Abstract
M.Ed. (Education Management)
The White paper 6 advocates the introduction of inclusive education in all public schools in South Africa, where all learners irrespective of their abilities, would have to be taught
together.That leaves educators with the biggest challenges. Among others, the educators
must change their method of teaching in order to be able to deal with multi-lingual and
multi-cultural classrooms. Moreover, educators are expected to change their attitudes and
perception on learners with special educational needs. In addition, they should be reskilled to serve as managers, counsellors and consultants. However, in South Africa there is no single model that could be used to address all the challenges left by the legacy of apartheid in public primary schools. The purpose of this study is to contribute and add to the existing body of knowledge on the challenges facing educators in implementing inclusive education. In order to accomplish this aim, the main endeavour is to reveal the biggest challenges facing educators in implementing inclusive education in public primary schools and to highlight the implications of inclusive education in schools.
The researcher used the critical qualitative action research approach to probe eight
educators and school principals regarding their training, whether they have the necessary
skills to deal with the implementation of inclusive education in their mainstream schools and probing them about effective models of inclusion that are applicable to their schools. The research sample was randomly selected from two public primary schools in Gauteng
Province in District 011. Interviews, classroom observation and closed questionnaires
were used as instruments of obtaining relevant data. In this study, interaction schedules, coupled with other data processes such as inductive analysis and verifications were used to analyze data. Data collected was catergorise into themes and comparisons were made on patterns that appeared and reappeared during this study.
The research study revealed that, there is a need for a change or shift from traditional
practice to new paradigms where teachers as reflective practitioners, are expected to take a closure, critical look at their way of teaching, as dictated by the new curriculum.
Furthermore, the study revealed that there is a need for a shift from a medical model to a
understanding system located within an understanding of barriers to learning. Secondly,
perceptions of educators on learners with barriers should change. Furthermore, there is a
need of giving learners extra support so that they can fit or be integrated into the
mainstream classrooms. Moreover, assessment should cater for diverse needs of all
learners and very crucial, there should be a shift from pedagogy of exclusion to a pedagogy of possibilities that takes into consideration barriers to learning, different intelligences and learning styles.
In order for the implementation of inclusive education to take place smoothly in public
primary schools, the researcher recommended that: schools should develop effective
partnership with parents, organizations and other community stakeholders. The
Department of education in conjunction with schools should embark on an advocacy
campaign. Furthermore, the Department of education should strengthen the site-based
support teams (SBST) and ensure that educators receive quality training in inclusive
education for human resource development and lastly, the Department should ensure that
special schools are strengthened as resource centres.