Petra Engelbrecht

This paper focuses on exploring the transition South African learners make from Grade 7 to Grade 8, with an emphasis on the experiences of all the role players in two school cultures during this transition phase. This qualitative exploratory research project was placed in a constructivist research paradigm. The data were analysed in an exploratory and interpretative way by identifying segments that were responsive to our research questions. The participants in the two purposively selected South African schools included a voluntary sample of teachers, parents, and learners in Grade 8 using the draw-and-write technique and focus group interviews with each learner group based on the interpretation of their drawings. Focus group interviews were also conducted with a small group of the parents and teachers of the Grade 8 learners in the two schools, and individual interviews were conducted with the school principals. Findings indicate some common ground but also qualitative differences between the two schools with specific reference to the quality of educational opportunities and socio-emotional challenges that may influence social inequalities in future.

Information about the paper titled "SOCIAL INEQUALITIES THAT AFFECT TRANSITION PROCESSES FROM GRADE 7 TO GRADE 8 WITHIN AN INCLUSIVE SOUTH AFRICAN EDUCATION SYSTEM" at IATED Digital Library

Inclusive education is a fundamental right of all students. Despite international policy initiatives, educational exclusion is pervasive, especially in the Global South, and disproportionately affects disabled students. Barriers to inclusive education have been itemised in the literature, but in this conceptual paper that offers a novel perspective on the topic, we argue for a complexity approach to understand its evolution. Using a qualitative deductive content analysis of South African laws, policies, reports and scholarly literature, we explore three path dependencies from colonial/apartheid times that lock the country into historical patterns of categorisation and segregated schooling. These operate alongside the emergence of new and inclusive practices by actors at a system-wide and local level, made possible by inputs into the policy ecology. South Africa represents a complex, contradictory educational environment that confounds the expectation of linear progression towards greater inclusivity. Instead of identifying barriers to inclusive education, we argue for a nuanced understanding of the imbrications of historical investments and drivers of inequality, with policy possibilities and the impetus for transformation among system actors.

Inclusive education has been phased in in South Africa since 2001, but relies heavily upon adequate support services to support learners and teachers experiencing barriers to learning and development. This book focuses on the different levels of support provided in South African education – from School-based Support Teams to District-based Support Teams through to special and full-service schools, and how these could be reconceptualised to provide improved support to learners and teachers. Current research indicates that inclusive education is being implemented in varied and fragmented forms across the country, and the point of departure of this work is that education support services need to be improved and reconceptualised to ensure better support for inclusive education.

Inclusive education has been phased in in South Africa since 2001, but relies heavily upon adequate support services to support learners and teachers experiencing barriers to learning and development. This book focuses on the different levels of support provided in South African education – from School-based Support Teams to District-based Support Teams through to special and full-service schools, and how these could be reconceptualised to provide improved support to learners and teachers. Current research indicates that inclusive education is being implemented in varied and fragmented forms across the country, and the point of departure of this work is that education support services need to be improved and reconceptualised to ensure better support for inclusive education.

Rukkie pagter hier, onder redaksie van Heilna du Plooy en pas, net betyds vir Breyten Breytenbach se tagtigste verjaarsdag het die vierde huldigingsbundel verskyn

Onderwys vir leerders met leerbehoeftes wat as uitdagend beskou word, het die afgelope 30 jaar beweeg van ʼn benadering van aparte onderwysgeleenthede vir sulke leerders tot die internasionaal ondersteunde benadering van inklusiewe onderwys, naamlik die plasing van alle leerders in hoofstroomskole. Hierdie benadering word sterk gelei deur internasionale organisasies, met inbegrip van die Verenigde Nasies. Deur ʼn sistematiese literatuuroorsig te gebruik, fokus hierdie artikel op internasionale verwagtinge vir die instelling van inklusiewe onderwys soos vervat in internasionale verklarings en verslae, en op die realiteite met betrekking tot die toepassing daarvan in Suid-Afrika. Spesifieke sistemiese elemente van die toepassing van inklusiewe onderwys wat gereeld deur internasionale organisasies gemonitor word, en die realiteite van Suid-Afrikaanse pogings om dit te verwesenlik, word grondig bespreek. Dit word duidelik dat indien begrip vir die komplekse Suid-Afrikaanse kultuurhistoriese agtergrond en huidige sosioëkonomiese situasie nie in ag geneem word nie, die meeste van hierdie internasionaal gestelde elemente nie na verwagting verwesenlik kan word nie. Daar word tot die gevolgtrekking gekom dat unieke raamwerke vir die toepassing van inklusiewe onderwys in die Suid-Afrikaanse konteks ontwikkel behoort te word wat op die internasionale oorkoepelende doelwit van die reg op onderwys gebaseer is maar wat die uniek Suid-Afrikaanse positiewe, maar ook negatiewe, realiteite in onderwys in berekening bring.