The case for Phasing out Vocational Schools

Successful special education programs are those that draw out the potential that is in every student.

There were once five Vocational schools in Hamilton serving special education students. Presently one remains with about 160 students: a small number of the 9,273 students supported in 2014 by special education services. They were intended for students who had weak math and reading skills and were not really vocational schools -- high schools can provide more exposure to shops and co-operative work experiences.

J Douglas Willms, Professor and Director of the Canadian Research Institute for Social Policy at the University of New Brunswick (2011) argues that students are the most successful when they attend schools of mixed ability and mixed income. He noted that the results of the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) in 30 countries show the more inclusive the system is, the better the students do. Dr. C .Christensen (1996) from the University of Queensland found that segregation assumes falsely that students labelled the same have similar characteristics, and that Instruction based on diagnostic categories is generally not effective. (The vocational schools in Hamilton have been plagued by poor attendance and low graduation rates.)

In the last 30 years Provincial policy has been moving towards full inclusion of all students. In 1980 education of children with extreme difficulties remained a parental or community responsibility. Now they must be provided an education in school. By 1998, Regulation 181 ordered the first consideration for the placement of special education students to be in a regular class with the appropriate supports. The Expert Panel in the 2005 “Education for All” report stated its belief that all students can succeed and started the process of considering special education students through their strengths and not their deficits.  They advocated for universal design---services, resources, teaching methods that are designed for a few and benefit a larger number of students.  “Learning for All” reports have followed. By 2006 81% of all special education students were in regular classes. The influential 2006 “Special Education Transformation” Report placed the focus on: student learning, not on administrative process (such as the labelling of students); accountability for results and not compliance; being proactive rather than reactive; and access to education, not access to special education. 

In 2000 Hamilton- Wentworth District School Board (HWDSB) approved, in principle, that the special learning needs of all students, wherever possible, be addressed within the home school. In 2011 HWDSB embarked on the Secondary Program Strategy, a reform of secondary education in Hamilton.  Secondary schools are to focus on all students learning; giving students choice about how they learn (e.g. hands-on learning, on- line learning); providing all pathways in every school to apprenticeships, college, university, work and community living; all schools having specializations such as Secondary High Skills Major programs; and providing integrated student supports. Special Education students now have access to remedial math and English programs in every high school. There are system programs, some designed for the unique personal needs of students and others for those needing extensive or intensive support.

So that all students feel welcome, safe and engaged in school, work should continue on improving the physical design of secondary schools, school climate, and responsiveness to students’ needs.

Vocational Schools should be phased out in Hamilton as they have been in the rest of Ontario. Research and best practice do not support them, and they no longer fit with provincial policy and guidelines for special education, nor HWDSB‘s 2011 inclusionary vision for special education.

 Judith Bishop April 2015