Karachi – 21 March 2019: Over the past five years, The AMI School has been a crucial partner in a collaborative Action Research project, along with the Occupational Therapy departments at Brunel University, London and Dow University of Health Sciences, Karachi. Through this inter-professional collaboration, the teachers involved in the project have become highly skilled researchers and peer educators for their colleagues.
On their panel is Dr Debbie Kramer-Roy, an occupational Therapist, Lecturer and works with AMI as a Project Coordinator. She is a passionate advocate for the rights of all children to high quality and inclusive education, and uses Action Research to develop the vision, knowledge and skills required to make this happen in real-world contexts. Debbie explains: “the teachers and occupational therapists involved in the project have developed a contextually appropriate approach to inclusive education and the Resource Guide that has been produced has the potential to spread the vision, knowledge and skills to schools across the country. A key learning point has been that inclusive teaching improves the learning experience and environment for all children in the school, demonstrating that inclusive education is an excellent approach to whole-school improvement”
Working with its chief objective of expanding its scope of services, AMI plans to set up a model of an educational enterprise (Education Eco-System) which is not only unique in design but also aims to change the meaning of the term “expansion” in the context of education. Instead of using the present model of establishing more schools, it proposes horizontal growth by developing supporting units to not only enhance the quality of education for students, teachers and parents but to initiate positive changes at the community level leading to meaningful changes in the social attitudes and behavior.
The AMI School is committed to an education system built on this approach to accepting responsibility for all children to a welcoming and respectful environment. The School recognizes the importance of social acceptance and high self-esteem as pre-requisites to real learning in the school setting. It actively seeks to create an environment which facilitates the learning process for everyone and to remove the barriers that can hinder participation or exclude individuals from daily routines. Regular schools with this inclusive orientation are the most effective means of combating discriminatory attitudes, creating welcoming communities, building an inclusive society and achieving education for all.
