CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
4.6 FINDINGS FROM IN-DEPTH INTERVIEWS AND FOCUS GROUP
4.6.3 Theme 3: Enablers to implementing inclusive education
This theme captured teachers’ views on what they currently consider to be enabling the implementation of inclusive education in the Foundation Phase of rural schools.
The following enablers were noted in teachers’ expressions:
• Inclusive education workshops.
• Lesson and assessment differentiation.
4.6.3.1 Sub-theme 1: Inclusive education workshops
All the participants confirmed to have received a certain form of a workshop dealing with inclusive education once in their career. Teachers applauded this effort by the department of education because it has shown some light on what inclusive education is and how it is supposed to be dealt with. T2A also mentioned how the workshops assisted them to know how to implement the SIAS policy and follow all the necessary procedures. Here is what the teacher (T2A) had to say:
“Okay, we have been given different workshops on doing the SIAS at school and how to screen the learners and find their needs and how to engage with
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the parents of the learners in such a way that we can get information that can lead to the barriers faced by the learners or the barriers we see on the learners as teachers. I think that has been a success because, before those workshops, it was very difficult for us to screen the learner and before those workshops, even when you can see that this child has a challenge, you couldn’t be able to analyse it”.
T1B maintained that it was because of the workshops now that they have learnt how to adapt the classroom environment to suit a noticeable barrier to learning faced by a learner. This included dimming windows for learners with eyesight problems and curriculum adaptation:
“Okay, they come to train us the way we must teach those learners that have those barriers to learning. For those who have problems with eyesight, we must ensure that in the classroom, they must sit in front, and we must also paint our windows so that they can see on the board when we are learning”.
Teachers from school C (Focus group participants) stated that on their side, the workshops are in a unique form. The department only took one teacher per school to attend the workshops. Then, the teacher would be expected to come back to the school and share the knowledge with the rest of their colleagues. This view was captured T1C:
“The department of education normally pilots some schools, then, from the piloted schools, only one person per school goes for some minimal training and they come back and share the information with all of us”.
This confirms that the department of education has accomplished its goal to ensure that all teachers understand inclusive education and all the relevant policies involved when implementing it.
4.6.3.2 Sub-theme 3 - Differentiation of lessons/ assessments
Another enabler that emerged from teachers’ views was their effort to differentiate lessons and assessments to accommodate all the learners in their respective classrooms. Teachers have developed/acquired the skills to align lesson presentation and assessment with the needs of the learners in their classrooms. These skills could
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result from the above-mentioned enabler (inclusive education workshops). T1C (focus group team) had this to say in this narrative:
“We don’t exclude them; we give them attention but when it’s time for assessment, they have their way of being assessed because you can’t assess them as you assess their normal counterparts. Like how Ma’am stated that you find that a learner cannot write “a”, then, when you go to their performance indicators, that learner is very good. He/she must be marked right and that permits them to move to the next grade. This is done because a learner who only writes zeros is better than the one who cannot even hold a pencil correctly”.
T2C (focus group team) outlined the process trailed when differently assessing a learner with special needs.
“Their assessment is different from that of their normal counterparts because others are being “verbal” like how we are doing it now. So, in that case, the school must apply so that it gets a person who is going to monitor the verbal assessment. Normally, when the assessment is verbal, the person writes down what the learner says”.
T2B indicated how they differentiate lessons and assessments by involving the parents of the learners affected. The teacher also maintained that involving parents to assist their child at home is the policy they have in their school, and it was agreed upon by all the relevant stakeholders. The teacher had this to say:
“The learner would be given their special work depending on the needs and sometimes we give them extra work, which they are expected to do when they get home being assisted by the people at home. We normally use charts. On the charts, we write for these learners. Let us say today, we were dealing with vowel “A” on the chart, we are going to put a lot of words that have the vowel
“A”, then, we instruct the learner that when they get home, they must circle out all the Vowel “A” from the chart normally using a red/blue colouring pencil.
Doing this also helps us to teach them colours and vowels at the same time. All these are to be done on the chart we have given them to take home”.
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