Exploring the perceptions of lecturers and final year students about the infusion of inclusion in initial teacher education programmes in South Africa (original) (raw)
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Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences, 2014
Africa. This paper is a reflection on whether the policy is achieving its set goals by answering to the question: Are regular class teachers in South African public schools giving adequate attention to children with learning disabilities in their mainstream classes? As the cold face of the system, teachers always bear the brunt for the failure or success of any policy in education. Fore-grounded on a quantitative research paradigm, the paper adopted social learning theory as a lens through which both the theoretical and empirical parts of the study were conducted. The sample of the study consisted of one hundred and ten teachers all affected by the policy. Data analysis from the questionnaires indicated among other things that implementing the policy was not smooth sailing. With inadequate training on inclusivity, teachers were left by themselves and were grappling with a variety of challenges in implementing inclusivity in the mainstream classes. Recommendations are suggested to counteract the possible failure of this policy in South African public schools and elsewhere.
Inclusive education is embedded in South African policy with the expectation that teacher education will equip pre-service teachers to teach inclusively. As a result, courses in inclusive education are offered in most Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programmes and research interest in teacher education for inclusion has grown. This paper contributes to this body of knowledge by using Legitimation Code Theory to engage critically with concepts and assessment tasks from three inclusive education courses. This meant identifying where theoretical, context independent knowledge is privileged (semantic density), and where the knowledge is derived from practice or experience and designed to be implemented within specific contexts (semantic gravity). Using examples as reference points, I discuss how inclusive education comes to emphasise practical knowledge, to be enacted in particular contexts, or with particular groups of learners. An alternative is to position inclusive education as professional knowledge where theoretically informed judgments are made in response to the complexity of learner diversity. This will require strengthening the disciplinary foundation of concepts presented in ITE courses in inclusive education.
2021
Currently inclusive education is one of the contemporary issues in education in both developed and developing countries, though some countries are struggling to effectively implement it. Research has demonstrated that inclusive education can only be firmly implemented if there is a proper curriculum, appropriate resources and good teacher pedagogical and knowledge skills. It is therefore imperative for teacher education to empower pre-service teachers with necessary knowledge and pedagogical skills to teach inclusively. The article focused on Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) 3rd year student teachers’ perceptions and views regarding inclusive education curriculum implementation at a University of Technology in South Africa (UoT). A qualitative research approach was employed with a case study design. Purposive sampling was used to select 120 participants from 3rd year Bachelor of Education students from a University of technology in South Africa. Structured focus group interviews were u...
Academic Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies
One of the chief goals of inclusive education is to provide pre-service teachers with a learning environment and prospects that enable them to become independent, responsible and critical educators. This study sought to determine how pre-service teachers at a South African university experienced inclusive education training. A purposeful sample of 6 pre-service teachers was selected. Data were collected using open-ended questionnaires which were exploratory in nature, and then analysed thematically. Findings showed inter alia that studying inclusive education proved to be an “eye opener”: students were enlightened to various aspects of being an educator: (i) curriculum differentiation, (ii) diversity, (iii) learners’ rights and (iv) the fact that learners experiencing various barriers to learning can be accommodated successfully in regular classrooms. It was revealed that studying inclusive education allowed pre-service teachers to appreciate the scope, value and higher purpose of ...
2013
Prior to the advent of the new democratic political dispensation in 1994, South Africaneducation had laboured under racially motivated discriminatory practices of active exclusion ofthe majority of learners. The authoritarian system located educational problems in the perceiveddeficiencies of the learner rather than in the repressive, top-down, non-participative, unreflectiveand uninclusive practices of the prevailing educational orthodoxy of the time. After 1994, thebroader reconceptualisation of South African education sought to redress the imbalances of thepast by creating equal opportunities for all learners, irrespective of race or creed. However, thedifficult conundrum was how such a complex systemic change could be driven by teachers whohad not only been trained in a heavily segregated educational system but formed part of it.Therefore, the aim of the thesis was to determine how teachers conceptualised inclusive teaching,explore the teaching practices that were believed to be...
the state of inclusive pedagogy in South Africa
2012
The states of inclusive pedagogy in South African schools remain bleak and teachers are in the dark about what constitutes an inclusive pedagogy in the South African context. This is despite policy changes since the advent of the new educational dispensation in 1994. In this review article the researcher presents the background in terms of inclusive education developments, both within historical and policy contexts. While articulating the conceptualization of inclusive education, the paper also discusses the model of inclusive education with reference to the role of all levels of ecosystemic system support such as school, district, provincial and national level of education. Further, the way barriers to learning and the notion of inclusive pedagogy are conceptualized within the South African context are discussed. The paper concludes by reviewing the current state of inclusive pedagogic practice in the South African classrooms. Among the findings of this paper is that the way inclusion is conceptualized still bears the hallmarks of the special needs education of the past education dispensation. The paper concludes that a shift from the special need approach to the conceptualization of inclusion is required.
