ARTICLES

 

Curriculum adaptation for learners with diverse learning needs: A case of South African inclusive rural schools

 

 

Raesetja Gloria Ledwaba^I; Maximus Monaheng Sefotho^II

^IDepartment of Inclusive Education, College of Education, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa. ledwag@unisa.ac.za
^IIDepartment of Psychology of Education, College of Education, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa

 

 

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ABSTRACT

In this article we report on Foundation Phase teachers' experiences when implementing curriculum adaptation in rural inclusive schools of South Africa. We argue that, in spite of inclusive education policies being in place and several pre- and in-service training have been undertaken, teachers still experience challenges to meet the learning needs of their learners by means of curriculum adaptation. We relied on purposeful sampling to select 6 Foundation Phase teachers from 3 inclusive schools in 2 South African provinces. We followed a qualitative approach and implemented a phenomenology research design. Data were collected through individual semi-structured interviews and were audio-recorded. Following thematic data analysis, we identified themes that related to the significance of early identification of learning barriers, knowledge of curriculum adaptation, application of curriculum adaptation in practice and barriers preventing the effective implementation of curriculum adaptation by teachers. Based on the findings of the study, we recommend continuous in-service teacher development and support by district-based teams, as such efforts may improve the experiences of teachers when implementing curriculum adaptation in inclusive schools.

Keywords: curriculum adaptation; diversity; inclusive education; inclusive schools; teachers

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Introduction

Worldwide, many learners in need of additional support were legally marginalised from the education system prior to 1994 (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization [UNESCO], 1994). South Africa was no exception, as the majority of learners with diverse learning needs were excluded from accessing learning in schools at that time (Department of Education [DoE], 2001). The education system of the country was grounded on racial segregation, where Black learners, in particular those in rural schools, were excluded from accessing quality education. Exclusion of learners from learning was similarly observed in several other countries such as India (Taneja-Johansson, Singal & Samson, 2023); Australia (Paget, Parker, Heron, Logan, Henley, Emond & Ford, 2018), the United Kingdom (Kauffman, Anastasiou, Badar, Travers & Wiley, 2016), Germany (Sansour & Bernhard, 2018), Senegal (Delprato & Frola, 2022), Kenya (Ohba & Malenya, 2022) and Botswana (Kuyini, Major, Mangope & Alhassan, 2024).

In an attempt to address marginalisation among learners, several human rights initiatives were undertaken and formal documents developed. For example, the Education for All (EFA) movement was launched in 1990 in Thailand, marking a key milestone in the international dialogue on this topic and paving the way for formalising the educational rights of all learners worldwide (UNESCO, 1990). This movement acknowledged the urgency of quality EFA. The Salamanca Statement (UNESCO, 1994) followed, which was aligned to the EFA movement and was adopted by several state parties in 1994, with the statement prioritising inclusive educational practices. The Salamanca Statement mandated non-discriminatory practices and an urgent shift from exclusion towards an inclusive approach and child-centred pedagogy, in order to meet the diverse needs of all learners in school. Several years after the release of the Salamanca Statement, various Sub-Saharan countries - including South Africa -developed and implemented inclusive education practices.

The concept "inclusive education" has become part of the worldwide education transformation movement. Researchers view it as a system that aims to ensure educational access not only for learners with disabilities, but for all learners (Khasanah & Salim, 2018). Furthermore, Nilholm and Göransson (2017) perceive the inclusive education system as striving to meet social and academic needs of all learners irrespective of their diversity in all schools, including schools in rural areas. All learners are made to feel appreciated when inclusive practices are implemented in schools (Moriña, 2017). The goal is to ensure that every learner is provided with the same opportunities for involvement, engagement, and achievement in their learning environment (Ainscow, 2020). The significance of inclusive schooling in South Africa is to eradicate past exclusive practices and prejudice, and guaranteeing fair educational opportunities for all learners, especially those with unique educational needs.

In South Africa, rural schools are situated in areas previously known as homelands or Bantustan, which refer to a type of settlement forged under the apartheid regime (Rogerson, 2004). These areas were typically unplanned, poorly serviced and consisted of low populations in the past. Such areas are often governed by traditional leaders, such as chiefs and kings (Buthelezi & Skosana, 2018). Regardless of the characteristics or conditions prevailing in rural schools, teachers are expected to implement inclusive education by, for example, adapting the curriculum to ensure the necessary education support services for all learners. Adaptation of the school curriculum acknowledges the fact that learners learn differently and that the school curriculum needs to be adjusted when wanting to promote inclusive education during the teaching and learning process (Tomlinson & Imbeau, 2010).

