Abstract
was motivated by my own experiences as a qualified special needs teacher to explore how School Management Teams (SMTs) could best support teachers in the schools they manage. Additionally, research indicates that teachers based at special needs schools require support due to challenges they face when teaching in special needs schools. Furthermore, teachers need to have the proficiency in and grasp of inclusive instruction as those are extremely important elements in an inclusive environment with diverse students. A qualitative approach, embedded in an interpretive phenomenological analysis paradigm, was used to conduct the research. Qualitative data was obtained individually from the participants through semi-structured interviews, which constituted the main evidence base. This data was reinforced by the literature that was reviewed for the study.
The findings of this study highlighted the following challenges in special needs education: a lack of Continuous Professional Development sessions and support, lack of training in special needs education and having insufficient knowledge in this field. Possible solutions to the challenges experienced by the SMTs and teachers were further explored, and recommendations made to support teachers. A further finding was that SMTs have a specific duty to ensure the efficient running of a school and to ensure that the school environment is supportive and conducive for effective learning and teaching to take place. In so doing, SMTs are actually accountable for ensuring best practices, including support for learning needs of all students in an inclusive environment. To this end, an important recommendation of the study is that SMTs need to work collaboratively and engage teachers in Continuous Professional Development programmes which take into account the diverse needs of the teachers as well. The study thus argues that Continuous Professional Development should be a top priority in our special needs schools. The results obtained from this particular research study could also prove to be helpful to departments of education, school management teams, teachers at mainstream schools, special needs teachers as well as for teachers who are based at special needs schools but not trained in this particular field.
Keywords: School Management Team; Inclusive Education; Barriers to Learning; Learning support; Continuous Professional Development; Teacher training