I was back subbing in my old school for a day. It was swimming day, so that involved a bus trip and supervising the kids while they changed. Nice easy day!
I was sitting at the side of the pool keeping an eye on proceedings. The kids were divided into groups and each group had a swim instructor.
One group had an instructor and also a trainee instructor. I'm ashamed to say that I did a bit of a double take when I realised that the trainee was a girl with Down Syndrome. I watched her demonstrate the arm movements and leg positions of the Backstroke from the side of the pool as the students looked up to her intently and tried to follow her example. By the end of the lesson they could all swim the backstroke like an Olympian.
I had to think about why I was so surprised at first. While I was working in the school I was well aware that there was an ethos of inclusion and of the importance of treating everyone equally.
But this was the first time I saw that someone with an additional challenge who was actually in a superior position. She had more knowledge and skill and the children were aware of that. They knew that they could learn from her and so got on with it.
They thanked her and the other instructor as they left the pool, I realised that the Backstroke was not the most valuable lesson that they had learned that day.
So all anti-DEI, put that in your pipe and smoke it!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment