Abstract
M.Ed.
This research essay focuses on the empowerment of educators as adult learners with a
view to develop a positive attitude towards inclusive education. The philosophy of inclusive education has become more prominent in the education fraternity worldwide
with the turn of the century and has been applied with great success in countries like the
USA, United Kingdom and the Scandinavian countries. Education White Paper 6 passes new regulations on the implementation of special needs education and inclusive education in South Africa Inclusive education as an education system is part of actions
taken and reform supported by the National Education Department in South Africa to
render education more accessable for all learners with their diverse educational needs.
These new regulations are to be implemented by educators in South African schools.
The problem that arises in South Africa is that educators do not have a good grounding
in the philosophy and values of inclusive education, which leads to negative attitudes.
These negative attitudes are seen by various South African researchers as an obstacle
to implement inclusive education in South African schools. The statement of the problem in this essay is: How can a workshop for educators as adult learners be designed to empower them with positive attitudes to eventually successfully implement and apply the philosophy of inclusive education in South African schools? The aim of this research was to develop and design a workshop for educators to promote and enhance positive attitudes towards the implementation of inclusive education. Without the positive attitudes of the educators on ground level the implementation is doomed to failure. The philosophy of inclusive education is based on democratic values of freedom, equity and the acknowledgement of human rights. A paradigm shift towards learners who experience barriers to learning must be developed and those learners should be experienced as valued citizens of society. It must therefore be noted that inclusive education does not only include learners with dissabilities but all learners that have barriers to learning and those that were previously deprived of or denied access to education.