Inclusive Education in South Africa

Students use basic skills every day from looking at the clock to tell the time to handling money when paying and making change. Students who have jobs need to

Inclusive practice is about adapting what is being delivered to make learning accessible to everyone regardless of ability, special education need (SEN) or any other barrier that might exist. When planning to meet the needs of everyone in the group it is essential that the teacher has as much information about everyone as possible. (The City and Guilds textbook level 3 Award in Education and Training). Features of inclusive teaching and learning starts with knowing which learning styles your learners prefer, to do this you can use VARK (visual, aural, read/write and kinetic) test which was designed by Neil Fleming to help learners and teachers know what learning methods they are best suited to e.g. in the first lesson my tutor asked for us

Education is something to cherish not something to take advantage of. In America we are lucky to have the many opportunities of education where other places education is not even an option for some. South Africa has the worst education system of the entire world. This is the biggest challenge the country faces and it needs to be at the top of all of the priority lists. Gender, social class, race, and religion are also factors that affect the possibility of having an education.

Inclusive education is about providing the best possible learning environment for students with disabilities. The purpose of the article was to determine the disposition, skills, and knowledge of both general and special education teachers as well as the school environment. The research suggests that teachers must have open-mindedness and be self-aware when they teach in an inclusive classroom. Many teachers provided answers that suggest that they understand the need and have the willingness but lack the skills and knowledge while some simply lack the needed disposition to work with children with disabilities. As a result, we can see that there is a need to further develop teacher’s professional skills as well as developing the emotional fortitude that is required to be effective at teaching in a inclusive classroom.

This piece of work will firstly analyse the characteristics which influence the learning of a group of learners, review legislative requirements relating to inclusive practice and consider their implications. Then furthermore, it will describe what I consider to be the most significant barriers to learning for the adult learners that I teach, and include a discussion of what myself and Nacro have done to overcome these barriers. Lastly, this piece of work will describe the systems that Nacro have in place to monitor the effectiveness of inclusive practice within the centre and discuss how it can be monitored and evaluated to improve our own skills in inclusive practice. There are five key factors that influence the students

The term ‘inclusive education’ really has not got a definition, as the meaning is constantly shifting in the public education system. This critical review examines an article that links inclusive education in Australia within education to lead access and educational outcomes for students. The article cited above ‘Inclusive Education in Australia’ was written by Joanna Anderson and Christopher Boyle who are both associate professors in the school of education at the University of New England in Australia. As the title of the article indicates, the author’s main research interests are in the area of teacher perceptions of inclusion and student’s attributions in learning. Both authors provide and explore within the article, an overview

Currently, in both the United States and South America there is no segregation. However tension between races in both countries still exist. In the United States, African Americans make up the minority of the race. As a result, many feel that they still are not valued as equally as the white majority. The white majority disagrees, however, resulting in conflict over differing opinions. In South Africa the roles are flipped, but the tension still remains. Some of the white minority feels superior to the black majority and thus feel that the apartheid was justified. Conversely, some black Africans still want retribution for the years of oppression that they have faced.

Critically analyse the significance of theories, principles and models of inclusive curriculum to the design and implementation of programmes of study, within two different contexts

Racial segregation is an issue all around the world, and has been for as far back as the 1800’s. In 1948, the South African government made apartheid a law which means that South Africa’s white minority and the non-white majority will be separated for everyday life. This caused issues and has a bad result for the apartheid supporters. The apartheid lasted for fifty two years ending in 1990; this law cause many economical, governmental, and segregational problems.

Race and subsequent racial discrimination has molded South Africa from its inception. Apartheid institutionalized racial discrimination and subjugation in order to further the notion of white superiority. Apartheid legitimized violence based on the perception of racial inferiority. Race, in and of itself, was the social and psychological reality through which repression and violence functioned. South Africans saw the world in “black” and “white” terms and violence was commonly used to maintain this status quo. However, during the Mandela era (1994-1999), a new mindset emerged to describe the social order. This mindset culminated in nationhood, unity, racial harmony and reconciliation.12 Reference to race entered a sensitive and delicate space. Choosing to downplay the role of race rendered the real, often violent, consequences of race invisible.11 This self-imposed cognitive dissonance was seen as a necessity in creating national unity. In the Mandela era, and during the TRC processes, there was little national debate on how race had influenced past human rights violations. In fact, the TRC had a direct and explicit focus on events post-1960s, which dismissed colonization and the historical build up to Apartheid. There is also little recognition that race continues to shape identity and interactions within contemporary South Africa.

Twenty years after the end apartheid in South Africa, there still stands the same Squatter town with tin sheets as roughs and the same living poor living conditions that were established in the early 19 hundrends. These Squatter towns are present throughout South Africa, all known for their different colorful characteristics, and lack of racial diversity. With “63% of black children living in households earning less than 800 rands, compared to only 4% of white children” racial inequality is enormously existent. In “South Africa 58.5% of whites and 51% of Indians enter some form of higher education, compared to only 12% of blacks.” [21 The overall lack of economic and educational opportunities for blacks in South Africa is appalling. In a nation were 80% of the population is black, one can truly see a sobering example of how powerful and lasting systematic and historical racism is, even when there is overwhelming majority in the population; that majority population can still suffer from oppression.

Throughout history, Racial segregation has been used as a means to power and control, often for a minority, and South Africa was no different in any manner, almost a perfect, textbook case of oppression. Source 1 explains how the Apartheid first began in the 1940’s, developed and used due to economic and political instability. The English and the Dutch controlled South Africa, vying for its fertile lands, people, and its profusion of precious and strategic minerals, leading to Boer War. When South Africa gained its independence from England, there was an internal power struggle for decades until the Afrikaner National Party devised the apartheid, enacting it in 1948 as a means to control the economic and social landscapes that they had lost their grasp on. The Apartheid, however, did not instantly create the

However, while the segregation laws were no longer in effect, racism was still quite prominent in the nation. While the laws changed, many people’s ways of thinking unfortunately did not. Even though people of different races were no longer living apart from each other and using separate public facilities, that did not change people’s views. But although progress was slow, it was still happening. South Africa has come along way since the days of apartheid, and although there is still a long way to go, it is clear that significant change has occurred due to this watershed

Specifically in regards to education, the government targeted the wrong aspect once more. It employed affirmative in university admissions, but with little effect. Recall that the Extension of University Education Act made it illegal for blacks to attend universities without government permission. So when apartheid ended, all universities were open to blacks. But opening a university to blacks doesn’t mean they will attend, and it certainly doesn’t mean they will excel. Just like how apartheid left blacks unskilled and unqualified for jobs, it also left millions of black secondary school students unprepared for higher education. As shown in the figure below, the graduation rate for Africans was 24% lower than that of whites as of 2006. Figure 3: Graduation in regulation time, overall and by population group (%) (http://www.che.ac.za/sites/default/files/publications/Full_Report.pdf

Every child has the ability to learn, but the way a child learns and processes knowledge can be very different, especially for a child with special needs. (Mainstreaming Special Education in the Classroom) As a society we owe all children the chance to reach their full potential, thus we must set up an environment where this accessible. Integrated education unarguably allows the must vulnerable and excluded children this chance. According to Inclusiveschools.org, “Inclusion” does not simply mean placing students with physical or mental disability in general mainstream classrooms, but rather offers fundamental change to school community and how children learn altogether. Effective models of inclusive education according to various sources, is the right model of education for special needs students because it allows greater access to mainstream curriculum, preparation for integration in an inclusive society, and promotes a tolerant and inclusive society. (Full inclusion: Has its time arrived?, The Benefits of inclusive Education.)