Abstract
The provision of support to primary schools is the mainstay of achieving inclusive education. The government, through the Department of Basic Education, established full-service schools to address a full range of barriers to learning. In addition, policies on inclusive education were introduced to provide a framework for the implementation of inclusive education in primary schools. The school's leadership has the responsibility to implement inclusive education policies in primary schools. The study was conducted to understand school leaders’ challenges in implementing inclusive education policies.
A literature review of the historical roots of exclusion and the policies and legislature introduced to promote inclusion in post-apartheid South Africa was done to understand the concept of inclusion. The study followed a case-study approach based on two full-service in the Ehlanzeni district in Mpumalanga. The researcher adopted a qualitative research approach utilizing purposeful sampling within an interpretive paradigm. Participants who are knowledgeable about inclusive education and responsible for implementing inclusive education policies in primary schools were purposefully selected from the two primary schools. School A and school B have a total population of 101 members who are part of the school leadership. A total of 31 members were purposefully selected to participate in the study, representing 31% of the population.
Data collection was done using structured interviews with focus groups responsible for the implementation of inclusive education policies. The themes that emerged from the analysis of the data collected were: resources; negative attitudes; workload; training and skills; and support. The findings based on these themes were that school leaders failed to implement inclusive education policies because of:
Lack of learning materials or resources
Lack of funding.
Negative attitudes of teachers towards implementing inclusive education within the classroom.
Negative attitudes of parents towards supporting inclusive education initiatives.
Large class sizes, overcrowding, and multi-grade classes for teachers.
Lack of skills and training to deal with learners experiencing barriers to learning.
Poor functioning support structures
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Teachers take the role of social workers and specialists to support learners experiencing barriers to learning.
Systematic barriers such as lack of specialist support staff within the school, insufficient support from the DBST, lack of resources and inadequately trained teaching personnel among other factors prevent school leaders from successfully implementing inclusive policies in primary schools. Teachers lack inclusive education skills and training required to create an inclusive classroom. In order to overcome these challenges, the researcher recommends adequate provision of training, funding and a change in the organizational structures of primary schools to support the implementation of inclusive education policies.