The role of school management on the qualitative provision of inclusive education in
designated full-service schools in North West Province is vital for optimum accommodation
of learner diversity in ordinary mainstream primary schools. The school management of
designated primary schools are assigned with the task of ensuring that inclusive education
policy and practices are adopted and implemented by all stakeholders as prescribed by policy
in their respective schools. This dissertation sought to investigate at a micro perspective the
impact of school managers as individual employees and their response to the new inclusive
education system in their schools. The study also identifies factors that facilitate or hinder their
role. A qualitative approach and the case study design were applied in this study. Five schools
were purposefully selected and total of 40 participants were involved. The participants include
five principals, five deputy principals, ten heads of departments (HoDs) and 20 members of the
SBST. Data were collected by conducting individual interviews for principals and deputy
principals and focus group interviews for HoDs and members of SBST. The findings reveal
that the school managers, SBST and stakeholders like parents do not yet understand the reasons
behind expansion of inclusive education in their schools. The study reveals that the school
management are still finding it difficult to fulfil their role and responsibility. This is owing to
numerous challenges emanating from inadequate support from district based support teams or
departmental officials, pedagogical barriers, systemic barriers, insufficient staffing, lack of
human resource development through trainings, infrastructure challenges, resistance to policy
such as SIAS and lack of knowledge of assistive devices. Subsequent to that, literature review
reveals that studies on implementing inclusive education in schools focus largely on the plight
and role of teachers and that little attention was paid to the role of school management on the
provision of inclusive education. To enhance the impact of school management on provision
of inclusive education and to address prohibiting factors noted form the findings, the study
recommends to the department an intensive and structured capacity building programmes for
departmental officials, school management, curriculum specialists, senior managers with
specific reference to inclusive teaching strategies, admission within protocol of SIAS policy,
and curriculum differentiation using assistive devices. A proposed model to improve the impact
of school management on the provision of inclusive education with specific reference to
administer admission within SIAS protocol is presented. / Educational Management and Leadership / M. Ed. (Education Management)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:unisa/oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/27016 |
| Date | 14 January 2021 |
| Creators | Matlhodi, Boitumelo William |
| Contributors | Lekhetho, Mapheleba |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Dissertation |
| Format | 1 online resource (xiv, 174 leaves), application/pdf |
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