting Teacher (Hearing stream)

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