Inclusive Education A

Dr M Gumede
Dr D Mahlo
ETH302S
May 2013

A teacher
I have come to a frightening conclusion that I am a
decisive element in the classroom. Its my personal
approach that create the climate. Its my mood that
makes the weather. As a teacher, I posses a tremendous
power to make a childs life miserable or joyous. I can be
a tool for torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can
humiliate or humour, hurt or heal. In all situations its my
response that influences whether a crisis will be escalated
or de-escalated, a child humanized or dehumanized.
Dr Haim Ginnoth

Purpose of the module

To help you gain understanding of inclusive education
system.
To equip you with knowledge, skills necessary for the
implementation of Inclusive Education (IE)
ON COMPLETION YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO:
demonstrate your understanding and insight of
Inclusive Education.
screen, identify, assess and support learners
experiencing barriers to learning.
apply the theoretical knowledge into practice

Examination
FORMAT
5 questions, 2 HOUR PAPER
Subsections
Q1 10 Marks, Multiple choice
Q2 20 Marks, True or False
Q3 70 Marks

Why Inclusive Education(IE)

IE

Constitution
Human rights
Education White Paper 6

Barriers to learning

Teacher Support

Important concepts
Inclusive Education is defined as a learning
environment that promotes the full personal,
academic and professional development of all
learners irrespective of race, class, gender,
disability, religion, culture, sexual preference,
learning styles and language.
Its a human right, makes good education sense,
good social scene, promotes the right to live &
learn together, promotes acceptance and
diversity, builds respect for one another. (TUT
LETTER 501)

Different learning needs

Negative attitudes
An inflexible curriculum
Inappropriate languages or language of learning and
teaching
Inappropriate or unsafe built environments
Inappropriate communication
Inappropriate and inadequate support services
Inadequate policies and legislation
The non-recognition and non-involvement of parents
Inadequately and inappropriately trained education
managers

Bronferbrenners ecosystemic model

All the system needs to work together to benefit an individual/learner
Various levels
Chrono system- time and how it relates specifically to the interactions
between the systems.
Macro system- the dominant social, economic structures, attitudes ,
beliefs & values eg NDoE.
Exosytem- One or more environments in which a developing learner is not
directly involved but may influence the learner eg parents place of work.
Mesosystem- relationship that develops between two or more of the
microsystems eg. District.
Microsystem- the immediate environment eg. School, family, peers

Cont National level

ignoring the rights of learners, unclear policy, no collaboration with other
government departments, no support or clear guidelines to the province,
lack of advocacy and information programme in support of inclusion.
Provincial level
provide experts to act as consultants, monitor & evaluate the implementation
of IE. Coordinate services in provinces eg money received from central
government for education is judiciously spend
District
train, monitoring and support teachers at schools on the implementation of
IE, make sure that schools have resources & equipment e.g assistive
devices, provide guidelines to support learners with barriers to
learning,coordinate learning support with special and full service schools
& ensure there is partnerships with other agencies in the vicinity.
Schools implement IE according to the National, Provincial &District
requirements.

Barriers located outside the learner

The context: the environment that is not accessible, material that is
not available in an accessible format, attitude of teachers and other
learners, exclusion and discrimination against learners who
experience barriers. Two paragraphs discussing this aspect are
enough.
Economic factors e.g poverty
Political factors e.g war, unrest, discrimination
Social barriers e.g no empowerment, no facilities ,negative attitude,
social justice, discrimination.
Phases: Foundation ,Intermediate, Senior, FET
Drugs, Satanism, Violence, Abuse, Sexual Orientation, Bullying.
Psychologist in training: you are confronted with different cases, give
examples of those.

ACTIVITIES
Understand and be able to explain what is meant by
the following:
Inclusive Education, Learning Support, Teacher
Support, White Paper no 6, District Based Support
Team, Institution Level Support Team, National and
education documents that support Inclusive Education,
Fundamental principles of Inclusive Education, Special
schools, Full service schools, short term goals and
medium term goals of Inclusive Education, Curriculum
differentiation.(Concepts are in your Tut letter 501)

Activities
How can you motivate and encourage teachers and adults
to accommodate learners who are experiencing barriers
to learning?
-Positive attitude of both teachers and learners towards one
another, promoting equal participation in school activities,
acceptance of one another, acknowledgement of
differences, respect for each other, avoid labelling, these
are important to support inclusive education. (Two
paragraphs are adequate to support this, give examples
according to your own context).

