We run teacher professional development on pupil free days and we also work in staff meeting sessions after school. The program is flexible to fit in with staff requirements. It is interactive and authentic and it promotes inclusive principles.

Listen to some of the ideas about Inclusion when we linked up with Steve Hughes and his unit he is running at USQ this semester.

Discovering DisAbility & Diversity links Productive Pedagogies and Curriculum Development to create real change and it explores practical examples of good teaching practices. Teachers will find this program really makes an immediate and sustained difference to their teaching. Further research opportunities will be available very soon through USQ and Discovering DisAbility & Diversity.

Objectives of the Overall Program

• To further inclusive practices in a work related environment.
• To allow the participants to empathise with people with disabilities and want to create better environments for all.
• To create a process that responds to the uniqueness of individuals, increasing Presence, Access, Awareness, Participation, Opportunity and Achievement of all individuals in a learning society.
• To welcome, accept, involve and support all individuals, as full members of a learning society.

Workshops

We run a number of different workshops that we tailor specifically to the requirements of each individual school or organisation. You tell us what you are looking for and we guarantee we will relate our sessions around your needs. We have our original DDD Sessions that explore experiential discovery of all disability. There are various hands-on activities that simulate Autism, Intellectual Impairment, vision impairment, deafness and mobility problems. Feel what it is like to be a student with Autism in a classroom or a student with hand eye coordination problems. After learners experience these disabilities in the simulated form, they then have small group discussions with the leaders who facilitate questioning and exploration on a personal level for the participants. Existing knowledge will be explored to promote and enact this inclusivity and diversity policy of Education Queensland’s, Catholic Education and Independent Schools.

• Practical Solutions Workshop Series
  We have a new 'Practical Solutions' series of workshops that cover a wide variety of areas of inclusive practice. These can be run in staff sessions or pupil free days or whenever you and your staff choose.
   
• Hidden Disabilities Staff Professional Workshop
  We also have developed more specific sessions that are based around hidden disability, disabilities that are not usually able to be seen, such as ASD, Asperger's Syndrome Intellectual Impairement, Speech Language Issues, Dyslexia and Perceptual problems.
   
• Early Childhood Staff Professional Development in Diversity Workshop
  We also run our Professional Development sessions for Early Childhood Educators as well. These sessions have a particular focus for early childhood educators, both in schools and childcare settings.