‘We Need to Go Back to Our Schools, and We Need to Make that Change We Wish to See’: Empowering Teachers for Disability Inclusion

ABSTRACT

Despite a sound policy framework, the right of learners with disabilities in South Africa to inclusive and equitable quality education is not being met. A key reason hindering the realisation of this right is that there are very few teacher education programs focused on supporting learners with disabilities. Acknowledging the urgency of teacher education, in this paper we draw on qualitative data from 109 teacher participants and 39 course facilitators of a series of disability inclusion-focused teacher education short courses in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Based on their experience of the courses, we consider how teachers can be empowered to meet the diverse needs of their learners within an inclusive framework. Findings highlight that professional and personal growth facilitated a more empathic understanding of learners and the opportunity to collaborate with others, enabling teachers to find creative ways of solving problems faced in their workplaces. To support teachers in meeting the needs of their learners, teacher training should facilitate active reflection on the role they play in shaping the lives of their learners, and prepare teachers to respond to challenges strategically, taking advantage of the resources available to them within and beyond their school environment.

KEYWORDS:

• Agency
• collaboration
• inclusive education
• disability
• teacher empowerment
• teacher education

Disclosure Statement

The author(s) had no financial or other conflicts of interest.

Notes

1. For a more in-depth overview of the TEDI courses, see McKenzie, Kelly, & Vergunst,(2020). Empowering Teachers for Disability Inclusion: An evaluation of four short courses. Cape Town: TEDI.

2. This included learners with visual impairment, learners who are deaf or hard of hearing, and learners with severe to profound intellectual disability. We base our understanding of severe to profound disability on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (American Psychiatric Association, 2013).

3. In one of the courses (Education and Care of Learners with Severe to Profound Intellectual Disability) it was regrettably not feasible to include lecturers with disabilities. However, we did include family members to give the disability perspective.

4. This will be discussed in more detail in the results section.

5. The authors reflections on their own practices and collaboration in developing and delivering these courses is discussed in more detail in another publication (seeWatermeyer, Lourens, Botha, Khumalo, Kelly, & Shanda, 2020).

6. In South Africa there is minimal access to formal schooling for children with severe to profound intellectual disability. These children frequently attend special care centres where they are cared for by carers without formal qualifications and who, for the most part, are not equipped to deliver an educational program.

7. In addition, there were 6 students enrolled in a Postgraduate Diploma in Disability Studies who completed the DSE course as part of their diploma.

8. The quantitative data are not included in this paper.

9. A qualitative data analysis software.

10. DSE course HREC REF: 396/2018; ID course HREC REF: 398/2018; VI course HREC REF: 627/2018; DHH course HREC REF: 112/2019.

11. As part of the SPID course, participants were required to complete a portfolio of evidence at their work places after the course had finished.

12. See McKenzie, Kelly, Moodley, & Stofile, (2020) for a more detailed discussion on this, and Kelly,McKinney, & Swift, (2020) for some suggestions on teacher training as it relates to teaching deaf learners.

Additional information

Funding

The findings reported here are based on research conducted as part of Strengthening teaching for children with profound hearing, visual and intellectual disabilities in South Africa, funded by the European Union under Grant No. 2016/377-805 and Christoffel Blinden Mission Germany (CBM) under project number 3394-EU-MYP (project number) to the University of Cape Town, and by an endowment from the European Union to the University of Cape Town, and no restrictions have been imposed on free access to, or publication of, the research data. The content of this publication does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the European Union, nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or organisations imply endorsement by the European Union. Opinions reflect those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the funding agency(ies).