Magister Educationis - MEd / South Africa has a history of inequalities due to the Apartheid system, much of this is reflected in Educational policies regarding Special Education, Specialised Education and Educational Support Services resulting in inadequate education. "Education White Paper 6", (Department of Education, 2006) is a response by the South African government to the inequalities, which constitute as barriers to learning. The key to reducing barriers to learning at all levels of education lies in the strengthening of Education Support Services, (Department of Education, 2001). Thus Support Services Systems are established at various levels including National, Provincial, Regional, and Education Districts and at Institutional Level. At the level of Institutions, Institutional Level Support Teams are established as a school -based team, with its primary function to put in place learner and educator support services. Institutional Level Support Teams (ILSTs) are expected to co-opt expertise from the school community, collaborate with the local community, parents and the District department of education. The Institutional Level Support Teams are expected to collaborate or form partnership to achieve their common goals and successful achievement of their objectives. The main objective of this study was to gain insight into educator's perspectives on collaboration or forming partnership with other members of their schools' ILSTs. These perspectives related to the attitudes educators have towards collaboration in the ILST, the benefits they consider deriving from their work at the ILST, the activities they involve themselves in and the challenges they face while collaborating with other members of their schools' ILST. The study adopted a mixed methods approach and involved teachers of four high schools in the Western Cape. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected using questionnaire and interview protocol. The results of the analysis of quantitative and qualitative data collected for the study revealed that the educators who participated in the study expressed fairly positive attitudes towards collaborating with other stakeholders in the ILSTs. The participants felt that their participation in the schools' ILSTs was beneficial to the learners, parents and educators. All activities presented to them on the questionnaire were endorsed as those they participated in while collaborating with others in their schools' ILSTs. The participants also indicated that they experienced a number of challenges while collaborating with others in their schools ILSTs. These challenges include a lack of parental and community involvement as well as poor guidelines on the operations of ILST by the Department of Education. The study provides recommendation as to how to improve collaboration in the ILST.

The implementation of inclusive education is a challenge to most educators. The real challenge lies in the management of inclusive education. The researcher, therefore, adopted a qualitative approach to understand the participants ’understanding of inclusive education and to answer the research questions that sought to explore the phenomenon of inclusive education as presented in chapters one and five. Chapters two and three presented the latest developments, policies and practices related to inclusive education, as well as management of inclusive education. A sample of five primary school principals and fifteen educators was chosen. Data was collected through in-depth individual semi-structured interviews and focus group interviews. It emerged from the literature study that inclusive education has become a reality in Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa and abroad. Most schools in these countries have been changed into full service schools. For example, in South Africa Tshiluvhi primary School became Tshiluvhi Full Service primary School. This shows that the government of South Africa accepts that learners with disabilities are part of the community and, therefore, have a right to receive equal and quality education.Although inclusive education is a reality in the above-mentioned countries, there are many obstacles that are still to be overcome. For instance, the issue of fiscal constraints, negative attitudes to disability, lack of support services, rigid teaching methods, teacher expertise, teacher training, time management and large class sizes are major impediments to the realisation of effective inclusive education. The same constraints were also raised during the interviews by most of the participants. Most educators and principals complained that management of inclusive education is compromised by lack of resources. Recommendations based on the findings of this study revolve mainly around the introduction of internal workshops, provision of resources and building enough classrooms to reduce the learner-teacher ratio. It was revealed during the interviews that members of the institutional level support teams and the principals of the selected primary schools were aware of their roles in managing inclusive education. For example, they manage finances to ensure the successful implementation of inclusive education and support and monitor teachers in the implementation of inclusive education.The study hopes to contribute to the existing body of knowledge and to be useful to teachers and various stakeholders by enabling them to find more constructive ways of building a successful inclusive education system. / Educational Studies / M. Ed. (Education management)

The implementation of inclusive education is a challenge to most educators. The real challenge lies in the management of inclusive education. The researcher, therefore, adopted a qualitative approach to understand the participants ’understanding of inclusive education and to answer the research questions that sought to explore the phenomenon of inclusive education as presented in chapters one and five. Chapters two and three presented the latest developments, policies and practices related to inclusive education, as well as management of inclusive education. A sample of five primary school principals and fifteen educators was chosen. Data was collected through in-depth individual semi-structured interviews and focus group interviews. It emerged from the literature study that inclusive education has become a reality in Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa and abroad. Most schools in these countries have been changed into full service schools. For example, in South Africa Tshiluvhi primary School became Tshiluvhi Full Service primary School. This shows that the government of South Africa accepts that learners with disabilities are part of the community and, therefore, have a right to receive equal and quality education.Although inclusive education is a reality in the above-mentioned countries, there are many obstacles that are still to be overcome. For instance, the issue of fiscal constraints, negative attitudes to disability, lack of support services, rigid teaching methods, teacher expertise, teacher training, time management and large class sizes are major impediments to the realisation of effective inclusive education. The same constraints were also raised during the interviews by most of the participants. Most educators and principals complained that management of inclusive education is compromised by lack of resources. Recommendations based on the findings of this study revolve mainly around the introduction of internal workshops, provision of resources and building enough classrooms to reduce the learner-teacher ratio. It was revealed during the interviews that members of the institutional level support teams and the principals of the selected primary schools were aware of their roles in managing inclusive education. For example, they manage finances to ensure the successful implementation of inclusive education and support and monitor teachers in the implementation of inclusive education.The study hopes to contribute to the existing body of knowledge and to be useful to teachers and various stakeholders by enabling them to find more constructive ways of building a successful inclusive education system. / Educational Studies / M. Ed. (Education management)