Whose Goals Are They, Anyway?
When creating education and support plans, the perception of progress shouldn’t outweigh the actual needs of the student
Whose goals are they, really?
When creating education and support plans, the perception of progress shouldn’t outweigh the actual needs of the student.
Often adults get “tunnel vision”, especially when we feel under pressure from our superiors at work.
For example, the school team has passed along some goals to work on with a student.
The staff person wants to support that student.
The staff person feels pressure to check those boxes and show they’re doing a good job.
The student has other ideas.
The student doesn’t want to work on those things. Most of the time, those goals were developed by the adults without any kind of conversation or collaboration with the student.
Does the student even care about the goals decided on without their input? What do they care about? What do they want?
We get so caught up we forget that people learn much better when they are interested and engaged. We forget that we are always learning, and will retain more information or skills when we are having fun and doing something that matters to us.
Goals are important to help identify supports or accommodations needed, to identify strengths in the student, and to help them work towards their objectives.
Goals the adults decided are important will not be helpful unless the student also feels they are important, and can work towards them in ways that are meaningful to them.
© Jillian Enright, Neurodiversity MB
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It would serve educators better if they focused on meeting the needs of the students in this way, rather than any unrealistic goals set by management.