Supply LSE Course Assignment Sample: LSE Role, ADHD Strategies, IEP and MAP

For information and reference only – not to be submitted as your own work. Use this extract to see how the three questions can be structured, argued and referenced, then build your own answer from your placement experience and the readings your course provider recommends.

This supply LSE course assignment sample responds to the final assignment set on the compulsory course for Supply Learning Support Educators in Malta. The task carries a 1,500-word limit split across three questions.

Those questions cover the role of the Learning Support Educator (LSE), one condition with classroom strategies, and the IEP and MAP documents used in Maltese schools. The extract below follows that structure, uses APA 7th referencing and stays close to the indicative word count for each part.

Before you read, note two things markers on this course tend to check. First, Maltese policy has to be visible, not only international theory. Second, Question 3 asks for the sections of both documents and their benefits, so a description of the IEP alone loses marks.

Question 1: The Role of the Learning Support Educator in an Educational Setting

The Learning Support Educator is an educator, not an assistant who waits for instructions. Maltese policy places LSEs alongside teachers within the definition of “educators” and expects adaptations and differentiation to be planned jointly by the teacher and the LSE (Ministry for Education and Employment [MEDE], 2019a). The change of title from Learning Support Assistant reflects that shift towards a shared pedagogical role.

In mainstream schools, LSEs are deployed according to need: on a one-to-one basis, shared within the same class, or shared across learners (European Commission/Eurydice, n.d.). Whatever the arrangement, the class teacher remains responsible for every learner. The National Inclusive Education Framework lists “learner considered as the responsibility of someone else such as the LSE” as a barrier that schools must move away from (MEDE, 2019a).

Core responsibilities

• Planning with the teacher: adapting lesson plans, preparing differentiated materials and agreeing how the learner will access each activity.
• Individual planning: taking part in MAPs sessions, contributing to the IEP, attending IEP meetings and reporting on progress (Vella Haber, 2023).
• Observation and record keeping: documenting what the learner can do, what helps and what does not, so that reviews rest on evidence.
• Personal and social support: supporting care needs where required, encouraging peer interaction and keeping the learner motivated.
• Liaison: working with the Inclusion Coordinator or Head of Department (Inclusion), professionals and parents.

Research warns that close one-to-one support can backfire. Webster et al. (2011) found that pupils who received the most support from teaching assistants often had less contact with the teacher and made less progress. A good LSE therefore plans to fade support, uses prompts that build independence and steps back when the learner can manage. That is also the direction of Maltese policy, which asks IEPs to plan the fading of adult support (MEDE, 2019a).

The role is demanding. Vella Haber (2023) reports that Maltese LSEs often carry duties well beyond their job description and sometimes feel treated as “babysitters” rather than professionals.

For a supply LSE, who may join a class mid-year, the priority is to read the IEP, meet the teacher early and agree routines before the first lesson. Inclusion, in Ainscow’s (2020) sense, is about presence, participation and achievement for all; the LSE contributes to all three, but only as part of a team.

Question 2: Supporting a Student with ADHD in a Mainstream Classroom

Brief description of ADHD

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental condition marked by a persistent pattern of inattention and/or hyperactivity-impulsivity that interferes with functioning or development (American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2022). It presents as predominantly inattentive, predominantly hyperactive-impulsive or combined. Symptoms must be present in more than one setting, such as home and school.

In class, ADHD rarely looks like “naughtiness”. It shows up as unfinished tasks, lost materials, calling out, difficulty waiting, and work that starts well but drifts. Many learners also struggle with executive functions such as planning, working memory and self-monitoring. These are skills to be taught and scaffolded, not character flaws to be punished.

Strategies for the mainstream classroom

DuPaul et al. (2012) found that school-based academic and behavioural interventions produced meaningful improvements for students with ADHD. The strategies below combine those findings with Universal Design for Learning, which asks educators to offer multiple means of engagement, representation, and action and expression (CAST, 2024).

Three principles hold the strategies together. First, consistency: the teacher, LSE and parents should use the same language and rewards, and a simple home–school communication book helps. Second, choice: offering a learner two ways to show understanding, such as a spoken answer or a labelled diagram, reduces avoidance. Third, independence: every support should come with a plan for removing it.

If you are writing your own ADHD or autism section and are unsure how to link strategies to evidence, our essay writing support for Malta students can review your structure and referencing before submission.

Strategies should never single the learner out. Florian and Black-Hawkins (2011) argue for extending what is ordinarily available to everyone rather than providing something different for “some”. A visual timetable on the board, for example, helps the learner with ADHD and a dozen classmates at the same time.

Question 3: The IEP and MAP Documents in Maltese Schools

In Maltese schools, the Individual Educational Programme (IEP) and the MAP (Making Action Plans) serve different purposes. The MAP is a person-centred planning session that builds a shared picture of the learner’s story, dreams and needs. The IEP turns that picture into specific goals, strategies and review dates for the scholastic year.