South African Journal of Education, 2015
While the practice of inclusive education has recently been widely embraced as an ideal model for education, the acceptance of inclusive education practices has not translated into reality in most mainstream classrooms. Despite the fact that education policies in South Africa stipulate that all learners should be provided with the opportunities to participate as far as possible in all classroom activities, the implementation of inclusive education is still hampered by a combination of a lack of resources and the attitudes and actions of the teachers in the classroom. The main purpose of this paper was to develop a deeper understanding of a group of South African teachers' personal understanding about barriers to learning and how their understanding relates to their consequent actions to implement inclusive education in their classrooms. A qualitative research approach placed within a cultural-historical and bio-ecological theoretical framework was used. The findings, in this paper, indicate that the way in which teachers understand a diversity of learning needs is based on the training that they initially received as teachers, which focused on a deficit, individualised approach to barriers to learning and development, as well as contextual challenges, and that both have direct and substantial effects on teachers' classroom practices. As a result, they engage in practices in their classrooms that are less inclusive, by creating dual learning opportunities that are not sufficiently made available for everyone, with the result that every learner is not able to participate fully as an accepted member of their peer group in all classroom activities.
International Journal of Disability Development and Education, 2011
This article recounts the findings of a study that investigated pre-service teachers' attitudes and concerns regarding inclusive education and their degree of comfort when interacting with people with disabilities after completing courses on inclusive education. One hundred and eighty pre-service teachers from one higher education institution in South Africa completed the Sentiments, Attitudes and Concerns about Inclusive Education Scale. They were all being prepared to teach at either the primary (41%) or secondary (59%) level of education. Pre-service teachers' mean scores on the sentiments scale increased following the intervention (p < 0.001), as did the mean scores on the attitudes scale (p < 0.001). However, mean scores related to their concerns decreased (p = 0.01). With respect to the latter finding, as a result of the intervention the pre-service teachers became more worried about resources to support inclusive education (p < 0.001), the reality of large classes (p = 0.01) and their workload (p = 0.04). Recommendations based on the research findings are made, suggesting that the quality of courses on inclusive education should be enhanced in higher education institutions.
Developing a support programme for teachers involved with inclusion in South Africa
… of Special Education, 2001
The establishment of an inclusive education system in South Africa will require the development of appropriate support services at both a school and district level. Recent policy documents in South Africa propose that such a support system should take a systemic approach utilising district support teams that focus on management and personnel support rather than providing direct face to face interventions for individual learners. This paper discusses the development of a support program that is based on research findings regarding the aspects of inclusion that mainstream class teachers in South Africa find most stressful and how they best cope with this stress. It is posited that by addressing the specific stressors associated with inclusion teachers will have an enhanced sense of efficacy and be more enthusiastic about participating in inclusive classrooms.
The State of Inclusive Pedagogy in South Africa: A Literature Review
JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY AND SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY
The states of inclusive pedagogy in South African schools remain bleak and teachers are in the dark about what constitutes an inclusive pedagogy in the South African context. This is despite policy changes since the advent of the new educational dispensation in 1994. In this review article the researcher presents the background in terms of inclusive education developments, both within historical and policy contexts. While articulating the conceptualization of inclusive education, the paper also discusses the model of inclusive education with reference to the role of all levels of ecosystemic system support such as school, district, provincial and national level of education. Further, the way barriers to learning and the notion of inclusive pedagogy are conceptualized within the South African context are discussed. The paper concludes by reviewing the current state of inclusive pedagogic practice in the South African classrooms. Among the findings of this paper is that the way inclusion is conceptualized still bears the hallmarks of the special needs education of the past education dispensation. The paper concludes that a shift from the special need approach to the conceptualization of inclusion is required.