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1.
The Government of Uganda aims to provide good quality education for all learners in inclusive schools. However, some learners who have severe disabilities, including those who are deaf, will, for some time, continue to receive their education in special schools. In this article, Kirsten Kristensen, consultant in inclusive and special needs education for many countries in East Africa, Martin Omagor-Loican, Commissioner for Special Needs Education, Negris Onen, Principal Education Officer for Special Needs and Inclusive Education, both at the Ministry of Education in Sports in Uganda, and Daniel Okot, co-ordinator for the Diploma in Special Needs Education at Kyambogo University, provide an account of their study of 15 such schools. The findings from the study indicate a striking need for reform and transformation. While Uganda has an advanced structure for training teachers in special needs education, the quality of education and educational materials in special schools, is poor. Often children are admitted to special schools without proper assessment of their educational needs and the resources are not available to provide them with an appropriate range of experiences. The authors of this article call for a thoroughgoing review of provision and make a series of coherent and persuasive recommendations for developments in policy and practice focused on enabling special schools in Uganda to play an essential role in future as resource centres supporting an inclusive education system.  相似文献   

2.
Abstract

Education in democratic South Africa has been saddled with the extraordinary task of sanitising a once dehumanising and splintered education system into a singular narrative of social justice and creative, problem-solving individuals. This extraordinary effort has witnessed a pendulum swing from the openness of outcomes-based education, to a less flexible National Curriculum Statement, and recently, to what has been criticised as a too restrictive Curriculum Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS). In its narrow focus on ‘assessment for learning’, CAPS appears to be trapped in a particular understanding of teaching and learning that can be understood only in terms of measurement, thereby discounting education as happening outside that which can be measured. In this article, I contend, firstly, that while education is not averse to measurement, it cannot be allowed to dominate the educative process. Instead, it is possible to reconcile measurement, as expressed through a ‘language of needs’ with a language of ‘coming into presence’, which recognises that learners enter the education arena with their own ideas of what is known and yet to be known. Secondly, I argue, that if a post-apartheid education system hopes to re-humanise its citizens and society, then this will only be possible through cultivating a curriculum, which is understood as a process of socially just encounters—one which is always in becoming, and therefore not necessarily measurable.  相似文献   

3.
We describe educational experiences of people with disabilities who attended special schools in South Africa. We found significant differences in education between White and Black participants in terms of teaching quality, access to therapy and assistive devices, class sizes, subjects, and grades offered. Additional differences were noted between participants with congenital and early-onset disabilities, and those with degenerative or acquired disabilities who moved from a mainstream school to a special school. Thirty-six percent of participants in this study completed their education after Education White Paper 6 (EWP6), South Africa’s inclusive education policy had been implemented. Despite this, findings suggest that all these participants experienced similar challenges as those who received their education during the apartheid era. This study highlights the important need to address the existing “special school” scenario, and effectively implement the principles of EWP6.  相似文献   

4.
This article examines the challenge of opening and transforming South African education. ‘Openness’ and ‘transformation’ of any education programme in any society are ethicopolitical processes. In the case of South Africa, the transition from an autocratic education system serving the interests of a minority to a more modern and democratic educational dispensation demands a critical rethinking of the meaning of these twin concepts of openness and transformation. The policy of outcomes‐based education (OBE) has been used as a strategy for educational change. This article argues that, although OBE can be understood in the context of the desire for change, the programme’s implementation does not lead to radical opening and qualitative transformation of the South African educational sector. Any pedagogy of radical empowerment through political and deliberate advocacy policies needs to take into consideration the content of the new system of education, the professional quality of the educators, and the calibre of the new learners.  相似文献   

5.
This article identifies the three discursive forces of ‘equity and redress’, ‘development’ and ‘academic standards’ in the structuring of access and admission policies in South Africa. It is argued that these forces undergo a process of complex repositioning within the policy making arena of the National Commission on Higher Education. The discourse of ‘development’, couched in neo‐classical economic terms, emerges as a dominant discourse in this process and shapes the discourses surrounding ‘academic standards’ and, more fundamentally, ‘redress’ policies and strategies. Such oblique effects of the dominant discourse, it is suggested, have fundamentally reframed access and admission policies and strategies proposed by the Commission.  相似文献   

