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Ndlovu and Walton, (2016) suggested that there is a shortage of professional skills amongst people with diverse needs which is deduced to be caused by the results of a number of hindrances experienced by special needs persons especially in South Africa. Mokiwa and Khoza (2016) noted that students with diverse needs lack technological support with regards to their learning, resources and teaching approaches. Hummel et al., (2018) attest to this by stating that there is a shortage of technical equipment and overall insufficient resources.
This literature suggests that stakeholderism and change of teacher attitude play a major role in the prosperity of Inclusive Education. Changing teachers’ attitudes and involving all important stakeholders in the Inclusive Education system is an important, continuous challenge that needs to be addressed. Some schools are still very reluctant to apply policies of Inclusive Education because of teachers who have a negative attitude towards the policy and other education stakeholders who do not want to participate in the teaching and learning of children. Undem and Akubue (2016) proposed that the success and failure of any school curriculum depends on the teacher as the curriculum implanter,and therefore to ensure that Inclusive Education is implemented with success, the teacher should adopt appropriate teaching methods suitable for the learning area.
This makes teachers the focal point in the implementation of Inclusive Education. With the engagement of all relevant stakeholders, education can transform and accommodate the diverse needs of all learners within communities.
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understanding of the relationship and interdependency among systems within the environment.
This relationship according to Bronfenbrenner (1995: 599-618) is seen as the deepest bifacial, meaning and a great adult influence on learner development. This literature suggests that systems such as families, parents, teachers, school principals, and other Para-professionals need to work together with schools for the better implementation and practice of Inclusive Education. Chitereka, (2010) concurs with this by stating that the Ecological Systems Theory explains human development as a product of interactions and experiences of individuals and institutions that form systems in a society.
The literature suggests that all systems need to work together with schools for the benefit of a child to do better in his or her own education. As schools are situated within communities they should not operate in a vacuum, schools should have a continuous connection with all systems within the environment. This will assist schools in grasping different societal beliefs and values which can bring a great prospect of influence in teaching and learning, the practice and implementation of Inclusive Education (Oludare et al., 2018). This collaboration and inter-relationship among various systems will generate and explain human behaviour, which will create mutual trust and acceptance.
This constant contact among various systems will improve implementation and proper practice of Inclusive Education.
Bronfenbrenner, (1979: 3) established this theory into five nested levels,as their functioning is interactional to one another. These five levels are as follows: Micro-system, Meso-systems, Exo- systems, Macro systems and Chrono systems, which all influenced the success of a learner.
2.12.2 Micro-systems
Berns, (2012: 18) describes micro-system as the organised central construction where the prior results of interaction between learners, peers and school takes place. This is a level where learners have direct contact with family and school, which includes daily activities that mould features such as reasoning, emotional, social, morals and spiritual development.
2.12.3 Meso-system
The central connection of school, home, family, siblings and learner improvement are the characteristics of meso-system (Berns, 2012: 20). Collaboration of micro-systems and meso- systems are important as it improves the learning ability of learners. Both micro- and meso-systems
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contain important role players such as parents, extended family, neighbourhood, mass media and work environments (Berns, 2012: 22)
2.12. 4 Exo-system
Exo-system is the third level in Bronfenbrenner’s ecological system. This system includes a link between environments in which a child does not have an active role but external forces affect his or her growth. Parent’s workplace, extended family and neighbourhood are the perfect examples of Exo-system.
2.12.5 Macro-system
Macro-system is an outer structure with cultural values, ideological, and institutional contexts in which all laws and policies are embedded (Swart, & Pettipher, 2005). In the South African context this system refers to the level at which decisions about policies that guide education are made, such as EWP6, DOE, (2001).
2.12.6 Chrono-system
Berns, (2012: 26) noted that in this level a learner experienced a temporal change which produced new conditions affecting development. The chid responds in a different manner to ecological systems, therefore it is essential that structures that render support consider learners and teacher’s needs.
Brock, Michalak and Brownlee, (2011) outline that when schools adopt pedagogy of collaborative education, learners, professionals and parents benefit optimally. This interaction of systems has a positive influence and provides learners with an opportunity to prosper positive self- concepts, more socialising and feelinghappier and at ease.
This theory claims the existence of interdependence and a relationship between different organisms and their physical environment, which Willems and Gonzalez-DeHass, (2012) detailed school-community partnerships as significant connections with community members, organisations and businesses that are obliged to work together to advance the development of the students’ intellectual, social and emotional wellbeing. It encourages the spirit of togetherness among all stakeholders to ensure the survival of a whole. A part of the system includes the individual which in this case is a pre-vocational learner, the community, the schools with their teachers and government policies.
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In this regard, Pre-vocational Schools with their teachers, learners, parents, policy makers and health practitioners form part of the system that contributes to the skills development of a Pre- vocational child. Looking at the ecological concepts I can take this concept and apply it in teaching and learning situations and argue that there is a dire need for every individual and institution that forms part of systems, to work together in order to give outstanding results and influence one another. Where there is a balanced mutual relationship between all systems, good working relationships can be sustained. Auerbach, (2010) concurs with this by stating that genuine partnership among educators, families and community is pertinent to the establishment of effective school and student achievement. Anderson, Houser and Howland, (2010) Bryk, (2010), McAlister and Sanders, (2006) stated that the involvement of the community in schools is a critical component for student achievement.
Utilising the systems theory which applied the ecological concepts by viewing various levels and groups of people as interactive systems, where the holistically functioning relies on the interaction between all parts, such as teachers, students, curriculum, the policy makers, families as well as the community at large. To have a better understanding of the whole system it was pertinent to examine the relationship between its different five levels of Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory. The systems theory is applicable to this study as it emphasises the notion of collaborative education between all stakeholders in the education of a special needs child. Collaborative education is a critical component of inclusive education and can be argued as a basic tenet for the success of inclusive education. Having said that, it is evident that schools cannot function as separate bodies within their societies, since each of these groups play a major role in the development of their children’s education (Lawal, Oduwaiye & Murtala, 2015).