Many teachers, however, still seem to experience challenges with said adaptation of the curriculum, raising the question as to what extent this practice is executed on ground level. Against this background, we undertook a study to explore how Foundation Phase teachers in rural schools experience the implementation of curriculum adaptation as a strategy to meet the diverse needs of learners in school. In undertaking this research, we aimed to contribute to the body of knowledge on global efforts towards and the vision of providing equal education to all learners, with this implying access to a suitable (adapted) curriculum in some cases.

Literature Review

Inclusive schools In the South African context

In South Africa, one of the strategies in an attempt to ensure inclusivity and enhance educational access for all learners, entails the transformation of ordinary mainstream schools into inclusive schools - also known as full-service schools (DoE, 2001). Inclusive schools are regarded as disablers of marginalisation, with a focus on accommodating learners who experience mild learning barriers and require moderate levels of additional support (Jacobs & Govender, 2020).

More than 761 inclusive schools exist in the country (Department of Basic Education [DBE], Republic of South Africa [RSA], 2015), with these schools being equipped with the necessary teaching and learning resources, as well as teachers who are familiar with inclusive pedagogy and can attend to the diverse needs of all learners. Such provision of support implies several additional requirements, such as the provision of a nurturing, secure learning environment, elimination of rejection and isolation, and the creation of equal learning opportunities in support of optimal participation and effective learning. According to Phasha (2016), inclusive schools are also expected to maintain an ethos of having a place to learn, collaboration among all stakeholders and bringing learners together, regardless of their uniqueness. Inclusive schools' key responsibility remains the promotion of inclusive principles.

Diversity In Inclusive schools

Over recent years, schools globally, including those in South Africa, have become more diverse (Göransson & Nilholm, 2014). Diversity implies population acknowledgement, understanding, acceptance, respect and recognition of individual differences (Paavizhi & Saravanakumar, 2018). In South Africa, an increased focus on diversity in schools can be linked to the introduction of various international and national instruments on inclusive education, which mandates the inclusion of all learners regardless of their different learning needs. Diversity in South Africa is celebrated as it embraces unique individual differences, while dealing with the educational inequality of the past. Before inclusive education movements started gaining momentum and during the apartheid years, education provision in this country was offered on a racial basis. Accordingly, many Black learners -those who faced learning barriers, in particular, could not access quality education opportunities.

With the introduction of initiatives such as the Salamanca Statement (UNESCO, 1994), the South African policy on screening, identification, assessment and support ([SIAS], DBE, RSA, 2014), and the Ubuntu principle, the provision of learning support and appropriate EFA school learners, regardless of their diverse needs, has increasingly been debated on various education platforms. Although diversity in schools is enhanced for inclusivity, this may also present some challenges, for example, when learners are physically included but experience exclusion in terms of limited active participation and academic achievement.

Such exclusion may result in injustices and discrimination, which may in turn lead to school dropouts, school failure, mental health problems and absenteeism (Cefai, Cavioni, Bartolo, Simoes, Miljevic-Ridicki, Bouilet, Pavin Ivanec, Matsopoulos, Gavogiannaki, Zanetti, Galea, Lebre, Kimber & Eriksson, 2015). In an attempt to avoid this from happening, learners' diverse characteristics need to be considered in terms of race, gender, ethnicity and culture (Fuentes-Peláez, Montserrat, Sitjes-Figueras & Crous, 2022), disabilities and abilities (Moriña, 2017) language of communication, place of origin (Frederickson & Cline, 2015) and socio-economic background (Walton, 2018). All these differences highlight the importance of a move away from traditional modes of curriculum delivery towards a more inclusive teaching approach, implying the importance of curriculum adaptation (Tomlinson, 2017).

Curriculum adaptation as a strategy to enhance inclusive teaching

A curriculum refers to a structured document that stipulates the academic, practical and skills programme for learners, which reflects the knowledge, skills and values of society, and is intended to be taught to the future generation (Paavizhi & Saravanakumar, 2018). A school curriculum, thus, represents what is learned at school during the different grades, what is taught, how the content can be delivered and how it needs to be assessed.

