Abstract:
Evidence-based best practice recommendations for educating children with Down syndrome have arisen from forty years of international research. It is unclear whether teachers and Special Educational Needs Coordinators (SENCOs) in New Zealand’s mainstream schools are aware of these recommendations or how to implement them in the classroom. It is also unclear what structures and mechanisms enable evidence-based best practice for children with Down syndrome to occur within the New Zealand context. Three teachers and four SENCOs working with children with Down syndrome aged seven to 15 years old in four mainstream schools in a region of New Zealand attended one of two focus groups to describe their practices for these children. Quantitative data about the children with Down syndrome at these schools were collected via a questionnaire and provided context for the qualitative focus group data. Adopting a critical realist theoretical framework, data were analysed using a combined induction/deduction process to identify practices. A lens of ‘Present, Participating and Engaged, Learning and Achieving, and Belonging’ (Ministry of Education, 2014) was applied to these practices to ascertain their alignment with evidence-based best practice for children with Down syndrome. Abductive and retroductive reasoning were used to identify the structures and mechanisms enabling practices most closely aligned to evidence-based best practice. Different interpretations of ‘belonging’ and ‘learning and achieving’ influenced practices which varied greatly amongst participating schools. Participants whose practice most closely aligned with evidence-based best practice interpreted ‘belonging’ as the children with Down syndrome ‘belonging with’ their typically developing peers, and ‘learning and achieving’ as focussed on academic skills. Other participants interpreted ‘belonging’ as the children with Down syndrome ‘belonging to’ a learning support classroom, the SENCO, and other children with learning support needs; ‘learning and achieving’ life skills replaced an academic focus to some degree. Evidencebased best practice was enabled by a collaborative team comprising an inclusive principal, a SENCO with up-to-date-knowledge of Down syndrome, and a team of resourceful teacher aides. This study proposes ‘active motherhood’ as the generative mechanism that activated these enabling structures. Further research on a nationwide scale that utilises classroom observations and parent input is suggested.