7.2 Presentation of data
7.2.4 Soliciting support from the District office staff
156 There are learners who do not have parents to assist at home. Some parents passed away and some are working in far places. They only come home once in a month.
They have no or little time to spend with their children. When these people from NGO offer to assist such learners, then, these learners do well in their school work (Mr Manzi, HOD from Lwandle Primary School).
The implementation of Inclusive Education policy must not rely solely on the school or the teachers alone but all other stakeholders must get involved and see to it that the policy is implemented. It was for that reason that the teacher from Lwandle Primary School made the following comment:
The availability of NGO and government departments such as Department of Health and the Department of Social Development assist us a school because they attend to cases which are difficult for us as a school since we are not trained in some areas to assist the learners. There are many children who come from the community where some children are orphans; it calls for everyone to get involved in their learning.
Social workers assist in dealing with challenges that affect learners at home and sometimes do counselling (Ms Molly, teacher from Lwandle Primary School).
For the implementation of Inclusive Education policy, it is important that there is collaboration among government departments and Non- Government Organisations (NGOs).
Each department has its role to play in the implementation of Inclusive Education policy. As mentioned by participants above, each contribution by the department is observed and found helpful in one way or the other.
157 in which the schools were located. One major strategy adopted by leadership in the participating schools was that of collaborating with various stakeholders and among them was the staff members located at the district office.
The collaboration between the schools and the district office was seen as necessary for effective implementation of Inclusive Education policy. If all the units in the district worked together, then the schools would succeed in implementing Inclusive Education policy. In the district office there were different departments and all were working with same schools.
These departments were tremendous pressure in that all of them wanted to see themselves making positive impact on the schools, yet some of them did not understand the role each of them had to play. It was like they were also competing among themselves and also made competing demands on the schools. For instance, the curriculum wing within the district office made demands on the schools without clear understanding of the learners with learning challenges. This was challenge was highlighted by Ms Dawn, Principal of Lilly Rose Primary School. This is what she said:
If we strengthen each other and give support, then the implementation of Inclusive Education policy can be successful. What we as a school experience is that we sometimes recommend that the learners is retained for another year to develop a certain area like language then comes the district official from curriculum department saying that the policy does not allow the learner to be retained based on the language. This says we are under one department but doing two different things at a time.
The challenge mentioned by the principal of the school above was affirmed by the HOD from the same school. The HOD complained of the friction between them as schools trying to implement Inclusive Education policy but what they did differed from what the curriculum section of the Department of Education in the district said should happen. This is what the teacher said:
We as a school take time with our leaners trying slowly to make them achieve what they can. If I see that the learner is not ready to move to the next grade on that year, I
158 decide to retain him/her and give support in the coming year. Here comes the district office with the policy saying that the learner must move to the next grade having not achieved the basic especially in language which is their mother tongue (Ms Amazon, HOD from Lilly Rose Primary School).
Communication between the schools and the district office staff is very important for the implementation of Inclusive Education policy. This says that from the beginning of the year there must be meetings held to discuss curriculum with the district. Schools and district office staff need to understand that they are all dealing with curriculum. By communicating, they get to know what and where one fits and how they can assist one another without having friction of some kind. Ms Dakalo from Lilly Rose Primary School also echoed her concern on challenges they encounter with district officials.
The officials come to schools with the progression requirements which state that the learner cannot be kept in one grade for a certain period. Even if the learner has not mastered that subject especially mother tongue, she /he is progressed to another grade. I as a teacher feel I am not doing enough because according to me, I was still trying to assist the learner. I had remedial programme organised for such learners.
The challenge raised by Lilly Rose Primary School participants was also a matter of concern at Impala Primary School. The school raised the issued where they did not have a final word on learner progression because of the policy from the district office and the province.
We as a school spend time with learners and understand each and every learner’s challenge in learning. When we make a decision to have a learner retained for another year, this is against the policy in the curriculum section. I as a teacher, knows where and how to assist the teacher because I have been with him/her for the whole year. I have strategies designed to apply to assist the learner if I retain him/her. How is the next grade teacher going to do that? (Ms Judith Principal of Impala Primary School).
159 Same concern was mentioned by Ms Elephant and Ms Ant of the same school. Their concern was on retention of learners who were not ready to progress but because of the policy, they were forced to take them to the next grade without having mastered anything. This is what was said:
I am prepared to assist my learners to make them promoted to the next grade when they are ready. Because of many learners in one class and time allocated for subjects, I fail to make it on time. So if I decide to keep the learners for a year to apply some strategies, then learners are made to move to the next grade. This hinders me in my attempts to implement Inclusive Education policy (Ms Elephant HOD from Impala Primary School).
Misunderstanding between the district and schools was felt by teachers when another teacher from Impala commented saying that it was difficult to work with the district staff when they did not come to schools timeously and then at the end of the year it is then that they wanted to apply policies on progression.
We feel we are not cared for by the district when we only see them at the end of the year when they have to come with policies on learner progression without them knowing what we are dealing about to have Inclusive Education policy implemented (Ms Ant, teacher from Impala Primary School).
What is said by teachers reflect the misconception between the district office staff curriculum section and schools. The data has indicated that some of the policies of the Department of Education seemed to undermine what the schools were doing. This resulted in some schools using a strategy of sticking to what they as a school believe would make their schools keep to the levels of achievement despite what for instance, the curriculum section of the district office expected of them. This section has also indicated that collaboration with the district office was not as smooth as it could. This calls for collaboration between schools and the district office staff to have the policy implemented in schools. Experiences of school-based
160 educators suggest that there is a need for the district officials to visit schools more frequently in order to support and discuss the content of policies. The LSEN section of the district office has an added responsibility to avail themselves to schools and be known. Questions that sometimes asked by curriculum section can be easily answered when teachers are supported by documents from this section.