Classroom Instruction June 29, 2011

In my opinion classroom instruction is one of the key ingredients of a successful psycho-social rehabilitation program. Unfortunately, teaching classes to the mentally disabled is often considered a frill. This is an element of the program that is often not taken seriously. One of the main reasons that it is not is because many supervisors do not have people on staff who are qualified to teach. For staff who are not or have never been professional teachers the thought of having to teach a class can be quite intimidating. These staff have every right to be hesitant about teaching or leading groups. In my opinion staff who want to teach need professional training. They should either be licensed professional teachers or have had the opportunity to work under a teacher for a minimum of six months. Anything less is not fair to the staff or the residents of the facility. One option might be for residential treatment programs to bring in qualified teachers on a contract basis. Another alternative is to pay professional teachers to come to the facility and work with the staff. This does not mean putting on a two or three hour seminar on how to teach students with severe and persistent psychiatric disabilities. This means hiring professional teachers for a minimum of three months to come in to show the staff how to teach. Another thing to keep in mind is that not all people are cut out to be teachers or group leaders. Many staff will simply not have the aptitude to teach and should not be expected by their supervisors to teach classes of to lead groups. A third alternative is to have a full time professional teacher on staff as part of the treatment team.