Number of Allied Educators in Primary and Secondary Schools

15 Mr Leon Perera asked the Acting Minister for Education (Schools) (a) how many allied educators are currently employed in primary and secondary schools; (b) what is the average, highest and lowest number employed respectively; and (c) how many of these educators are trained in handling students with special needs.

Assoc Prof Dr Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim (for the Acting Minister for Education (Schools)): Madam, the Ministry of Education (MOE) currently employs more than 2,200 allied educators (AEDs) in our mainstream schools. These AEDs, comprising the School Counsellors, AEDs in Teaching and Learning or AED(T&L), and AEDs in Learning and Behavioural Support or AED(LBS), complement the work of our teachers in schools. In particular, the AED(LBS) support students with mild learning disabilities, so that they can benefit from a more inclusive education in mainstream schools.

There are currently over 400 AED(LBS) deployed to our primary and secondary schools.

All AED(LBS) are trained on a one-year customised Diploma in Special Education (DISE) training offered by the National Institute of Education (NIE). Subsequently, they undergo continuing professional development training provided by MOE to enhance their skills and competencies to support a wide range of special educational needs. Depending on the needs of each student, the support provided by the AED(LBS) can range from either individual or small group interventions, given in the form of either in-class differentiated learning support or special pull-out programmes. The AED(LBS) are part of the school team, together with a core group of teachers who receive a Certificate-level training in Special Needs conducted by NIE, with deeper knowledge and specialised skills to support the diverse needs of students with special educational needs.

AED(LBS) also work with parents and collaborate with relevant professional agencies, such as MOE psychologists and professionals from hospitals and voluntary welfare organisations (VWOs), in supporting these students to cope with mainstream education.

MOE will continue to recruit and train AED(LBS) to cater to special needs students in both mainstream primary and secondary schools.

Mr Leon Perera (Non-Constituency Member): I thank the Parliamentary Secretary for his detailed answer. I just have one supplementary question which is more pertaining to the distribution of the AED(LBS), which are the allied educators coaching children with special needs. What process is in place right now to deploy more of such allied educators to schools, if more special needs children actually manifest themselves in the schools, which may happen as the cohorts change? The reason I ask this question is because I have encountered residents with children with special needs who have felt that there are insufficient allied educators who are trained in those skills in their particular school.

Assoc Prof Dr Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim: Madam, our approach is to continue to enhance the mainstream schools' capacity to support students with special needs. This is in the form of also the numbers of AED(LBS) we have. Beyond that, we have a system whereby we not only work with the AED(LBS) within the school, within the schools, there are, one, a core group of teachers who are trained – at the secondary level about 20% of each school would have these trained core group of teachers. They are trained on special needs where they will go for training. At the same time, they are also expected to share with their colleagues in the school.

Within that, there is also the Student Development Team and these are led by School Leaders, Year Heads and Heads of Department where they work together with the AED(LBS), together with the core group, to see how they can take care of those with special needs. So, in essence, it is not just about the number of AED(LBS). The whole school − the teachers, even their peers − you will be very touched to see how fellow students take care of one another; how fellow students make life better for one another in ensuring that the learning journey of each and every one of them is not affected.

Beyond that, we work very closely with MOE psychologists who go to these schools very often. We are also in touch with the Institute of Mental Health team, the Response, Early intervention and Assessment in Community mental Health (REACH) team, where they will provide assessments, take in referrals from the school. We also work with the relevant VWOs to make sure that we have a targeted approach in caring for these people.

Dr Intan Azura Mokhtar (Ang Mo Kio): I thank the Parliamentary Secretary for the answers. Can I just find out, on average, how many AED(LBS) are there in each primary school for a start? Are there plans for AED(LBS) to be present in every primary and secondary school? I know that it is probably not easy to recruit AEDs at the moment, but could MOE look into recruiting and training, for example, through the Professional Conversion Programme (PCP), the parent volunteers to become AEDs in the schools?

Assoc Prof Dr Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim: Madam, I thank Dr Intan for the question. Currently, all primary schools have AED(LBS) and about 80 of the secondary schools have AED(LBS). So, we are continually looking at this area to see how we can facilitate the whole process. However, like what I said earlier, it is not only about having AED(LBS). We have a system in place to make sure we care for one another. And I will take back to MOE the suggestion in the Member's second question.