TEACHERS ATTITUDES
According to Bothma, Gravett & Swart
(2002:20) the international literature reports
that the attitudes of teachers play a primary
role in the successful implementation of an
inclusive educational policy. For this reason,
teachers should be brought to board
whenever new implementation is needed.
The successful implementation of inclusion
depends on winning teachers attitudes.

 District Based Support Teams (DBST)

P20,p24(TUT 501) provision of coordinated professional
support service, it draws on expertise in further, higher
education, local communities, special schools, specialized
settings (read more)
Institutional Level Support Teams (ILST).
P24- institutions will be required to establish ILST which
will coordinate learner and teacher support.(read more)

ContWhat are the reasons for the movement towards an inclusive education
P21-24, TUT 501,This includes justice notion, equity and equality,
combating exclusion, equal educational opportunities, to have unified and
single system of education, to address barriers in education. Human right,
makes good education & social sense, promote the right to learn and live
together, acceptance, diversity &
build respect for one another.
Inadequately and inappropriately trained education managers and
educators can be a barrier to the implementation of Inclusive Education.
lack an overall concept of what inclusion means. They can formulate
school policies are marginalizing and excluding.
Negative attitude towards learners with disabilities
Discriminate learners with disabilities & learners who experience barriers
to learning. The personnel can be insensitive to such learners.
They might be unable to respond to a wide range of leaner needs

Why is parental/caregiver empowerment important?

Discuss ways of involving the parents/caregivers of learners who
experience barriers to learning .
Involve parents/caregivers when assisting learners who experience
barriers to learning because:
Parents/ caregivers know better about the child, they can provide
information on the history of the child since conception, history of
the family, if there are any sources of intervention that they use at
home or that has been done on the child, give information about
the childs strength &weaknesses. They can serve as partners eg if a
parent is a doctor- medical support, bricklayer- volunteer to build
ramps, retired grandmother- assist with reading, police-adopt a
cop, pastor/counsellor- counselling learners etc.
Discuss the central findings of the NCSNET and NCESS report. P910, 501.

IE approach in an ordinary school

-acknowledge that all learners can learn & needs support
-overcoming barriers in the system so that a full range of learning
needs can be met.
-enables learners to achieve excellence thus quality education
-includes those who are previously disadvantaged
-warm & embracing attitudes towards all human beings
-focuses on the learner as he/she is
-addresses the causes of barriers to learning & development
-is based on equality ,quality & lifelong learning
-total mind shift towards education based on specific value system.
-implies a very specific attitude towards the norms or criteria of
society.

Challenges to the teacher

- P4, support inclusion, advocate & raise awareness, embrace diversity,
change perceptions and attitude, address the barriers or needs of all
learners, accept people who are facing challenges, accept people who are
different & stop discrimination.
- Identify & assess barriers to learning, plan and implement a support
programme, adapt teaching strategies.
Adapted assessment techniques
Observation, listening & questioning
-all situations & circumstances, monitoring behaviour & emotional responses.
Keeping a portfolio
-it contain an assortment of learners work, a learner selects his own work to
be placed in the portfolio.
Interviews with stakeholders
Parents, other teachers, the learner him/herself & other role players, arrange
interviews,take notes,atmosphere be conducive,concetrate on specific
that will be useful in developing supportive relationships.

Learning Support
- Learning support can be defined as all activities that increase the
capacity of a school to respond to diversity (CSIE 2000:11).
Identify & assess barriers to learning, plan & implement a support
programme & adapt teaching strategies and discover teaching
approaches that you will be able to use again.
Planning a learning support programme
Curriculum differentiation, adapting the content, outcomes,
resources, methodology ,strategies.
Duration of support, the management of classroom environment.
Creating a barrier free environment
Assessment & planning
Collaboration with stakeholders

Learning support
Adapted strategies to accommodate learners who
experience barriers learners
-Encourage learners to think aloud
-Encourage questions
-Allow opportunities for discovery
- Break new work into smaller steps
- integrate what was learned with the new work
- Make provision for revision
- Allow opportunities for feedback

Conclusion

Good luck
Gumede/Mahlo
012 429 8312, gumeddmj@unisa.ac.za
mahlofd@unisa.ac.za
012 429 4002