The restructuring of South African education, after the country’s first non-racial democratic elections in 1994, coincided, with the development of inclusive education in international education. The implementation of inclusive education, internationally, was guided by the Salamanca Statement of 1994 and the international “Education for All” movement. Education White Paper 6 (2001), serves as the blueprint for implementing inclusive education in South Africa. This investigation argues that the successful implementation of the inclusive education system is dependent on the development of an effective, quality education support structure. Such an educational support structure is one that should reflect a holistic, integrated and community based approach to support. Based on this presupposition, the primary research aim of this investigation was the establishment of a framework for a holistic, integrated, community based education support structure to do justice to learners with mainly external barriers to learning (LSEN) and educators finding themselves in an inclusive classroom in Nelson Mandela Metropole and surrounding areas. In order to understand how such a framework can be established, the following guiding secondary research questions were posed: • What was the international perspective on the implementation of inclusive education? • What was the nature of educational provisioning for learners with barriers to learning (LSEN) before 1994, and the implementation of inclusive education policies thereafter? • What were the practical implications of implementing Education White Paper 6 (Department of Education, 2001) for the support roles of education support providers in South African schools? • What is the support challenges facing learners and educators within inclusive classrooms in Nelson Mandela Metropole and surrounding areas? • What support structures are currently available at the different levels of the education system? This investigation was completed from a phenomenological perspective. A constructivist approach to data collection and data analysis was followed, as the investigator did not attempt to prove or disprove theory, but rather to understand the phenomena under investigation from the viewpoint of participants. iv The sample, selected by means of non-probability purposive and theoretical sampling techniques, included 120 educators from 85 different schools in Nelson Mandela Metropole and surrounding areas. In addition, 4 education officials, 4 members of community organisations and 2 teacher union representatives were selected to the sample. Through the process of data analysis, accomplished through the principles inherent to grounded theory, two themes and sub-themes were identified. The investigator presented a discussion on the two themes and sub-themes. This discussion was followed by a proposal for the establishment of a framework for a holistic, integrated, community based educational support structure. The investigation was completed by recommendations related to the primary and secondary research questions. The investigation concluded that the implementation of inclusive education is severely hampered by strong exclusionary factors that are principally related to socio-economic backlogs that have not been successfully addressed by the current government.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:nmmu/vital:9510 |
| Date | January 2010 |
| Creators | Pieterse, Glynis |
| Publisher | Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Faculty of Education |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis, Doctoral, DEd |
| Format | xix, [277] leaves ; 30 cm, pdf |
| Rights | Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University |
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