Question #2 for the Representative Assembly

2. In what activities would you like to see CEC engaged in internationally?

I am fairly new as a member of DISES, and am not terribly familiar with all of the functions of our division. However, I would very much like for the CEC to be involved in promoting and possibly sponsoring exchanges between special education teachers in different countries.

CEC should get involved in the schools in developing countries. The most challenging areas should be addressed. We should be providing teacher training in villages. Teachers can spend time in the summer as volunteers. There should be a grant to pay expenses. CEC professionals need to be in high poverty areas. We should be donating supplies, sponsoring students, and living in the village when we can. We need to be there. Teacher training is desperately needed for students with special needs.

I would like to see CEC involved with teacher exchanges. Setting up an exchange of information through a penpal type of situation with teachers internationally would be very good.

I think we need to model cultural and global competence. We can engage in mutual professional development, in exchange programs for faculty, in-service and pre-service teachers but we must be careful NOT to assume the models and methods that fit in the US will fit in other countries and cultures. Working jointly with educators from other countries we can identify shared and differing values, norms, contexts, etc for education and all of us benefit. We must model there is no "one size fits all" in education or special education - teacher preparation, service delivery, etc.

I'd like to see DISES support collaborative research projects through communication networks or project bids. Researchers in the US and Canada would benefit tremendously by learning from researchers in the "developing" world. This might be particularly helpful in the area of Autism research where our best thinking doesn't seem to be yielding any new solutions.

I find it fascinating that many approaches I learned in USA are also relevant in Qatar. I would love to join an interactive group where universal methods can be discussed, compared, critiqued, etc.

We buy a lot of CEC's published materials, so that's already a good thing for international schools and centers. I ESPECIALLY appreciate online courses which can be taken from anywhere on the planet. So, my suggestion would be that CEC take advantage of new technologies so that it can be accessed anywhere the internet goes.

Support members to go to other countries and learn about the other special education systems - strengthen teaching, research, and service. This may be ideal, but it would be great if we can support 2 or 3 members for these international visits.