Access to the curriculum for all learners requires capacity on the teacher's side to implement inclusive teaching strategies. More specifically, the teacher needs to be able to adapt the curriculum, as this is regarded as one of the most suitable ways of responding to learners' diversity in their learning environment (Tomlinson, 2017). Tomlinson (2014) defines curriculum adaptation as a learning process, whereby learners are provided with various choices of gaining information, making sense of what they have been taught and having the opportunity to demonstrate what they have learned. This process relates to collective efforts of maximising learning opportunities, such as learning assessment procedures, teaching strategies, learning content, educational resources and the environment in which learning takes place (DBE, RSA, 2014). It follows that a teacher who adapts the curriculum will do so by considering learners' variances in readiness, interests and learning profiles (Tomlinson & Imbeau, 2010).

Curriculum that is adapted is aligned to the index for inclusive education followed in South Africa (Azorín & Ainscow, 2020). The specific dimension of the index that curriculum adaptation aligns to provides for the comprehensive examination of inclusive practices that may eliminate learning barriers and promote learning and participation among all learners. The index for inclusion is viewed as an important tool that can contribute to the improvement of inclusive teaching, whereby a teacher will plan learning content that will respond to all learners' learning needs (Azorín & Ainscow, 2020; Zabeli & Behluli, 2014). In terms of the implementation of curriculum adaptation as a supportive strategy, a study by Otukile-Mongwaketse, Mangope and Kuyini (2016) indicates that even though teachers are seemingly aware of the importance of curriculum adaptation, they still demonstrate some resistance in terms of putting this into practice in their classrooms. A report by the DBE, RSA (2015), similarly, indicates that certain complexities may surround the implementation of inclusive education and curriculum adaptation, despite 1,754 teachers receiving training on this topic during the period 2013 to 2015. In this article, we argue that despite the training already offered, teachers in rural inclusive schools in South Africa, require continuous in-service training on curriculum adaptation in order to ensure access to learning for learners with various forms of disabilities.

 

Methodology

In undertaking our study, we used the interpretivist paradigm (Cohen, Manion & Morrison, 2017) based on our focus of making sense of the feelings and experiences of Foundation Phase teachers with regard to curriculum adaptation in schools. We followed a qualitative approach (Creswell & Creswell, 2017) as we aimed to understand teachers' lived experiences of the phenomenon under investigation, from the participant's point of view. Based on the focus of our research, we relied on phenomenology, which provided us with an understanding of experiences of teachers on the issue of curriculum adaptation (Creswell, 2013).

We purposefully selected (Creswell & Creswell, 2017) six teachers from three rural inclusive schools situated in two of the provinces of South Africa. Although these provinces vary in size, dominant language of communication and population distribution, the selected schools met the criteria of being rural schools in South Africa. In recruiting suitable participants, we relied on the following selection criteria: participants had to have been teaching in the Foundation Phase for more than 3 years, they had to teach learners with diverse learning needs and they had to have completed an honours degree in learning support from a tertiary institution. Data were generated through face-to-face individual interviews (McMillan & Schumacher, 2010). The interviews were audio-recorded and guided by an interview schedule following an open and flexible approach.

We used reflexive thematic analysis as the data analysis strategy. During the data analysis process, we first transcribed the data and divided the written documents into meaningful analytical units (Clarke, Braun & Hayfield, 2015). We read through the transcripts and made notes of our initial ideas, prioritising those that seemed significant. As a final step, we grouped the analysed ideas into themes and sub-themes, labelling these in a relevant manner.

To ensure trustworthiness, we attended to credibility, transferability, dependability and conformability (Lincoln & Guba, 2003). In order to ensure ethical research, we obtained permission from the residing university's research ethics committee before starting with the study. In addition, we obtained permission to conduct the study from the provincial DoE, as well as the school principals and school-governing bodies. Letters of invitation and consent forms were sent to the participants in order for us to obtain written informed consent before undertaking any research. To maintain acceptable ethical practice, we adhered to all ethical considerations for the duration of the study, such as rights and dignity, informed consent, the right to withdraw, confidentiality and anonymity, beneficence and non-maleficence, integrity and justice (Elias & Theron, 2012).

 

Results

Four central themes related to Foundation Phase teachers' adaptation of the school curriculum emerged from the analysis of the data. These themes are presented and demonstrated through the verbatim accounts of the participants. The four themes presented are: significance of early identification of learning barriers, knowledge of curriculum adaptation, application of curriculum adaptation in practice and barriers preventing the effective implementation of curriculum adaptation.

