- Title
- Views of the journey of grade 1 learners with barriers to learning, in the inclusive education system: a multi-level systemic investigation
- Creator
- Van Vuuren, Cornelia Margaretha
- ThesisAdvisor
- Akhurst, Jacqueline
- Subject
- Inclusive education South Africa Eastern Cape
- Subject
- Special education teachers South Africa Eastern Cape Attitudes
- Subject
- South Africa. Department of Education
- Subject
- Children with disabilities Education (Elementary) Government policy South Africa
- Subject
- Special education teachers Training of South Africa Eastern Cape
- Date
- 2022-10-04
- Type
- Academic theses
- Type
- Doctoral theses
- Type
- text
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10962/327122
- Identifier
- vital:61083
- Identifier
- DOI 10.21504/10962/327122
- Description
- Embedded in South Africa’s humanitarian discourse, inclusive education (IE) followed global trends of inclusion of all people into wider society without discrimination. Inclusion in mainstream schools should also, according to the Salamanca agreement provide equal quality education, enabling learners with special educational needs (LSEN) to reach their full potential as a basic human right. IE started in South Africa with the implementation of the inclusive policy EWP6 in 2001. Including all children with barriers to learning in schools in their communities promoted social inclusion with their peers. The DoE introduced the Policy of Screening, Identification, Assessment and Support (SIAS) in 2014. This policy was implemented to assist teachers to identify learning barriers, as a means of offering support to these learners through the inclusive system. However, it seems that educators found this process cumbersome, without resources to maintain the process and with multiple systemic barriers preventing, rather than enhancing, support to LSEN. This multi-level systemic study explores the views of educators and other stakeholders on the effectiveness of the IE system in supporting LSEN, to serve the best interests of these learners in their first year of formal schooling. The study was conducted in three selected diverse mainstream Eastern Cape (EC) rural schools, involving the views of educators, district officials and parents. The study probed the impact of the inclusive system on LSEN’s development and social wellbeing, the perceived effects and benefits of the current system, and how the education model contributes towards human rights objectives and constitutional imperatives. The study acknowledges the theories and policies of the current inclusive system as promoting inclusion, but not being successfully realised in rural areas in the South African context, due to several systemic and contextual barriers. The findings revealed that although all participants noted the possible benefits of IE, the current system did not serve the individual educational needs of LSEN in rural mainstream schools, in their first formal year of schooling. Several constraints were reported including lack of resources, insufficient Allied Health support services, and insufficient training of educators. These lead to feelings of inadequacy in educators, along with systemic and contextual barriers and financial constraints in the schools. There also seems to be a need for better collaboration between education and other departments serving children and communities. To conclude, this study suggests a broader multi-level networked system, in which there needs to be greater interaction between the DoE and other government departments supporting children with barriers, like the Departments of Health (DoH), Social Development (DSD) and Justice (DoJ).
- Description
- Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, Psychology, 2022
- Format
- computer, online resource, application/pdf, 1 online resource (335 pages), pdf
- Publisher
- Rhodes University, Faculty of Humanities, Psychology
- Language
- English
- Rights
- Van Vuuren, Cornelia Margaretha
- Rights
- Use of this resource is governed by the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons "Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike" License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/)
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| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | SOURCE1 | VAN VUUREN-PHD-TR22-135.pdf | 2 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |