Inclusion has also been found to be very beneficial to learners with special needs in that their self esteem improves, they have greater goals and expectations, improved social skills, and they become better prepared for life after school and their role in the broader community (Stroeve, 1998; Burstein et al., 2004). It also helps learners with special needs feel they belong, enhances their self respect and provides them the opportunity to develop greater friendships and have peer models who they look up to (Raschke & Bronson, 1999). In conclusion, educational inclusion has been found to lead to improved psychological, social and cognitive functioning for both learners with and without special needs (Forlin, 2004)
The practicality of inclusion in South Africa
Inclusion has arisen in South Africa as a "post apartheid landmark policy" that acknowledges that people with disabilities are making valuable contributions and they should continue to make them as part of our enhancing nation rather than being isolated from it (Department of Education, 2001: 4). The principles of inclusion are very good and would contribute to creating a better South African society where all people (regardless of their race, class, disability, socio-economic status, gender and language) will be accepted and tolerated. Inclusion can be quite practical in our society and should be introduced more fully into the education system of our rainbow nation so that all children can be acknowledged and given opportunities.
It is practical as it is a more cost effective way of minimising many barriers to learning and including all learners (Forlin, 2004). Instead of funding specific special needs schools, the funding can now be distributed to regular schools and would thus reach more people. It is also the only solution to accommodate and include the many learners who are excluded in our society, including the learners who live in rural areas and have transport problems (UNESCO, 2003).
Furthermore, studies have shown that it is important to have state support in order for inclusion to become practical (UNESCO, 2003). In South Africa, inclusion already has state support and the government has implemented policies, such as the "Education White Paper 6" and "Guidelines for the Implementation of inclusive Education", that explain what schools need to do in order for inclusion to become practical and successful in South Africa. This is a great starting point and information guide for all schools.
However, South Africa still has many barriers to overcome before inclusion can be successfully integrated into the education system. Many studies have shown that inclusion can only work if there is adequate support, specialised assistance and resources (Flem et al., 2004). South Africa therefore needs to address these issues and provide schools with enough resources to modify the physical school environments for children with limited/ no mobility as well as provide training and support (in the form of teacher's aids and general support teams) to the teachers so they can be fully prepared and skilled to accommodate the needs of all learners and utilise varying teaching strategies in order to provide the necessary support to each learner (Ainscow et al., 2004).
My views regarding the accommodation of learners with barriers to learning in ordinary schools
I feel that it would be fantastic if South Africa could have as much success with inclusion as other countries have. I have worked with the special needs population and have seen their unlimited potential and that they can do so much more than people generally think. I am therefore very enthusiastic about accommodating learners with barriers to learning in ordinary schools.
Inclusion can be a very daunting task for educators but if we look at the successes in other countries, I believe that inclusion can work and be effective in South Africa. For instance, in Western Australia, there has been great success with including all learners in the regular education system because they have used the Index for Inclusion (Forlin, 2004; Deppeler & Harvey, 2002) which is a school self review process that enables schools to explore the ways to minimise barriers and facilitate effective inclusion. It was developed in the United Kingdom, it looks at three dimensions( namely school culture, policy and practice) and has five key phases that allow schools to plan, implement, review, monitor and evaluate their own process of inclusion (Forlin, 2004; Carrington & Robinson, 2004).
Inclusion has also been successfully implemented in America and the United Kingdom in various settings (Carrington et al., 2004; Booth, 1996). In one study, children were successfully integrated because of positive attitudes from teachers, parents, administrators, parental support and involvement and therapeutic interventions. They also set individualised goals (called the IEP - Individual Education Plan) and made appropriate adaptations for each learner (Cross, Traub, Hutter-Pishgahi, & Shelton, 2004). Other studies have shown that inclusion can work if there are positive learner-staff relationships, the utilisation of different teaching strategies, high teacher morale, collaborative reflection and learning (Carrington et al., 2004; Ainscow, Booth & Dyson, 2004), ongoing training and professional staff development, variation and flexibility of educators, the utilisation of existing resources within the school, community support (Flem et al., 2004), ongoing support for teachers, and the need to plan for change, be committed to the change process and prepared to make the necessary changes (Burstein et al., 2004). It is also necessary to have education support and resource centres available to the educators and at least one teacher's aid (Wong, Pearson, & Kuen Lo, 2004). Working from a multidisciplinary approach where different specialists get together to support the learner have also helped inclusion be successful (Forlin, 2004)
Based on the success other countries have had and the research that has shown that inclusion is beneficial to both children with and without barriers to learning, I feel South Africa should follow the principles of inclusive education and begin the process of making parents and teachers aware of the benefits of inclusive education. As long as we learn from the failures of other countries and build on their successes (ensuring that there is adequate training and support for the teachers, necessary resources in the schools, appropriate modifications, collaboration, positive attitudes, flexibility, the use of varying teaching strategies and individualised goals set for each learner), inclusion can work in South Africa.