The participants highlighted the importance of the early identification of learning barriers, indicating this to be the first step towards the inclusion of all learners during classroom activities. According to the teachers who participated, a proper diagnosis is required for a teacher to be able to determine the type of learning support that would be suitable for a learner. They shared this view in the following way: "Obviously, as a teacher, I will not be able to assist the learner if I am not sure what his or her problem is" (Teacher 1), and "Our learners experience many challenges and it is important that we know what their problem is so that we can be able to help them, however it is difficult to get that information" (Teacher 3).

Even though the teachers emphasised the importance of identifying the specific learning barriers, many of the participants indicated an awareness of their own limitations to diagnose learners, referring to the expertise of therapists such as speech, physical or occupational therapists. One of the participants, for example, said that "because we not qualified to say what we think but I think some of them have mild autistic traits and epilepsy traits. I feel that we must have someone or maybe a therapist to tell us if the child is autistic" (Teacher 4). Another participant supported this experience: " ... the first one I think she is physically disabled. I know we are not supposed to label without getting proper diagnosis from other professionals" (Teacher 6).

Despite views like these, a few of the participants were, seemingly, more informed about the possible types of disabilities and what these implied. Such participants seemed able to describe the learners in their classes according to certain physical and behavioural characteristics that may cause learning barriers. The following provides an example of a teacher participant's contribution, attesting to this idea:

I can say he has ADHD [attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder]. He always move from one point to another. The child is always hyperactive. Even if he can read and write he can read, he cannot pay attention. He lacks of attention, he can only attend a bit and thereafter he is gone. To me I think it can be dyslexia or ADHD Mm, I forgot to tell you about the other one who cannot speak properly. I cannot hear her when she speaks. She is also physically disabled. She walks like this. . (Teacher 3)

On the other end of the spectrum, one of the participants did not appear to be ready to accommodate learners with disabilities and was, seemingly, not even sure about a suitable term to describe some of her learners. She said:

Most of them are slow learners. I can say their minds are not ready. I really don't know which words to describe them. They are not fully developed. Their minds are half. Ma 'am, they don't belong in this schools, they must be taken to special schools. (Teacher 5)

Most of the participants, however, seemed aware of the importance to identify contributing factors from learners' environments when attempting to understand learning problems. A few of the participants referred to poverty as a causal or contributing factor, referring to their willingness to support learners if they had insight into the necessary background. In this regard, the participants made comments such as the following:

Mm, most of my learners are from very poor backgrounds, you find that there is no financial income at their homes. The social grand is not doing anything. If we can know of those things we can be able to support those learners, I don't know how but we will make a plan that they can learn. When a child is hungry, he will not be able to learn. (Teacher 4)

In this community Ma' am, there are lot of dropped out learners. I think is because of what is going on in the community. Is a big problem (Teacher 6).

Many South Africa learners are affected by poverty. These learners often face limited access to family support, which is a key determinant of academic achievement. Poverty further exacerbates these challenges, trapping learners in a phase of limited educational resources and learning opportunities. Learners residing in poorer communities are at risk of high school dropout, fewer decent employment opportunities and access to higher education.

The participating teachers demonstrated an understanding of the concept of curriculum adaptation, more specifically in terms of adaptation of the different aspects of the curriculum as well as the factors that may determine the adaptation of a curriculum. In defining the concept, one of the participants used the following explanation: "Is accommodation or, adaptation to include all my learners in a subject matter. Meaning that I must include all of them regardless of their learning barriers. As a teacher, I must make plans that they must all cope in learning" (Teacher 5). Another participant had a similar view and compared curriculum adaptation to the panel beating of a vehicle:

May I please use my own term, I believe is the panel beating of class activities to suit every learner in the class. Let's say the learners are the same exercise such as reading or writing. I then try to make sure a point everyone participates by panel beating all what they do. (Teacher 6)

In terms of the purposes of, or strategies used for curriculum adaptation, the participants referred to things like attending to the needs of verbal learners, allowing additional time if needed, providing extra classes after school hours, simplifying learning content, including fewer questions, positioning learners closer to the front or implementing a buddy system. Contributions such as the following capture the ideas of the three participants who showed insight into curriculum adaptation:

For example, let's say this is the second term or we are approaching the end of the term and we must assess them and we find that this one is an oral learner we give his the works that he can cope with. (Teacher 2)

Question of time allocated to do the work is sometimes I must think of ... learners who are slow learners must read the questions more than once and when they try to understand, the time is finished. I must give additional time for that child. This is the kind of the learner I help him after school hours. (Teacher 2)

