Jane Hinton, a deputy head teacher of the Brooke School in Warwickshire, United Kingdom, visited the students, faculty and staff in the School of Education.
Students, faculty and staff in the School of Education were pleased to host Jane Hinton for a day. Hinton is a deputy head teacher of the Brooke School, a school for students with special education needs in Warwickshire, United Kingdom.
Hinton spent the morning visiting Hillcrest Elementary School in Burlington and Peacehaven Farm in Whitsett with Jessica Wery, assistant professor of education, and Mark Enfield, associate professor of education. When she returned to campus, Hinton led a lunch discussion with the faculty and staff of the School of Education. There was interesting and lively conversation around the activities and innovations at the Brooke School, as well as the broader topic of special education policy and teaching in the United Kingdom.
To conclude her day, Hinton spoke with several classes in the School of Education – Professor Tina Brinkley’s Foundations of Special Education class and the capstone classes of Enfield and Marna Winter, lecturer in education and chair of the Department of Education. In these classes, Hinton shared about the statutory process for student assessment, the debate in the United Kingdom around inclusion vs. segregation of students with special needs, public vs. privately funded opportunities, supplemental services and barriers to learning.
Discussions of the similarities and differences in Special Education in the United Kingdom and the United States challenged Elon School of Education students to consider global perspectives on special education.
The entire School of Education is grateful for the opportunity to share with and learn from such a gifted educator; special appreciation goes out to Jessica Wery and Mark Enfield for organizing this wonderful visit.