6.
In this paper we trace the development of policy and legislation since 1994, which marked the introduction of a unitary non-racial system of education and training in South Africa. Policy development in this context has been guided by the universal principles of a human right to basic education, equality and the recognition of the democratic rights of parents, teachers and all learners, including those with disabilities. A major paradigm shift in education policy has reflected a move from a dual, special and general education system towards the transformation of general education to recognise and address the diverse learning needs of all learners. There have been several government initiatives aimed at restructuring and strengthening the general curriculum. This includes the introduction of a new national curriculum to accommodate a diverse range of system and learner needs. The most recent education policy recommends a shift in thinking about 'special needs and support services' in this country towards a commitment to the development of an inclusive education and training system. The real challenge which faces this country will be in the implementation of these recommendations.  相似文献   

7.
The publication of the National Commission for Higher Education (NCHE) in 1996 was hailed as the first systematic attempt to map out a policy terrain for higher education in South Africa since the elections of April 1994. Its recommendations, particularly on the governance of higher education, elicited much discussion and debate. The debate continued (and continues) with the publication of the Green and White Papers, the Bill on Higher Education, and the Higher Education Act (HEA) in late 1997.This paper explores and seeks to clarify the emerging model of educational governance that has been accepted by the Ministry of Education in South Africa as the basis for managing and transforming the inherited system of higher education. Specifically, the paper considers the philosophy of “co-operative governance” and the governance recommendations of the NCHE Report and the HEA. These documents are examined in relation to state control and state supervision models of higher education governance. The paper concludes by considering the politics of policy development in the transformation of the South African higher education governance system.  相似文献   

8.
It is nearly 30 years since Mary Warnock's Report of the Committee of Enquiry into the Education of Handicapped Children and Young People introduced the phrase ‘special educational needs’ into the UK education system. In this article, Katherine Runswick‐Cole, Research Associate at Manchester Metropolitan University, and Nick Hodge, Principal Lecturer in Research Development at Sheffield Hallam University, argue for the abandonment of the ‘special needs’ discourse, claiming that it has, in fact, led to exclusionary practices within education. Building on the work of early years educators in Reggio Emilia schools in Northern Italy, the authors advocate for the adoption of the phrase ‘educational rights’ and suggest that the positive impact of such a linguistic turn would be significant for the lives of young people currently described as having ‘special educational needs’ and for children's rights.  相似文献   

9.
In this article, Klaus Wedell, Emeritus Professor at the Institute of Education, University of London, looks back over 35 years of developments in the worlds of special and inclusive education. He engages directly with the complexities – for example, the tensions between the standards agenda and policy on inclusion – that have led some commentators to adopt controversial positions and that have engendered heated debate. Klaus Wedell also discusses a dilemma that is emerging as a key issue in the field – the relationships between ‘difference’, stigma, equality of opportunity and ‘special’ or separate provision. The response provided here takes, as a starting point, the notion of a flexible education system that could recognise diversity among learners while making provision for all. Klaus Wedell explores this possibility in terms of the curriculum, pedagogy, school structures and local authorities. He indicates points at which policies contradict one another and where practice has not evolved to address the challenges raised by innovative thinking. He provides evidence of the need for systemic change. He argues that all young people should be valued as individuals so that the differences between them can be acknowledged without prejudice. Only in this way, suggests Klaus Wedell, can the artificial separation of special educational needs policy and mainstream thinking be ended.  相似文献   

10.
《Africa Education Review》2013,10(2):318-328
Abstract

This article highlights inherent difficulties in defining learning disability, particularly in South Africa. It traces the evolution of the category from ‘minimal brain damage’ through to the more current ‘learners with special educational needs’ and ‘learners with barriers to learning.’ Different definitions or attempts to describe the phenomenon ‘learning disability’ are reviewed. An overview of the current international research in the field is provided with particular reference to research that attempts to define learning disability. Much of this research is framed within the medical model, which has as its foundation positivism and empiricism. This results in research which is deficit-focused; in other words the focus is on pathology. A second reductionist model fragments the phenomenon of learning disability into discrete units, each of which is researched. It is suggested that, in re-thinking learning disability, the focus shifts away from the deficit, pathology based, reductionist focus currently held across disciplines.

The problem inherent in including the notion of ‘discrepancy between potential and performance’ in any definition is discussed, with particular reference to the measurement of ‘potential in South Africa's multicultural and multilingual learner population. The article ends with a proposal that there be a shift in focus to a panoptic view of the child: a view that takes in his strengths and talents. In so doing, the country may be better able to serve this growing population.