I will simplify an activity. I will also reduce the workload. Sometimes I give them less questions of similar concepts. For instance, if I teach them language, I will teach the complete passage but when asking questions, those learners will get less questions. I will also give them extra time to finish any work. Ma'am, other learners cannot copy the work correctly. For them I will make them sit next to the chalkboard or they will sit at the front rows. In my class I also make use of what we call the buddy system so that they can help each other. (Teacher 6)

The other three participants demonstrated a limited understanding of curriculum adaptation. Their responses were vague and brief, despite efforts to probe, further explain and clarify what was asked. These participants responded as follows:

I mmm adaptation of the curriculum is I know the different between English, life skills and mathematics. When you are teaching you teach one differently, you don't teach it like the other subject (Teacher 1).

[laughing] What can it be ... I yooo Ga ke sure (I am not sure) mmm, I remember that we once attended the workshop and they spoke about adaptation (Teacher 3).

Eyeeee I don't understand, but in my mind I think adaptation of the curriculum ..., Hei, I don't know, maybe you can explain (Teacher 4).

Even though half of the participants demonstrated limited knowledge on the concept "curriculum adaptation" when asked to explain their understanding during follow-up questions it became clear that they had (unintentionally) been adapting some aspects of the curriculum when teaching learners who experience barriers to learning. This implies that they had, in practice, applied an extent of curriculum adaptation without necessarily knowing that this was what they were doing. In contrary to the response of Teacher 3, this teacher provided examples of how she had practised curriculum adaptation:

I take my times to sit next to those that I feel are slow learners to show them how to write and what they must write. After that I ask the faster learners to go and sit with them so that they can help them. Sometimes I feel that they may be afraid to talk with me and they can talk to other learners. I also group them by mixing different abilities. (Teacher 3)

Some of the other participants seemed to equally value cooperative learning when wanting to adapt the teaching process. One of them, for example, stated the following: "I have learners who perform very well and those that are struggling, those that are doing well, I make them sit with those that are struggling. I mix them in different activities. I think it works for me" (Teacher 5). These contributions foreground the participants' use of learner pairs in class or a buddy system, where learners who experience barriers to learning can be supported by their peers. In addition to the strategies of adaptation that apply to the learning process itself, some of the participants mentioned that they had adapted the subject content of subjects such as life skills, languages, and mathematics in order to make the content more accessible to all learners. One of the teachers shared the following example from her teaching of a language: "For example, during language I will use all the words when I write a sentence. I also use short sentences for others. So on and so on" (Teacher 5).

Besides the strategies captured in the previous paragraphs, the participants identified the importance of supportive resources and how these can assist learners who require additional support. One of them shared the following innovative example, amid the context of poverty and limited available resources:

Based on my situation, I don't have money to buy the materials, we just get what we can get from the school outside. For example, we can go outside to get small stones and we use them during numeracy. They will count using those small stones. (Teacher 2)

All the participants identified some barriers that may prevent teachers from effectively adapting the curriculum in support of learners with diverse learning needs. These barriers were seen to be emanating from various systems, such as the learners themselves, the education system, the school environment, as well as the community and home settings. The participants referred to classroom conditions posing potential challenges -overcrowded classrooms and the time allocation to periods for subject teaching. They said:

According to the school timetable, each period should last for 30 minutes. This implies that I must support all learners within that time, which I find impossible. That is the reason some of the learners who are slow lack behind. (Teacher 1)

Supporting learners in an overcrowded classroom is a huge challenge because I cannot give each learner an individual attention (Teacher 3).

Next, the participants reported that they received limited support from others and that support could assist teachers to implement curriculum adaptation. The participants referred to possible support from the district office, saying: "I think if the officials from the district support us and also assist us to have proper resources, I think we can be able to support all learners, but there is no such support' (Teacher 1). In addition, they indicated parents and learners' families as a potential source of support to ensure the completion of tasks:

Parents do not have time to assist us, sometimes some of the learners cannotfinish class activities in time because of the time allocated for our periods. To make sure that they are not behind, I write the letter to the parents so that they can help the child at home so that they can finish the work, but most of those parents are not assisting, how will I help such learners Ma'am? (Teacher 6).

Several participants referred to limited resources posing challenges to effective teaching and curriculum adaptation. Some of the contributions that relate to this barrier are captured in the following excerpts:

Some of the learners wants to hear, see and touch when they learn, but I do not have resources to use. The schools sometimes buy us the resources and the learners break them. It is not possible for the school to always buy the resources. (Teacher 2) I teach with nothing, I only have books. How can learners learn and pass when using only the books, we need resources (Teacher 3).

