This research focuses on the challenges encountered by teachers in terms of support in teaching inclusive education in primary schools. According to the White Paper 6 of 2001, the Department of Education gives guidelines and points out the strengths of school-based support teams (SBST) and district support teams in attempting to overcome inclusivity. The SBST works with a variety of internal support structures to meet the needs of teachers who are teaching inclusive education. Schools in South Africa - especially in townships – are, generally, of the opinion that managing the process of inclusive education is the sole responsibility of the Department of Education. The research methodology employed in this study is qualitative which is explorative and descriptive by nature. The purpose of this study was to explore the role of the principals and the school-based teams in supporting teachers teaching inclusive education in primary schools. Data was collected by means of two focused interviews, which involved the principals and members of the school-based support team and by using one-on-one, semi–structured interviews. The collected data was analysed and categorized according to a constant comparative method. The data revealed a number of frustrations and challenges for teachers who need support in teaching learners in inclusive education. It is evident that there is a lack of support both from the principals and the SBSTs in supporting teachers who are teaching inclusive education. There is an insufficient knowledge and a lack of skills in supporting teachers teaching inclusive education as there has been no proper training for these teachers. However, the Department of Education has ensured that the introduction of White Paper 6 is aligned to the schools’ contextual systems. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / Education Management and Policy Studies / unrestricted

Full-Service Schools are new institutions in South Africa which have been established in terms of the Education White Paper 6, Special Needs Education and Training System (Department of Education, 2001: 22-23; 2014: 9) as pilot schools for the rolling out of the Inclusion Policy in South Africa. A full-service school is a school that encourages learners who experience barriers to learning and learners without barriers to learning to learn and live together (Department of Education, 2001, 2014). For this reason, all learners must have opportunities to learn and play together and participate in educational activities in full-service schools. These inclusion practices, which promote acceptance, equity and collaboration, are responsive to individual needs, and embrace diversity (The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, Act No. 108 of 1996). The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of educators in management of inclusive classrooms. This study focused on how the educators perform the three of the seven educators roles as expected in the Minimum Requirements for Teacher Education Qualifications (MRTEQ) (Department of Education, 2011).The educators, over and above these roles, are expected also to participate in extra-curricular programmes, such as sports, cultural and artistic activities, and thus taking more of their time, most probably to the detriment of not fulfilling their Minimum Requirements for Teacher Education Qualifications as expected. The three selected educators roles are ‘the educator as a learning mediator’, ‘the educator as assessor’ and ‘the educator as support provider’, viz. the community, citizenship and pastoral roles of educators for the learners who experience barriers to learning in English First Additional Language (FAL) in the Grade Six inclusive classrooms. A qualitative research method was employed in this study, to explore the way in which individuals make sense of their world in the naturalistic setting of the classroom, without predetermining the research outcomes (Patton 2002, MacMillan & Schumacher 2010, Denzin & Lincoln 2011, Creswell, 2013). Data analysed was gathered through in-depth interviews, non-participatory observation, and document analysis. Data was analysed through content analysis. / Inclusive Education / D. Ed. (Inclusive Education)