Presentation by: Moira Fricke
Session: E | Time: 11:05AM – 11:45AM | Location: Room 207
Special educators have tried to enhance employability skills of their students by involving them in the operation of school-based enterprises based on a segregated or “pull-out” model of instruction (Lindstrom, Benz & Johnson, 1997). “Coffee Carts”, a local example of educators teaching students with special needs job and life skills by having them serve coffee in their high school, while an admirable initiative, is not an inclusive one (Langley, 2016). My project aims to provide an inclusive, formational learning experience (FLex) for both neurotypical students and those who have exceptional learning needs to run a school café together. Involvement in running the café gives each of the students a chance to gain valuable knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviours to better prepare them for life after high school. Teachers are invited to create their own authentic formational learning experiences that provide “real work with a real need for a real audience”. (Teaching for Transformation, 2016). Our school chose to start a cafe and worked with Leadership Students and Special Education students during the pilot year and during the second year we launched Entrepreneurship 11 class to take on the cafe management; you can learn how to work alongside your own students to find a project they can take on either within school or in the greater community. This type of project fully aligns with the new BC Educational Curriculum allowing all students to grow in the six competencies. I will present my research as a narrative story depicting, in a case study format, the experiences of diverse students participating in an inclusive FLex.
Abstract: 565