Teachers' readiness for accommodating diversity and what should be done to facilitate proper implementation of inclusion in schools/classrooms
It has been found that inclusion is most successful when teachers received intense training for working with learners who have disabilities (Jobe, Rust & Brissie, 1996). It is therefore essential that the teachers in South Africa feel prepared to face the challenges that inclusion will bring. Studies have shown that many teachers, although they feel that children with disabilities should have a right to be educated in the general classroom, do not believe that the learners will cope in the general classroom (Flem et al., 2004) nor would they themselves cope. This is also the perception of many of the teachers in South Africa. Many teachers in South Africa do not have the positive attitude that will ensure inclusion is successful as they already feel unsupported and overworked. Furthermore, in South Africa, there is also the perception that disability is the responsibility of the social and welfare services and not the education system (UNESCO, 2005). Thus, all of these need to be looked at so that teachers will be more willing to implement inclusion with a positive attitude. Currently, teachers in South Africa are very negative towards inclusion as they do not have the necessary skills or understanding to implement it. Furthermore, they are under trained and the morale is low because of lack or resources and support (UNESCO, 2005).
In previous studies of inclusion, teachers report lack of support, time, training, personnel, materials, class size and the type of disability as the key barriers to successful integration (Burstein et al., 2004). Therefore, to make the process of inclusion easier on teachers in South Africa, it is important to assist and support them. To facilitate the implementation of inclusion, teachers thus need to be exposed to learners with disabilities (Flem et al., 2004) so that they can be shown how to identify and assess children with special needs (Hegarty, 2000). They also need to be provided with sufficient and intensive training in as many of the following areas as possible: multiple intelligences, curriculum adaptation and modifications, multi-layered teaching, successful planning and preparation strategies (UNESCO, 2001), different assessment techniques (UNESCO, 2003), classroom modifications (Cross et al., 2004), different instructional strategies (such as cooperative learning and thematic instruction) and holistic teaching strategies (such as outcomes based education). Teachers also need to be taught how to modify the curriculum and their instructional style so that they can be equipped with knowing how to break up tasks into smaller units, changing the pace of instruction, shortening task directions and setting different levels of test difficulty for different learners based on their unique needs (Turner & Traxler, 2000). The school must also develop general inclusive policies that indicate how and why support will be given to a particular learner (Deppeler & Harvey, 2002). The principal also needs to become involved and held accountable for integrating inclusion into the school by making inclusion a part of the school's vision, values, culture and policy (Forlin, 2004)
Since the teachers in South Africa already feel unsupported, there should also be at least one teacher's aid in every classroom, but preferably more depending on the school's resources (Wong et al., 2004). To ensure effective implementation of inclusion, administrative support and ongoing staff consultation is also needed (Jobe et al., 1996): Teachers should meet regularly (preferably with support personnel at resource centres) to network, exchange information and develop appropriate methods whereby each learner's barriers can be minimized (Forlin, 2004). Improved communication and support from the principal, community and one another is also very important in order for inclusion to become effective (Burstein, Wenitzky, Stoddart, & O'Keefe, 1992). Collaboration and joint planning are therefore very central as inclusion is most effective when teachers work together. Everyone (learners, parents, teachers, support personnel, the school and the community) needs to work together to achieve the best and most positive outcome for each learner (Cross et al., 2004). In this regard, it is vital that teachers work out an individualized education programme for each learner that explains what skills that learner should have in order to advance to the next level. Teaching needs to now become child oriented and not curriculum oriented (Bartlett, 1996). Furthermore, flexibility must be encouraged and teachers must be given professional development (Van Kraayanoord, 2003) which ensures that they take responsibility for all learning (including their own) (Allan, 2003).
This essay has shown how inclusive education is not a straight forward process that can be implemented overnight. Rather it requires a lot of planning, support, resources and reviewing. There is extensive research that South Africa can use to make inclusive education successful in South Africa. The major obstacle preventing the successful implementation of inclusion in South Africa is not our lack of resources but rather the teachers' lack of knowledge about children with special needs and how to accommodate them in regular classes. Ongoing intensive training, professional development and support are therefore needed so that teachers' attitudes can become positive and their willingness to promote inclusion can be maximised. Teachers thus need to change their mindset, become more willing to try new and different curricular strategies, engage in more joint planning and cooperative learning strategies and believe that all children can learn (Schmidt & Harriman, 1998). This can only be done however if teachers are equipped with the necessary skills needed to include all learners. Inclusion can become a practical process in South Africa as long as we look at what has made it successful in other countries and build on from there.
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