REHABILITATION TEACHER TRAINING IN CENTRAL & EASTERN EUROPE

Antonina Adamowicz-Hummel
College for Special Education, Warsaw, Poland
AWARE Europe Foundation, Poland

The first college RT training program in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) was established in 1995 at the College for Special Education in Warsaw, Poland. It was funded by the Open Society Institute of the Soros Foundations in New York/Budapest under a 5-year grant awarded for personnel preparation in rehabilitation of the blind and visually impaired living in Poland and the surrounding countries.

Previously only short-term training (maximum of 4 weeks) in RT was available for persons working with the visually impaired in the region.

The program offers combined training in RT and O&M. It is conducted at the postgraduate level, i.e., the candidates are required to have a master's degree. Other admission requirements are employment in the field of blindness or a related field, e.g., social work, and fluent command of either Polish or English. Referral from the employer is requested. Decisions on admittance are based on the review of applications and an interview.

Two programs were completed to date, producing 21 graduates, which include 15 rehabilitation teachers (the remaining 6 students took O&M only). The current, third program consists of 12 dual (orientation and mobility and rehabilitation teaching) students.

Each of the three programs has had a different format - ranging from full time to part-time. The training in the current program lasts 2 years and is followed by a practicum. Classes are conducted at 4-day sessions held once a month (e.g., Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday). Several of those sessions last longer: 10-16 days; they are primarily devoted to teaching rehabilitation methods. The whole third year is devoted to individual practica of the program participants (250 hours of direct service per dual student). The practica are supervised by experienced instructors, and are usually held at rehabilitation camps of the Polish Association of the Blind, in rehabilitation centers for the blind, in nursing homes and in the homes of the visually impaired persons. Graduation is planned for the Fall of 2000.

The graduates/students to date represent 5 CEE countries: Poland, Lithuania, Slovakia, Czech Republic and Hungary.

The international character of the program is also reflected in the involvement of US planners, faculty and other resources. The project is co-directed by a Polish-American team, Dr. Antonina Adamowicz-Hummel, assistant professor at the College for Special Education in Warsaw and president of the Board of Directors for AWARE Europe Foundation, and Ms Anne Yeadon, President of the US non-for-profit organization AWARE. The curriculum was primarily drawn from the RT and O&M college preparation programs in USA. Here are the names of the US Advisory Board Members (BM) and Faculty (F) who have been involved in the project so far:

ANNE YEADON, M.A., President, AWARE USA. Project Co-Director, Co-Founder of AWARE Europe; President, AWARE Europe's Council (F)
ANNE CROWLEY, M.A.,AWARE USA. Prog. Coordinator/Instructor (F)
MAUREEN DUFFY, M.S., Pennsylvania College of Optometry (BM & F)
DUANE GERUSCHAT, Ph.D., Maryland School for the Blind (BM & F)
BRUCIE HAWKINS, M.A., Northern Illinois University (BM & F)
PAT BUSSEN-SMITH, Ph.D., University of Arkansas at Little Rock (F)
FABIANA PERLA, M.S., Pennsylvania College of Optometry(F)
ALBERTA ORR, MSW., Hunter College/American Foundation f/t Blind, (F)
JANUSZ PREIS, M.A., Charleston School District, South Carolina (F)
ANISIO CORREIA, M.Ed., MPA., Visions, New York (BM)
NANCY PASKIN, M.Ed. Lighthouse International /Hunter College, NY(BM)
STAN SUTERKO, Professor Emeritus, W. Michigan University (BM)
WILLIAM WEINER, Ph.D., Western Michigan University (BM)

Extensive international professional literature has been made available, including translations. All classes are available in Polish and in English

From the very beginning, Polish faculty have taught such courses as Anatomy, Physiology and Pathology of the Visual System, Psychosocial Implications of Rehabilitation, and Low Vision Assessment and Intervention, as well as pieces of other courses, such as Blindness/Visual Impairment and Other Disabilities, Professional Issues, Communication Systems, Visual Disability and Rehabilitation Service Interventions . Methods courses in both RT and O&M were initially taught by US experts with the idea that the 8 graduates of the first class would be gradually taking over by co-teaching alongside their US colleagues, and then teaching independently so that by the time the project is over the program is sustainable without extensive external involvement.

The program emphasizes train-the-trainer approach; principles of self-help; principles of adult-learning (andragogy), both with respect to the consumers and to the students; low vision issues as opposed to the so far emphasized blindness techniques; additional disabilities; professional conduct; multi-cultural adaptation of course work and readings.

Here are some challenges we have experienced while implementing the project:

In the area of communication, interpretation of each session either into Polish or into English effects the dynamics of classes and requires additional class time; practica of international students who do not speak Polish have to be conducted in their home countries and in their native language, therefore they present a language challenge for non-native supervisors; since both students and faculty members are of various cultural backgrounds, different learning assumptions and expectations are sometimes experienced.

Another challenging area is the substantial cost of the program. One obvious reason is a high student-instructor ratio but with our international project the costs increase substantially due to the involvement of the US faculty (honoraries, travel and accommodation costs), class interpretation, and extensive materials translations.

In terms of Program sustainability, our major concern is to ensure ongoing high quality teaching by Polish faculty and establish RT in other College programs. One step towards the latter goal is the introduction of a 45-hour ADL Course in the curriculum of College's 5th year students in the Teachers for the Visually Impaired Graduate Program. We also hope that the current combined program will be continued through students self-paying and/or third-party coverage. We would also need to review part-time character of the current program (4-day session once a month) which disrupts intensive skill practice. On the other hand, part-time character of the program is more convenient to employers providing release-time to their employees attending the program, and to mature students who are able to attend without disrupting their job and family life. Part-time format draws more interest and allows selection of better candidates.

In terms of utilization of graduate skills, 30% of graduates reported difficulty in locating employment to utilize their skills, primarily due to limited opportunities. They include low salaries and lack of differentiation made by employers of college-trained rehabilitation teachers versus short-term trained rehabilitation/daily living instructors, as well as a huge gap, experienced for decades, between the adult consumer needs and the outreach services. In Poland and the surrounding countries rehabilitation teaching is not yet recognized as a viable profession, and our graduates are positioned as �pioneers";

Since 1998 the project has been managed by a newly established Poland-based organization AWARE Europe Foundation. Other spin-offs of the original project include the establishment of the first professional organization for rehabilitation personnel in the region, and continuing education workshops in RT, O&M and LV in countries surrounding Poland (projects partially supported by OSI and by organizations in respective countries).

College for special education, Warsaw, POLAND & AWARE, USA

3-year Polish-American post-graduate teacher-training program in rehabilitation teaching and orientation and mobility of the visually impaired adults,
sponsored by the Open Society Institute of the Soros Foundations,
October 1997 - October 2000

GOAL: The goal of the program is to prepare professional rehabilitation teachers and orientation and mobility instructors to provide comprehensive rehabilitation services to adults with visual disabilities so they may function independently in their own homes and communities, and acquire the pre-requisite skills to compete alongside their sighted peers in an open market society.

(for O&M studies only: 475 class hours + 125 hrs of practicum
for RT studies only: 475 class hours + 125 hrs of practicum)
(1 hour=45 min)

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