Thesis (Ph. D. (Educational Psychology)) -- University of Limpopo, 2016 / For the past two to three decades, there has been a large influx of students with
disabilities into institutions of higher education worldwide. In South Africa, in these
past three decades, records of intake of students with disabilities were not recorded
as services and support of this kind were not institutionalised. Within this
transformation process, which involved including previously under-represented
groups, institutions of higher learning are currently facing challenges of what kind of
educational support to offer to students with disabilities, in order to help them to
succeed academically. This study investigated the educational support offered to
students with disabilities at the University of Venda (UNIVEN) as experienced by the
students themselves. The study, therefore, gives an insider perspective. The study
followed a qualitative research approach, and used classroom observations,
document analysis and focus group interviews to collect data. Ten students with
various disabilities participated in the study. The findings of this study reveal that
there are some degrees of support that UNIVEN offers. However, some gaps to meet
students educational needs still exist. These gaps include lack of information about
the programmes that UNIVEN is offering, physical infra-structure barriers and lack of
disability knowledge. This study recommends the establishment of a forum in which
students with disabilities can discuss and address their educational needs on
campus. Other recommendations include the following: lecturers’ training, disability
awareness, the installation of an online interactive portal to increase communication
between students and the university, and an online survey measuring lecturers’
attitudes and knowledge. The study suggests that future research could include
factors that predict graduation rates among students with disabilities.
Key words: Educational support, Disability unit, Medical Model of disability, Social
model of disability.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:ul/oai:ulspace.ul.ac.za:10386/1665 |
| Date | January 2016 |
| Creators | Mantsha, Tshifhiwa Rebecca |
| Contributors | Themane, M. J. |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | xiii, 155 leaves |
| Relation | Adobe Acrobat Reader, version 6 |
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