Marietjie Oswald

Parents’ Experiences of Their Rights in the Implementation of Inclusive Education in South Africa:

Parental involvement was a driving and decisive factor in the development of inclusive education worldwide. In South Africa parents also became the advocates of the inclusive education movement in the 1990s, paving the way for parents to be involved in the decision-making process regarding the school placement of their children with disabilities. The purpose of this article is to focus on the way in which equity, individual rights and freedom of choice manifest itself in the implementation of inclusive education with specific reference to the way in which parents experience it. Results indicate that the inclusion of a child into mainstream education is a challenging and dynamic process that starts with the parents’ decision to place their child in a mainstream setting. In spite of legislation and the desires of parents, the development of inclusive educational practises in South Africa does not always reflect the values of equity and individual rights. Failure to establish collaborative and trusting relationships between teachers, parents and professionals poses a major challenge and can have a serious impact on the outcomes of inclusive education.

Addressing South African Pre-service Teachers’ Sentiments, Attitudes and Concerns Regarding Inclusive Education

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.

Where Differences Matter A Cross-Cultural Analysis of Family Voice in Special Education

U.S. education policy acknowledges the troubling differential rates of special education identification and placement for students who are culturally and linguistically diverse by requiring states to review annually student identification data from all local education agencies to identify and address disproportionate representation. Yet, little is known about the interaction between families that are culturally and linguistically diverse and the service providers they encounter at their local schools. The authors examine those relationships in South Africa and the United States, two countries where the legacy of racism lingers in the ways in which school personnel and families negotiate differences in how children are viewed, assessed, and offered support for learning needs. In both countries, sustained efforts from families and school personnel were needed to develop supports and services that worked well for students with disabilities and their families.

Leadership in Disadvantaged Primary Schools Two Narratives of Contrasting Schools

Research has indicated that schools should be developed as inclusive learning communities that would support collaborative learning and problem solving in order to address learner diversity more effectively. This article explores school leadership as one determining factor which either affords or constrains collaborative teacher learning for inclusion in the work place. The theoretical framework of cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT) provided the broad platform from which we engaged in the study. Engeström’s triangle model was employed to explore leadership in the two research schools. Leadership was framed within the democratic distributed approach to leadership: this resonates with inclusive education’s strong emphasis on equality, equity and voice. A critical activity-theoretical ethnographic research design was employed from which the findings were drawn regarding school leadership. A qualitative methodology – incorporating multiple methods of data generation – informed the study. The data was organized by employing three dimensions of the two schools as activity systems: rules, community and division of labour. The findings provided irrefutable evidence that school leadership in the two historically disadvantaged primary schools profoundly affected teacher learning for inclusion.

Care, performance and performativity: Portraits of teachers’ lived experiences

Abstract Data from an investigation into the care practices of teachers in a primary school in a vulnerable community fore-grounded, firstly, the influence of a performance culture on the lived experiences of teachers; and secondly, the role of language in the meaning-making of teachers regarding care. The data was generated by means of group discussions, individual and focus group interviews and open-ended questions as part of a more comprehensive research project that explored teachers’ care practices in two primary schools. The research project employed an ethnographic methodology and more specifically, an ethnographic casebook design. We purposefully selected three teachers from the one school to construct portraits of their care practices. In an effort to make sense of the data we consulted the writings of Judith Butler on the constitutive nature of language. We viewed the teachers’ accounts of their lived experiences through the lenses of care theory, performance and performativity. The portraits of...

High school educators' democratic values as manifested in their educational practice and attitudes towards inclusive education

This article aims to give a snapshot of the democratisation of an educational system in a country whose democracy is still young and fragile and of how prepared educators are to deal with the implications of learner diversity and the implementation of inclusive education. Inclusive education is not only proposed as an option for education, but also as the strategy most likely to achieve a democratic society. An exploratory, qualitative inquiry was conducted to gain a clear picture of the democratic values of a group of high school educators as manifested in their behaviour in school and classroom, and also in their attitudes towards inclusive education. Results of the study indicated that educators have as yet not internalised democratic values to the point of being prepared to act as agents of change in classrooms and schools and indicated resistance to the actual implementation of inclusive education.

An Ethic of Care in Participatory Research in School Community Settings

We explored the manifestation and development of an ethic of care in school communities using a variety of participatory research methods. The qualitative data from this ethnographic case study were analysed using constructivist grounded theory. Our findings suggest that an ethic of care in participatory research entails collaborating as equal partners, a continuous process of accessing, relationship-building and mutual enabling (CARE). Our research approach enhanced the self-understanding of the two school communities and our own development as researchers. Our main concluding claim is that an ethic of care in participatory research in school communities can be beneficial to research participants and researchers alike.

Rethinking gifted education in South Africa The voices of gifted grade 11 students

In this article, we report the findings of a qualitative, collective case study exploring the academic experiences of six grade 11 gifted students in two schools in diverse socio-economic communities in rural Western South Africa. Gifted students represent an important component of a nation’s intellectual capital. They possess the qualities needed to find innovative solutions for many scientific and social challenges. Despite inclusive education policy initiatives aimed at ensuring quality education for all, the extant research indicates that gifted students from all socio-economic levels and cultures are neglected in South African classrooms. In this study, the voices of the students themselves were analysed. Whilst they are on the receiving end of education policy and teaching initiatives, their contributions are seldom sought. Our data collection methods included multiple measures and six in-depth individual semi-structured interviews as well as a focus group interview with all the subjects. The informal findings showed that academically gifted students from both affluent and disadvantaged backgrounds face similar challenges. They often feel neglected and academically under-stimulated. Recommendations were made to address their needs more appropriately.