story by Claire Miller
During her student teaching experience, special education master’s student Alexandra Sotelo has seen how special education teachers can have a profound impact on their students.
“Building relationships with students and being able to see the growth is an unexplainable feeling,” she said. “It’s the ultimate reward of teaching.”
But what does special education look like outside of the U.S.?
Sotelo asked herself this question when she saw the listing for a College of Education & Human Development fall 2023 study abroad program in Greece entitled, “Issues in International Education.”
She reached out to Associate Professor Thomas Crisp and Clinical Assistant Professor Rebecca Rohloff Clough, coordinators for the study abroad program, and asked if special education students could participate. They confirmed she could join the trip and that they could have conversations about what special education looks like in another country.
Sotelo joined Crisp, Clough and 29 other College of Education & Human Development students on the trip, where they attended lectures by international scholars on global education, participated in a cultural night with traditional music and dancing, and toured cultural monuments, including Acropolis Hill and the Temple of Delphi.
The group also visited several schools, including 35th Primary, a school in the city center with a majority refugee population.
“In Greece, I learned students who are in a general education classroom will automatically receive an assistant, like a paraprofessional here in the U.S, to be able to support them in the classroom,” Sotelo said. “The assistant worked one-on-one with students when they needed support. The collaboration between the assistant and the teacher was spot on.”
Sotelo also learned that special education students can continue learning in schools through age 28 – seven years longer than they do in public schools in the U.S. “This is a great opportunity for students to be able to further develop skills to become more independent,” she said.
The group’s visits to local schools gave Sotelo a more nuanced look at how educators in Greece and the U.S. approach special education, and it served as a reminder of why she chose to become a teacher.
“Being able to travel to Greece and experience learning about their education system compared to the U.S. has only confirmed for me how important teachers are around the world,” she said. “We share a common goal of having a welcoming classroom and building lifelong relationships with students so that they can become successful.”