Researching Recommended Practice in a Special School.

Abstract

Research into recommended practice in special education has concentrated on the identification and description of practice standards against which schools can evaluate their performance and direct their efforts toward program improvement. These practice standards have typically been documented in the form of practice listings. A large Queensland special school catering for students with high support needs has used an Australian practice listing (Beamish, 1992) for quality maintenance and improvement activities over the last 7 years. A school-university partnership has recently been established to update the practice listing. A series of general staff meetings and pupil free days has allowed staff to systematically share practice, examine practice, and document practice for their context.