With the national shift towards inclusive education, there is a renewed focus on learners euphemistically called learners with special educational needs or the more ‘in vogue’ learners with barriers to learning. Yet what we mean when we bandy these terms about, how well we understand these learners, is questionable. The focus of this article is that sub-group of learners that educators and parents think are just not achieving as they should be achieving, despite themselves, that sub-group we identify as having ‘potential’ but not ‘performance’; that sub-group that we just cannot quite explain, we just cannot quite understand; that sub-group for whom support ranges from placement to pills to punishment!

This article critically evaluates the current understanding of the phenomenon of learning disability as it is understood in the South African context. It begins with an overview of the international research, with particular reference to the notion of definition. Thereafter, it makes comments on the term as it is used in South Africa. In conclusion, the article proposes the need for an alternative understanding of this group of learners.  相似文献   

11.
Higher Education - A quarter of a century after South Africa’s transition to democracy, the rhetoric of ‘transformation’ remains firmly ingrained in its higher education policy...  相似文献   

12.
ABSTRACT

This paper investigates increases in the identification of special educational needs in the New South Wales (NSW) government school system over the last two decades, which are then discussed with senior public servants working within the NSW Department of Education and Communities (DEC). Participant narratives indicate deep structural barriers to inclusion that are perpetuated by the discourses and practices of regular and special education. Despite policies that speak of ‘working together’ for ‘every student’ and ‘every school’, students who experience difficulty in schools and with learning often remain peripheral to the main game, even though their number is said to be increasing. There is, however, some positive progress being made. Findings suggest that key policy figures within the NSW DEC are keenly aware of the barriers and have adopted alternative strategies to drive inclusion via a new discourse of ‘participation’ which is underpinned by the linking of student assessment and the resourcing of schools.  相似文献   

13.
Children with severe to profound intellectual disability have been excluded from education on the basis that their impairment makes them ‘ineducable’. The Western Cape Forum for Intellectual Disability challenged this notion through litigation against the South African Government. The ensuing judgement asserts the right to education of these children and outlines action steps for government to this end. We describe the actions taken by the Western Cape Education Department in responding to the requirements of the court by means of a document review. We then reflect on the implementation process, highlighting key learning points of relevance for others engaged in implementation. We note critical factors to be considered for the child, their families, special care centres, and the broader educational and legal systems. We conclude by outlining important considerations for the inclusion of these children within the education system in South Africa.  相似文献   

14.
There has been a growing interest in the European Didaktik tradition as part of a process of ‘internationalizing’ curriculum studies. Krüger provides useful insights into some aspects of Didaktiek in South Africa. However, the essay does not contextualize this tradition within the broader history of South African education. This reply contends that Didaktiek was interwoven with ‘fundamental pedagogics’ and as a consequence played a role in reproducing apartheid ideology—it did not provide a language of critique or possibility. This is one reason why the tradition has seen its demise in post‐apartheid South Africa. I argue that curriculum theory, which crucially deals with the relationship between schooling and society and highlights the socially constructed nature of schooling, offers a more useful alternative for critiquing apartheid education policy and for charting a process of transformation of education in South Africa.  相似文献   

15.
This study examines how various components of a school-linking programme between Ireland and South Africa either support Development Education’s goal of sustainable, equitable partnerships that enable mutual learning between Northern and Southern countries or, instead, promote power imbalances that reify stereotypic images of weak, needy Southerners being cared for by powerful, benevolent Northerners. Ethnographic data from schools in both sites suggest that divergent assumptions about and priorities for Development Education in Ireland and South Africa, disproportionate exchange visits, socio-economic differences and an ‘inward’ South African focus versus a ‘global’ Irish focus set the stage for power imbalances within the linking programme. Recommendations for a conjointly conducted revision of the agenda for school-linking programmes are made. These centre on helping learners understand how issues of power and power imbalance function at the local, national and global levels.  相似文献   

16.
There has been widespread discussion that a new ‘settlement’ is emerging in post‐compulsory education, a political settlement that has progressive educationists, unions, business, the Labour Party, the New Right and Government sharing a similar vision of vocational education for the 21st century. It is argued that this policy consensus is consistent with the post‐Fordist analysis of economy and that such an analysis may ‘offer bonuses to radicals’ (Kumar 1992: 66). This paper provides evidence in support of Avis (1993) that a new ‘settlement’ exists, and that a consensus has emerged in policy proposals for the rationalization of the ‘New Qualifications Framework’, a consensus in which parity of esteem between vocational and academic qualifications was central and supported by government in the introduction of the General National Vocational Qualification (GNVQ). Yet GNVQ as part of the New Qualifications Framework has been characterized as a form of tripartite education post‐16. This paper will examine the New Qualifications Framework and argue that a settlement has emerged which will facilitate further rationalization of the post‐16 curriculum, rationalization that will provide an overarching Advanced/NVQ, Level Three Award, similar to the ‘British Baccalaureate’ or ‘General Education Diploma’ of the National Commission on Education. If the New Qualifications Framework proves credible, modularization within the framework provides a key to incremental change towards comprehensive tertiary education.  相似文献   

