Implementing Changes to Practice Based on Alberta Education's Inspiring Education: A Case Study of Speech-Language Pathologists
Creators: name: Walker, Sharon
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2016
Subjects: subject: Education
subject: Education--Administration
subject: Education--Early Childhood
subject: Education--Elementary
subject: Education--Health
subject: Education--Special
subject: Education--Teacher Training
subject: Audiology
subject: Rehabilitation and Therapy
subject: Speech Pathology
subject: Inclusive Education
subject: Collaborative Practice
subject: Collaboration
subject: Speech-Language Pathology
subject: Early Education
subject: Joint Working
subject: Interprofessional Collaboration
subject: Special Education
subject: School Support
subject: Educational leadership
subject: School Leadership
subject: Pre-service training
subject: Alberta Education

description: The role of the speech-language pathologist working within a school district should be responsive to the Ministry of Education’s mandates and initiatives toward supporting students. In Alberta, the Ministry’s Inspiring Education initiative was introduced in 2008 and influenced changes to the way that speech-language pathologists work in schools, especially within early learning classrooms. The purpose of this study was to explore these changes and the perceptions, attitudes, and experiences of those speech-language pathologists that have been working within the Inspiring Education initiative. The four research questions that guide this exploration are (1) How does Alberta Education’s Inspiring Education documentation conceptualize student support services and how does it provide direction for speech-language pathology practice within education?, (2) How do speech-language pathologists, currently working in early education settings, conceptualize their role in relation to Alberta’s new Inspiring Education initiative?, (3) How do speech-language pathologists think about their own individual capacity to implement changes to their own practice to reflect this provincial initiative?, and (4) What factors do speech-language pathologists identify as barriers and/or supports that impact practice changes? To gather data for this qualitative case study, a document review of the relevant Inspiring Education documentation was completed, an open-ended qualitative survey of speech-language pathologists working for Alberta school districts was conducted, and semi-structured interviews of five participants were completed. Based on the analysis of the data and my conclusions, the following evidence emerged: (1) the Inspiring Education initiative needs to move beyond conceptualization of student support services toward developing policies and procedures for implementation; (2) speech-language pathologists are not fully aware of the Inspiring Education initiative and its’ role in their current practice; (3) speech- language pathologists do not feel clinically prepared to implement changes to their practice to reflect this educational reform initiative; and, (4) there are practical supports and barriers that can be addressed by leaders in order to support successful implementation of practice changes. Striving for a collaborative, coordinated, and integrated continuum of support in supporting students within education and speech-language services is a worthwhile pursuit