Finally, on a logistical level, one of the participants referred to school transport services posing a challenge when wanting to adapt the curriculum. She explained that learners who relied on school transport services were not able to attend additional learning opportunities after school hours, with these holding the potential to complete work that had been left undone or that the learner did not understand. The participant explained this as follows:

I sometimes feel that I can remain with the child after school so that she can catch up with the work that we did during the day. Our learners use school transport and when I tell the parents to get another alternative transport they will just tell me that she does not have means to organise another transport and there is no way that her child can remain at school. (Teacher 6)

 

Discussion

Learners in heterogeneous classes sometimes experience various learning barriers, such as disabilities, languages and socio-economic status which may lead to some not achieving standard educational outcomes. Such learning barriers still persist, despite various national and international attempts and calls for teachers to take action in terms of inclusive education (Hunt, 2021). For instance, conditions such as ADHD can significantly impact learning by creating barriers to class participation, often requiring specialised support and accommodation. Other secondary barriers including poverty, limit access to learning which can hinder academic achievement. In South Africa, the SIAS policy (DBE, RSA, 2014) emphasises the importance of early identification of learning barriers to ensure the provision of the necessary learning support for all learners with diverse learning needs. The SIAS policy follows Education White Paper 6 propagating inclusive education practices (DoE, 2001), which provide for flexibility in terms of the school curriculum in ensuring learning access for all learners, irrespective of the diversity they present.

Teachers' abilities to address the issue of learning accessibility for all learners in their classrooms can be enhanced by means of knowledge, attitudes and beliefs about suitable responses to learners' needs and diversity during teaching (Pantić & Florian, 2015). According to Mitchell (2015), teachers are expected to not only take responsibility for including learners in their classrooms and ensuring that they achieve standard outcomes but also to implement the most suitable inclusive teaching strategies. Making appropriate adaptations to the school curriculum is regarded as key to ensure effective inclusive education (Mitchell, 2015). A study by Mapepa and Magano (2018) indicates that the implementation of curriculum adaptation is still only done to a limited extent. This leaves many learners without access to education, resulting in them feeling excluded in terms of participation and achievement. The success to differentiate the curriculum requires appropriate professional relations with various stakeholders, such as parents, learning support teachers and district officials (Mapepa & Magano, 2018). By this account, it will assist in ensuring the availability of teaching and learning resources, which contribute to effective learning of learners who need additional support.

 

Conclusion

Twenty-five years after the Salamanca Statement, access to education has been and still is part of the debate on several educational platforms. The findings in our study cannot be generalised to the broader population due to the limited number of participants. However, this article adds to the body of knowledge on curriculum adaptation as a key strategy to meet learning needs of learners in inclusive schools. It further provides more insight regarding the type and level of support that teachers need in order to ensure that no learner is excluded from accessing learning. The 2030 Millennium Goals will only be achieved when teachers understand the differences between their learners that will guide them on how to facilitate their academic achievements. Therefore, ongoing research and intervention efforts are required in this field of interest, not only in South Africa, but also beyond its borders.

To contribute to educational support for learners with diverse learning needs, we recommend continuous teacher development on aspects aligned to the adaptation of the curriculum. Support of teachers by the DBE officials is limited and to compensate for this limitation, we recommend that school-based support teams should be strengthened to meet the ethos of inclusive schools. It will further ensure that teachers are supported on the use of various inclusive teaching methodologies, which will also include the ability to understand and implement the differentiation of all parts of the curriculum. We also suggest that in-house teacher development programmes should be conducted to ensure that teachers in the schools share good practices on meeting the learners' learning needs.

 

Acknowledgements

This research was financially supported by the South African Department of Higher Education, Pretoria (Grant 2017/18 - 2019/20_University Capacity Development Programme_ nGap, phase 1). The authors would like to express sincere gratitude to the three provincial departments of Education, inclusive schools and teachers who participated in the study for their valuable contribution.

 

Authors' Contributions

RG took the lead in conceptualising the project, conducted the interviews, and writing the manuscript. RG and MM analysed the writing of the analysis. RG and MM reviewed the final version of the manuscript.

 

Notes

i. Published under a Creative Commons Attribution Licence.

 

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Received: 9 June 2023
Revised: 19 September 2024
Accepted: 29 November 2024
Published: 30 November 2024