Spearheading Integrated Education in Nanjing, China

I am honoured to be part of the initiative that is spearheading Integrated Education in Nanjing, China. The Scottish China Church Group has maintained close communication with Ma Xiaobo in Shenyang, who is dedicated to advancing educational inclusion for children with autism and other educational needs. This groundbreaking work is still in its early stages.

I am honoured to be part of the initiative that is spearheading Integrated Education in Nanjing, China.

In a significant endeavour, I have had the privilege of collaborating with Ma Xiaobo, who leads the pilot project for 'Inclusive Education' at the Amity Children’s Development Centre in Nanjing, which commenced in 2022. This project focuses on integrating young learners from the Amity Children’s Development Centre, designed for children with autism and other additional educational needs, into a mainstream school setting. The SCCG arranged and funded consultation sessions between Ma Xiaobo and myself to support the development of this work. The SCCG has has also supported Ma Xiaobo to attend English language studies. This support is instrumental in enabling Ma Xiaobo to pursue an MSc in Integrated Learning in the future.

The journey commenced in September 2022 when the first students embarked on their academic year at a local Kindergarten. Specially trained integration teachers collaborated closely with kindergarten teachers to ensure the successful integration of these students.

Specially trained integration teachers collaborated closely with kindergarten teachers to ensure the successful integration of these students.

Reflecting on the progress, I am excited to share Ma Xiaobo's report about the Integrated Kindergarten in Nanjing in May 2023 (available in English and Mandarin below).

On September 5th, 2022, after a series of efforts and preparations our amity-integrated kindergarten opened. On this day we welcomed the first four children, three boys and one girl.

In the following days, the integrated teachers from Amity Children’s development centre and the mainstream teachers from the kindergarten started to work together to provide support and services for these children with special needs. We explore the proper integrated teaching model for both groups of children.

After a semester the children have made significant progress and at the beginning of the new semester this year the integrated kindergarten has two new students joining us.

Every morning the students of Amity Integrated Kindergarten walk into the campus with their school bags just like the other students in the kindergarten and start an independent day.

The life in kindergarten is interesting and colourful and full of challenges too. Fortunately, they are accompanied by integrated teachers who help them adapt to new learning environments, understand, and follow group instructions and requirements. Practice basic self-care skills. The children are learning social skills from the moment they arrive in the morning, greeting teachers at the school gate, doing morning checks and finding their classrooms.

“Some children were not interested in the environment and now they are not only interested in exploring, they play interactive games with their classmates.”

Some children ran all over the playground in the morning exercise time at the beginning but now they can stand in the right position of the class and even follow the teacher to do morning exercise. Some children could not sit on their chairs in class but now they can sit on their chairs for the whole class. Some children were not interested in the environment and now they are not only interested in exploring, they play interactive games with their classmates.

All the children in the class are changing. Mainstream teachers find that the other children in the class have become more tolerant and more empathetic. They not only accept and help the special needs children initially but also give understanding and assistance to other children when they have some emotional or behavioural problems. All the children learn from each other.

“All the children learn from each other.”

At the end of the school day when the students went home. The integrated teachers are still busy. They record and summarise the performance of the children in the daytime, give feedback to the parents, formulate, and adjust the teaching plans and the support strategies for the next day and receive regular supervision from the integrated education expert, Jasmine Miller. Before leaving work, teachers tidy up the classroom and get ready for the arrival of the children the next day.

爱德融合幼儿园 ⻢晓波 (Mandarin)

2022年9月5日，经过前期的努力和筹备，爱德融合幼儿园开学了，我们在

那天迎来了融合幼儿园的第一批孩子:三个男孩，一个女孩。在接下来的日子 里，来自爱德儿童发展中心的融合教师和幼儿园的主流教师们通力合作，一起 为这些特需孩子们提供支持和服务，探讨摸索对于双方孩子来说共赢的融合教 学模式。经过一学期的努力，孩子们都取得了明显的进步，而且在今年新学期 开学时，爱德融合幼儿园又有了两位新生的加入。

每天早上，爱德融合幼儿园的学生和幼儿园所有的学生一样，迎着朝阳， 自己背着书包走进校园，开启独立的一天幼儿园生活，幼儿园的生活丰富有 趣，同时充满了挑战。幸好有着融合教师们的陪伴，协助他们适应新的学习环 境，理解执行集体指令和要求，练习基本的自理技能。孩子们从早上入园那刻 开始就在学习基本的社交技能，和站在校园⻔口的老师们打招呼，接受晨检， 找到自己的教室。有的孩子一开始早操课时满场跑，现在已经能站在班级指定 位置跟着老师做操，有的孩子上课坐不住，现在能够坚持一整节课，有的孩子 对环境不感兴趣，现在不仅乐于探索，还能与同伴进行简单的互动游戏。不仅 特需的孩子们取得了进步，班级的其他学生也在改变着，主流老师们发现他们 变得更有同理心和包容心，他们不仅接纳和主动协助特需的学生们，当班级的 其他同学出现一些情绪或行为问题时，也会给与理解和协助，甚至能在老师的 引导下发现特需同学的优点，互相学习。

一天的学习结束后，送走了班级的学生，融合教师们依旧忙碌着，老师们 记录总结孩子们一天的表现，反馈给家⻓，制定以及调整学生第二天的教学计 划和支持策略，并定期接受融合教育专家Jasmine Miller博士的督导。下班前老

师们整理好教室环境，为第二天孩子们的到来做好准备。