17.
South Africa has undergone transformation since the end of apartheid governance in 1994. Legislatively enforced, this transformation has permeated most sectors of society, including higher education. Questions remain, however, about the extent to which transformation has occurred in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in general, and across the academic staff body in HEIs in particular. In this study, we examine the transformation of academic staff profiles at HEIs throughout the country. Initially, we graph the racial profile of academics across multiple positions (junior lecturer to professor) from 2005 to 2013. We then use correlational analysis to identify which characteristics of universities in South Africa can be used to explain the racial inequities evident in South African HEIs. Our results indicate that world university ranking; percentage black African staff; percentage black African student body; and whether the university is ‘historically disadvantaged’, all influence the racial profile of the academic staff body to varying degrees. The size of the overall staff and study body does not appear to influence the racial profile of universities’ staff component. We conclude that transformation of the academic staff body of HEIs in South Africa is indeed occurring, albeit slowly. Rather than seeing this as a negative, we argue that the pace of ‘academic’ transformation in the country needs to be interpreted within the framework of academic governance.  相似文献   

18.
The South African education crisis is well documented in the literature. While strides have been made to rectify the inequalities in education arising from apartheid era policies, and while South Africa ratified the United Nations Conventions for the Rights of People with Disabilities, these actions have yet to translate into meaningful changes for persons with disabilities. To investigate the status of educational attainment, this article uses South Africa’s National Income Dynamics Study to analyse the disparities in education for adults with and without disabilities. Education is a key mechanism of leverage for functionings. The findings show that persons with disabilities fare worse in educational attainment than persons without disabilities, but that race and geographic location play a larger role in predicting educational attainment than disabilities. In addition, age also contributes to educational disparities. The findings of this study are integral in the call from the Presidency to ‘strengthen the country’s response to the needs of [persons with disabilities] … and to monitor progress’ of educational attainment for persons with disabilities (20-year review, 2014, p. 73).  相似文献   

19.
It is now 15 years since the signing of the 1998 Belfast (or ‘Good Friday’) Peace Agreement which committed all participants to exclusively democratic and peaceful means of resolving differences, and towards a shared and inclusive society defined by the principles of respect for diversity, equality and the interdependence of people. In particular, it committed participants to the protection and vindication of the human rights of all. This is, therefore, a precipitous time to undertake a probing analysis of educational reforms in Northern Ireland associated with provision in the areas of inclusion and special needs education. Consequently, by drawing upon analytical tools and perspectives derived from critical policy analysis, this article, by Ron Smith from the School of Education, Queen's University Belfast, discusses the policy cycle associated with the proposed legislation entitled Every School a Good School: the way forward for special educational needs and inclusion. It examines how this policy text structures key concepts such as ‘inclusion’, ‘additional educational needs’ and ‘barriers to learning’, and how the proposals attempt to resolve the dilemma of commonality and difference. Conceived under direct rule from Westminster (April 2006), issued for consultation when devolved powers to a Northern Ireland Assembly had been restored, and with the final proposals yet to be made public, this targeted educational strategy tells a fascinating story of the past, present and likely future of special needs education in Northern Ireland. Before offering an account of this work, it is placed within some broader ecological frameworks.  相似文献   

20.
《Africa Education Review》2013,10(2):204-219
Abstract

South Africa's Revised National Curriculum Statement for Further Education and Training (FET) is premised on the view that there are competing perspectives and worldviews from which to make sense of phenomena. Accordingly, elements of indigenous knowledges have been integrated into the discursive terrains of all subjects that form part of the National Curriculum Statement. This policy statement invites several critical questions, some of which are addressed in this article in relation to science education. These include questions as to whether seemingly disparate perspectives of ‘the world’ are competing or complementary and whether science (education) is universal or multicultural. A universalist position holds that Western modern science has superior explanatory powers of understanding the natural world to those of indigenous knowledges. A multiculturalist position holds that science is culturally produced and that cultures have disparate ways of understanding the natural world and that different ways of knowing should be recognised as science. This article discusses critical questions arising from much contestation about the nature of science as a consequence of different perspectives on science held by universalists and multiculturalists. Some of the implications this discussion has for science education in contemporary South Africa are also examined.  相似文献   

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