6.4 Macro level
6.4.4 Community support structures
from the Department, the teachers and parents of the learners attempted to make their own plans by finding free or low-cost access to specialist personnel in the community. This included access to various doctors, nurses, psychologists, eye specialists and physiotherapists from the community. The lack of support personnel being provided by the DBST and Department of Education was a constraining factor in providing the necessary support for learners experiencing barriers to learning. Fortunately access to support and specialist personnel in the community enabled support to be put in place for some of the learners at Baobab School.
o DBST
The DBST in Grahamstown had provided workshops on the filling out of the SNA forms for learners experiencing barriers to learning. They had also provided the principal and teachers with laptops and training in the use of the laptops for administrative purposes (4.3.2 Extrinsic factors, Inadequate/inappropriate support services). They had not, as yet, provided any in- service professional training in the actual implementation of inclusive education practices in the classroom. The teachers felt they needed additional support on how to work with learners experiencing barriers to learning, such as those with learning, intellectual, physical, health, emotional and behavioural barriers. They did not always feel adequately equipped to manage these learners, as they had not had any training in the inclusive teaching and learning practices and the emotional support required for learners experiencing these difficulties.
Professional personnel, such as psychologists, counsellors, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech therapists, doctors, and paediatricians could be approached, but because they were expensive many parents could not afford their services. Baobab School had found personnel in the community willing to provide their professional support free of charge but access to such service for every learner with difficulties was unrealistic, so many learners could not be provided with the support they needed. The support needed by learners experiencing barriers to learning was constrained by the lack of follow-up initiative from the DBST once the SNA forms had been filled in.
o Social services
Social services at the clinics provided support in the form of medication for the H.I.V. learners and Ritalin for the learners with ADHD. They did not have the capacity for counselling support.
The aftercare centre adjacent to Baobab School had trained social service workers managing the centre. The aftercare was an NGO, an initiative that was started by the wife of a former vice-chancellor of the university in Grahamstown. The centre provided the learners from the surrounding schools with a safe place to stay in the afternoons after school. The children were given breakfast, lunch and tea at the centre, and social workers would assist learners with their homework in the afternoons. Various voluntary stimulation programmes were provided for
learners in the afternoons, such as an English literacy programme, a music and drama programme, and a soccer and rugby programme. I am personally involved at the centre as I run the English literacy programme.
o Parents
It is important that parents acknowledge their role in the education of their children and also that they are regarded as “key to effective learning and development of their children as well as in school governance” (Pienaar et al., 2013, p. 28). With this in mind, I asked the teachers how involved the parents were in their children’s education at the school.
There were a select number of parents of children at Baobab School who were actively involved in their children’s education (4.3.2 Extrinsic factors, Lack of parental recognition/involvement). They responded to the teachers requests to see them, and attended meetings and functions at the school. Some of the parents responded to the teachers when they were informed their child was experiencing difficulties and actively worked alongside the teachers to provide the best possible support for their child. Some parents also attended the parent workshops, actively taking up the suggestions provided, such as taking their children to the city library. Parental recognition and involvement enabled the inclusive education of their children.
Unfortunately, there were some families who offered little or no parental involvement in Baobab School and their children’s education (4.4.2 Extrinsic factors, Lack of parental recognition/involvement). Geldenhuys and Wevers (2013) established in their study of primary schools in the Eastern Cape that many of the parents did not involve themselves much in the education and development of their children, but would leave this entirely up to the school.
They stated that “the lack of support from parents places much strain on educators, which, in turn, hampers the implementation of inclusive education in the school” (2013, p. 11). This was apparent with certain learners at Baobab School, such as, for example parents not responding to the teachers or principal when asked to come in for a meeting concerning their child to discuss the difficulties he or she was experiencing (4.6.2 Extrinsic factors). This could have been due to a number of reasons, such as working long hours or personal struggles of their
own, also parents of children experiencing barriers to learning may have been in denial and did not want to acknowledge that their child had difficulties.
For those children experiencing barriers to learning whose parents were reluctant to cooperate with the school, their teachers found it difficult to provide the best possible support, because without the permission and help from the parents they could not acquire professional assistance where it was most needed among children with emotional and behavioural problems. The learner support was constrained by the lack of involvement of the parents which could result in the problems of these children then manifesting into even greater long-term difficulties.
o Special schools
Community-based involvement is essential and that special schools, with their experienced and skilled staff, need to offer assistance and support to schools in South Africa in terms of skills and resources for learners experiencing barriers to learning. I asked the teachers if any assistance was provided to Baobab School from the special needs school in Grahamstown?
There was one special needs school in Grahamstown. The teachers at Baobab School mentioned that there was no interaction with the school for professional advice or educational resources. The teachers stated that a few learners in the past had been referred to the special school, but not directly from their own classes. The possible reasons that no support was forthcoming from the special school could be that their support was being offered to other schools in Grahamstown or that they had insufficient staff, resources, and time to provide support outside their own special school.
o Other community-based support
Other community-based support came from initiatives at the university, such as the counselling centre, the reading programme and professional training courses for the teachers at Quintile 1, 2 and 3 schools in Grahamstown. Support also came from surrounding fee-paying schools allowing the use of their facilities, such as sports facilities and computers, as well as having donated educational resources, such as books. These initiatives provided much needed support,
skills, and resources to help facilitate and enable an inclusive education for the learners at Baobab School.
o Hospitals
The psychiatric hospital in Grahamstown provided support free of charge to certain learners experiencing barriers to learning at Baobab School in the form of educational, scholastic and behavioural assessments, as well as counselling, by the psychologists. This would not have been provided otherwise for the learners whose parents could not afford the fees of professional personnel, to enable the further support of these learners.