Challenges and Issues facing the Education System in South Africa

Challenges and Issues facing the Education System in South Africa
Author: Legotlo, Marekwa Wilfred
Publisher: Africa Institute of South Africa
Total Pages: 290
Release: 2014-05-05
Genre: Education
ISBN: 079830460X

The quality of education is pivotal for the production of human capital and this cannot be compromised by failing to refocus on the quality of education offered in schools. The inputs in the system such as trained and motivated teachers, buildings and classrooms including sanitation, clean water, instructional material such as textbooks, as well as strong leadership with vision to steer the winds of change are important in providing the desired outcomes. The chapters in this volume are broadly divided into three subsections as follows: learner related issues, (farm and rural schools, poverty and schooling, school violence, and students rights); teacher related issues,(teacher morale and motivation, teachers for all schools, management needs of school principals); and administrative/policy related issues (inclusive education, and school community relations). The social demand for better schools, effective principals, qualified and committed teachers and better opportunities for all place a huge challenge to provinces and the state to protect the rights of all citizens. This volume sets out the challenges facing the education system in South Africa, such as poor school infrastructure, poor learning conditions, and a lack of learning materials and provides recommendations on how some of these can be overcome.

Reconceptualising education support services in South Africa

Reconceptualising education support services in South Africa
Author: Johnnie Hay
Publisher: AOSIS
Total Pages: 454
Release: 2022-02-10
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1776342054

Inclusive education has been phased into 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.

The Language of Inclusive Education

The Language of Inclusive Education
Author: Elizabeth Walton
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 179
Release: 2015-12-22
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1317638689

The Language of Inclusive Education is an insightful text which considers the writing, speaking, reading and hearing of inclusive education. Based on the premise that humans use language to construct their worlds and their realities, this book is concerned with how language works to determine what we know and understand about issues related to in/exclusion in education. Using a variety of analytical tools, the author exposes language-at-work in academic and popular literature and in policy documents. Areas of focus include: What inclusive education means and how it is defined How metaphor works to position inclusive education How textbooks construct inclusive education How we use language to build what we understand to be difference and disability, with particular reference to AD(H)D and Asperger’s Syndrome Listening to children and young people as a means to promote inclusion in schools Woven through this volume is the argument for a more critical awareness of how we use language in the field that we call ‘inclusive education’. This book is a must-read for any individual studying, practicing or an interest in inclusion and exploring the associations with language.

Handbook of Research on Inclusive and Accessible Education

Handbook of Research on Inclusive and Accessible Education
Author: Maguvhe, Mbulaheni Obert
Publisher: IGI Global
Total Pages: 488
Release: 2024-02-16
Genre: Education
ISBN:

In the vast expanse of education, a pervasive issue remains in the marginalization and lack of visibility of individuals with disabilities. Despite a strong desire for inclusivity, recent research suggests that fewer than 5% of children with disabilities in 51 countries across sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia are enrolled in primary school. This exclusion is not solely in enrollment numbers; even those who manage to attend face learning environments ill-equipped to adapt to their needs, leading to further isolation. Girls with disabilities, in particular, endure heightened vulnerability to abuse, reflecting a systemic failure to provide an environment that fosters equality, dignity, and respect for all. The Handbook of Research on Inclusive and Accessible Education emerges as an inspiration for change, providing a profound solution to the persistent issue of exclusion. The book encapsulates a collective effort to reimagine education. It advocates for a paradigm shift—moving away from the confinement of special schools and towards inclusive, mainstream settings. By addressing controversies, sharing successes, and outlining prospects, the book serves as a comprehensive guide for special school governing bodies, curriculum advisors, university lecturers, and all stakeholders committed to reshaping education.

Using African Epistemologies in Shaping Inclusive Education Knowledge

Using African Epistemologies in Shaping Inclusive Education Knowledge
Author: Mbulaheni Obert Maguvhe
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 498
Release: 2023-07-13
Genre: Education
ISBN: 3031311159

This book thus explores the role of African epistemologies in addressing the myriad challenges posed by the inclusive education system in Africa and other contexts. In recent years, the shift from special education to inclusive education has had a significant impact on the provision of education and the education system as a whole in Africa. The impact has been felt in all institutions of learning from low to high, public and private, government, and across departments of education. Inclusive education, if shaped correctly by using African epistemologies, would empower learners to attain the relevant skills, knowledge, values, and attitudes for their own intellectual growth and personal development.

