Exploring the perceptions of lecturers and final year students about the infusion of inclusion in initial teacher education programmes in South Africa

Abstract

IntroductionSouth Africa embraced the move to inclusive education after the political transformation in 1994 by partaking in and subscribing to the international Education for All (EFA) drive initiated in 1990 at the Jomtien World Conference on Education for All, which declared that all children, youth and adults should receive a basic education. Furthermore, the Salamanca Statement of 1994 the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) of 2006 and the Sustainable Development Goal 4 are internationally regarded as the most important influence on the transformation of education systems to become more inclusive and consequently continue to have an important influence on education policies and practices in South Africa. The key policy driving inclusive education in South Africa is Education White Paper 6 (EWP6). EWP6 affirms that teachers play a central role in implementing an inclusive education system. Therefore, training is emphasized as a key strategy to enable educators to become more inclusive in their teaching practices. The focus of this article is on Initial Teacher Education (ITE) for inclusion. Influenced by international developments to transform ITE programmes and the national endorsement of inclusive education the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) embarked on a project called the Teaching and Learning Capacity Development Improvement Project (TLCDIP). The project reported on in this article was one facet of the TLCDIP and focused specifically on teacher education for inclusion in the Foundation (Reception to Grade 3) and Intermediate Phases (Grade 4 to 6) of the Baccalaureus Educationis (B Ed) programme.MethodsThe primary research aim was: To explore the perceptions of final year students and their lecturers in ITE programmes regarding the preparation of pre-service teachers for teaching in inclusive and diverse learning environments. A qualitative research approach was employed to gain in-depth and rich data. Purposive sampling was used including final year students and their lecturers. Open questionnaires and group interviews were employed as data generation strategies.ResultsAn inductive thematic analysis showed that the following themes were identified by the participants as critical to be considered in the development and implementation of ITE programmes: Understanding inclusive education, which is also linked to knowledge; the disconnect between theory and practice, the lack of knowledge and practical experience regarding inclusive teaching strategies and how inclusion is addressed in the B Ed curriculum.

Formación docente y práctica pedagógica en la educación inclusiva: revisión sistemática

“…Al observar la tabla 2, se evidencia como el 28,8% de los estudios científicos analizados, resaltan la necesidad de aportar conocimientos y estrategias a los docentes que los lleven a la implementación de principios para la educación inclusiva dentro de sus aulas, lo que puede ser logrado gracias a la formación docente (Rutherford, 2023). A pesar de los notables avances en este ámbito, los hallazgos de esta revisión señalan que persisten importantes deficiencias en la formación docente con respecto a las diversas interpretaciones del concepto de educación inclusiva (Leung et al, 2024;Nel et al, 2023). Por lo que, se sugiere continuar en el camino hacia una formación docente alineada con los conceptos teóricos de la educación inclusiva que permitan…”

“…En este sentido, se hace imprescindible potenciar las habilidades y competencias de los maestros en la escuela desde dos perspectivas principales: la formación en la etapa inicial y la cualificación de los maestros en ejercicio (Soares et al, 2021;Tello, 2022;Amiama-Espaillat, 2020). Primero, las instituciones de educación superior deben reflexionar alrededor de cómo se diseñan y ejecutan los procesos de formación para los futuros educadores en términos de competencias y estrategias específicas alrededor de la atención de la diversidad de los estudiantes (Nel et al, 2023;Amiama-Espaillat, 2020) Por tanto, se podrían lograr actitudes positivas del maestro frente a la adquisición de herramientas necesarias para enseñar de manera inclusiva y colaborativa, promoviendo prácticas pedagógicas inclusivas en sus contextos laborales (Rusconi et al, 2023).…”

A model to reconstruct lecturer dilemma in balancing research and teaching responsibilities: A case of one rural university in South Africa

“…Lecturers worldwide adhere to rules of engagement in teaching, learning, and research (Nel et al, 2023). However, some lecturers complain about the teaching load and the pressure to focus on their research.…”