The MAP: purpose and sections

MAPs began as the McGill Action Planning System (Vandercook et al., 1989) and is now widely known as Making Action Plans. The University of Malta’s study unit on individual educational planning treats MAPs meetings and IEPs as linked processes for children with individual educational needs (University of Malta, n.d.).

A MAP session usually brings together the learner, parents, friends, teacher, LSE and professionals, with a facilitator recording on large charts. It is commonly built around eight questions (Falvey et al., 1994):

1. What is a MAP?
2. What is the learner’s history or story?
3. What are the dreams for the learner?
4. What are the nightmares or fears?
5. Who is the learner?
6. What are the learner’s gifts and strengths?
7. What are the learner’s needs?
8. What is the plan of action to reach the dream and avoid the nightmare?

The National Inclusive Education Framework gives an example in which a MAP session held at the start of the scholastic year gave the class team the information needed to draw up an action plan (MEDE, 2019a).

The IEP: purpose and sections

Maltese policy defines individualised education planning as the process of planning, implementing and evaluating a curriculum programme around the learner’s needs, bringing together learners, parents, educators and professionals (MEDE, 2019a, 2019b). All IEPs follow the National Curriculum Framework, with adaptations where needed (European Commission/Eurydice, n.d.). Templates can differ between State, Church and Independent schools, but an IEP typically contains the sections below.

The framework’s good-practice example describes an IEP drafted from classroom observations, checked by the Head of Department (Inclusion), discussed with parents at the IEP meeting, signed by all stakeholders and tracked through a daily evaluation sheet using SMART goals (MEDE, 2019a).

Benefits of drawing up both documents

Used together, the two documents protect against the main risk of individual planning: an IEP written as a paperwork exercise, disconnected from the classroom. The MAP keeps the plan anchored to the learner as a person; the IEP makes sure that vision is translated into daily practice and checked. For a supply LSE, both documents are the fastest route to understanding a learner whom they have only just met.

For the companion guide on how to structure Question 3 and avoid common mistakes, read our blog on IEP vs MAP in Maltese schools for the LSE assignment.

Related Malta Inclusive Education Briefs

• EDU5806 Using Individual Educational Planning assignment task (University of Malta)
• Certificate in Practice of Inclusive Education in the Classroom final assignment
• ACA2011 Teaching and Training Adults with Disability and Learning Difficulties answer

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Working on an LSE, inclusion or education course with a close deadline? Our college assignment help for Malta learners provides model answers and structured guidance that you can learn from and adapt to your own work.

References

Ainscow, M. (2020). Promoting inclusion and equity in education: Lessons from international experiences. Nordic Journal of Studies in Educational Policy, 6(1), 7–16. https://doi.org/10.1080/20020317.2020.1729587

American Psychiatric Association. (2022). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed., text rev.). https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.books.9780890425787

CAST. (2024). Universal Design for Learning Guidelines version 3.0. https://udlguidelines.cast.org

DuPaul, G. J., Eckert, T. L., & Vilardo, B. (2012). The effects of school-based interventions for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: A meta-analysis 1996–2010. School Psychology Review, 41(4), 387–412.

European Commission/Eurydice. (n.d.). Malta: Special education needs provision within mainstream education. https://eurydice.eacea.ec.europa.eu/eurypedia/malta/special-education-needs-provision-within-mainstream-education

Falvey, M. A., Forest, M., Pearpoint, J., & Rosenberg, R. (1994). All my life’s a circle: Using the tools: Circles, MAPS and PATH. Inclusion Press.

Florian, L., & Black-Hawkins, K. (2011). Exploring inclusive pedagogy. British Educational Research Journal, 37(5), 813–828. https://doi.org/10.1080/01411926.2010.501096

Ministry for Education and Employment. (2019a). A national inclusive education framework (Rev. ed. 2022). Ministry for Education and Employment.

Ministry for Education and Employment. (2019b). A policy on inclusive education in schools: Route to quality inclusion (Rev. ed. 2022). Ministry for Education and Employment.

University of Malta. (n.d.). EDU5806 Using individual educational planning [Study-unit description]. https://www.um.edu.mt/courses/studyunit/EDU5806

Vandercook, T., York, J., & Forest, M. (1989). The McGill Action Planning System (MAPS): A strategy for building the vision. Journal of the Association for Persons with Severe Handicaps, 14(3), 205–215. https://doi.org/10.1177/154079698901400306

Vella Haber, P. M. (2023). Self- and community perceptions of the Learning Support Educators in Malta and their role in promoting inclusion. Malta Review of Educational Research, 17(1), 159–174.

Webster, R., Blatchford, P., Bassett, P., Brown, P., Martin, C., & Russell, A. (2011). The wider pedagogical role of teaching assistants. School Leadership and Management, 31(1), 3–20. https://doi.org/10.1080/13632434.2010.540562