Professionalisation of Students with Disabilities into the Teaching Profession in South African Higher Education

Professionalisation of Students with Disabilities into the Teaching Profession in South African Higher Education
Author: Sibonokuhle Ndlovu
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 181
Release: 2024-07-25
Genre: Education
ISBN: 9004697152

To solve the global challenges of the present society, contemporary scholarship requires that all diverse social groups are included in knowledge production through education. Professionalisation is one way in which diverse social groups can engage in knowledge production in higher education. While all kinds of professionalisation produce citizens who can contribute to the social, political and economic development, the teaching profession is foundational as most people have come through the hands of teachers from basic to higher education. Teaching has been referred to as the noblest of professions because it does not only require acquisition of knowledge and skills, but high levels of professionalism, dignity, honour and the ability to lead by example. While inclusion of all diverse social groups is topical after attainment of independence in African countries largely and in South Africa particularly, professionalisation of students with disabilities into the teaching profession and in settings for integrated learning, has received little attention from scholars in the disability field. Professionalisation of Students with Disabilities into the Teaching Profession in South African Higher Education critically reflects on what affordances and challenges face students with disabilities in professionalisation into the teaching professions and on how students are socialised to identify with the profession. It does so from the lived experiences of students with disabilities, the academics who teach them, the support staff and the author’s nuanced understanding of the professionalisation, the teaching profession, and transformation to include all in the South African context of higher education.

The SAGE Handbook of Inclusion and Diversity in Education

The SAGE Handbook of Inclusion and Diversity in Education
Author: Matthew J. Schuelka
Publisher: SAGE
Total Pages: 894
Release: 2019-09-30
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1526485990

This handbook examines policy and practice from around the world with respect to broadly conceived notions of inclusion and diversity within education. It sets out to provide a critical and comprehensive overview of current thinking and debate around aspects such as inclusive education rights, philosophy, context, policy, systems, and practices for a global audience. This makes it an ideal text for researchers and those involved in policy-making, as well as those teaching in classrooms today. Chapters are separated across three key parts: Part I: Conceptualizations and Possibilities of Inclusion and Diversity in Education Part II: Inclusion and Diversity in Educational Practices, Policies, and Systems Part III: Inclusion and Diversity in Global and Local Educational Contexts

The Wiley Handbook of Diversity in Special Education

The Wiley Handbook of Diversity in Special Education
Author: Marie Tejero Hughes
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 559
Release: 2017-01-03
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1118786971

The Wiley Handbook of Diversity in Special Education is a state-of-the-art reference showcasing cutting-edge special education research with a focus on children and youth with disabilities from diverse cultural, ethnic, linguistic, and economic backgrounds. Cutting-edge special education research focusing on children and youth with disabilities from diverse cultural, ethnic, linguistic, and economic backgrounds An authoritative contribution to the field, this work charts a new path to effective interventions and sets an agenda for future research Addresses disabilities from an international perspective

Inclusive Education in African Contexts

Inclusive Education in African Contexts
Author: Nareadi Phasha
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 194
Release: 2017-04-13
Genre: Education
ISBN: 9463008039

How do we articulate the possibilities, limitations and challenges of inclusive schooling and education in African contexts? This book insists that inclusive education cannot be taken for granted. Inclusion is neither a natural nor a given educational practice. It must be struggled for. Bringing a critical perspective to inclusive schooling and education is imperative. This book adds to current educational debates with an African lens. It engages inclusive education from multiple lenses of curriculum content, classroom pedagogy and instruction, representation, culture, environment and the socio-organization life of schools, the pursuit of equity and social justice and the search for educational relevance. It is opined that Africa cannot be left behind in rethinking educational inclusion in ways that evoke critical questions of power, equity and social difference. The question of leaner’s identity in terms of class, gender, sexuality, (dis)ability, language, ethnicity and race are equally consequential for African schooling and education. When inclusion is understood as wholeness of education, then how schooling and education engage the complete learner – her/his body, mind, soul and spirit, as well as the use of local community and Indigenous knowledges in teaching and learning become relevant. Inclusion stands the risk of liberal educational agendas that simply tinker or toy with schooling and education and hardly embrace the challenge of educational change. What we need is a fundamental structural change that ensures schooling and education embraces difference while grappling with the teaching of Indigeneity, decolonization and resistance.