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You are the ES staff member and a parent sees you on the playground before school and
begins a long conversation. What do you do?
During my active listening, I have tried to give importance to the relevance that the parent
perceives that I am listening to him, as such a perception is a fundamental element for
establishing a good rapport with the parent. From all the tools that are used in active listening, I
have insisted in making use of re-stating and paraphrasing of what the parent said in their own
words, as I considered that this way the parent realizes that I am listening, but that I also
understand him. As I was supposedly dealing with a person I didn´t knew, I avoided judging the
parent by any criteria, such as physical aspect, way of dressing, vocabulary, etc. Considering that
I was dealing with an individual that had a different age, a different educational background, and
a different life experience, I knew his ideas and ways of perceiving the topic of discussion might
be different from mine, but that I should not assume to know better just because I had a
specialization in educational support.
As the conversation started, I have focused my attention on what the parent was saying. I have
tried to use an adjusted tone, and give the other person time to think and speak. From the
beginning of the conversation, I have payed attention to body language, as I thought the parent
may judge me by it. I have made efforts to reflect on the information that the other person was
giving me by paraphrasing, as I thought it is the best way to assure that that we are understanding
each other. When I didn´t understood anything, or I thought the parent didn´t, I have clarified it
by making use of open-ended, probing, and clarifying questions - which I found to be very
important tools in active listening, as they allowed me to encourage the parent to extend his
ideas, while inviting him to reflection. In terms of vocabulary, I have tried to use one that wasn´t
very technical, as i knew someone without a background in my field of studies may not
understand all the concepts that we consistently use at our work environment. During the entire
conversation I have summarized key ideas that were expressed, in order to confirm and solidify
my understanding of the parent´s point of view. I have tried to suppress judging what he was
saying, as I knew I had to be opened to his/her perspectives, and to avoid arguing or selling his
point away. After I felt that I understood the parent´s ideas and felling, I considered it was time
to introduce my own ideas, suggestions and feelings. For example, I shared an idea that was
triggered by a comment made by the parent during the conversations. After I had briefly
summarized what I´ve understood, I asked the parent to do the same, as I thought this would help
both of us to be clear on mutual responsibilities toward the child.
As the conversation was getting to long, and I knew I had to return to class, I´ve asked the
parent to continue our conversation on a different occasion. I suggested him to think of new
ways that our center could handle his child problems, as I wanted to assure him that the center
takes in account the variety of opinions that parents have about their children needs, even if not
all are applicable.
Part 2 Conflict
a. There are several types of cultural conflict situations that can occur in an educational support
work situation, both with students and with other staff. With students, cultural conflict might
relate to expectations regarding student behavior (language, clothes, timing), and students

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education achievements. For example, someone working in educational support with students
from different cultures and economic background might expect that his/her students follow a
particular code of dressing, and speak with a particular vocabulary, and might try to impose such
behaviors believing that assimilation into a particular paradigm of social behavior is the key to
personal growing. The students, on the other hand, might perceive these impositions as
cultural/social oppression as opposed to support to their special educational needs.
Cultural conflict can also occur with staff members, when some members have conflicting views
regarding the best ways to approach the educational needs of students, and these differences are
caused by differences in culture and life experience. For example, some of the staff members
might feel that parents of different backgrounds should play an active role in establishing priority
needs for their children, while other members of the staff might believe that standardized
interventions should be the norm; in this example, it´s more likely that members of the staff that
have grown in a culture less aware or accepting of cultural diversity would favor a standardized
intervention.
Cultural conflicts are less likely to occur if the school provides cultural-awareness training to
members of the staff. Cultural-awareness training can include learning that perception of reality
is influenced by one´s culture, and how some specific cultures tend to understand educational
context and educational priorities.
As a member of an educational support staff, I can avoid cultural conflict by educating myself in
cultural diversity; for example by talking with students and their parents about their educational
goals and expectations.
b. (scenario 2) In this scenario, we have the case of an ES staff member that is doing
interventions with an autistic child, and while the child doesn´t access well the English
curriculum, he access well the Math curriculum, for which the staff member believes she is
doing a good job. The ES staff member works with the class teacher to plan the child´s daily
activities, and she feels that supporting the autistic child is her primarily concern. The class
teacher, on the other hand, feels that the ES staff should work more with all of the 25 students
from the class.
In this example, there is a clear potential conflict between the ES staff member and the teacher,
as they have different opinions in terms of educational necessities. While the staff member
believes she should only attend the autistic child, the teacher thinks all of the students should
connect with the ES staff member.
I would advice the class teacher to discuss with the ES staff members her concerns, but not
before she makes sure that she has correctly identified the situation. Once the situation is
identified, the teacher should make an appointment to discuss the conflict. During the
appointment, the teacher must avoid putting the ES staff member in defensive, by making
excessive use of ´you´ statements, she must express her goals while also taking in account the
objectives of the staff member, and she must close the meeting by either achieving a mutual
conclusion, either establishing a further meeting in the future.

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You are the ES staff member and a parent sees you on the playground before school and begins a long conversation. What do you do? During my active listening, I have tried to give importance to the relevance that the parent perceives that I am listening to him, as such a perception is a fundamental element for establishing a good rapport with the parent. From all the tools that are used in active listening, I have insisted in making use of re-stating and paraphrasing of what the parent said in their own words, as I considered that this way the parent realizes that I am listening, but that I also understand him. As I was supposedly dealing with a person I didn´t knew, I avoided judging the parent by any criteria, such as physical aspect, way of dressing, vocabulary, etc. Considering that I was dealing with an individual that had a different age, a different educational background, and a d ...
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