Inclusive Education for Learners With Disabilities in Botswana Primary Schools

Abstract

Based on the findings of a qualitative case study, this article describes the experiences of key stakeholders about the inclusion of learners with disabilities in regular schools in the South Central Region of Botswana. Multiple stakeholders, such as schoolheads, general education teachers, learners with disabilities, and their peers, from six elementary schools participated in this research. The data collection methods included focus group discussions, school and classroom observations, and document analysis. Findings indicate that most of the teachers preferred to include learners with mild disabling conditions compared with learners with severe to profound disabling conditions. School-heads raised concerns such as inadequate training in special education, lack of resources, and high student-teacher ratio as barriers to successful implementation of inclusive education. In contrast to this, the students' peers expressed high levels of acceptance of learners with disabilities. This reflects Botswana's history of diversity and culture incorporating regional ethnic differences. It is a real strength to build on in the movement toward fully inclusive education.

The experiences of teachers of children with intellectual and developmental disabilities in inclusive schools in Accra, Ghana

“…Furthermore, they expressed concern about not being able to access special educators regularly due to the limited availability of special educators. This finding is consistent with previous studies that found minimal collaboration between special and general educators due to limited availability of the former (Hammond and Ingalls, ; Mukhopadhyay, Nenty and Abosi, ). The authors in these studies attributed this to lack of resources and time constraints.…”

Teacher Effectiveness in Adapting Instruction to the Needs of Pupils With Learning Difficulties in Regular Primary Schools in Ghana

“…A. R. Kuyini, 2013;A. B. Kuyini & Desai, 2008;Mukhopadhyay, Johnson Nenty, & Abosi, 2012;Peters, 2004;SAP, 2011). Finally, the study is also aimed at examining whether teachers' competence to teach children with LDs in the regular classroom differ due to their background variables such as gender, class size, school location, and teaching experience.…”

“…As a result, teaching in large class sizes exacerbates the already tense situation and makes it hard for teachers to meet the needs of all learners in the regular classroom (A. A. R. Kuyini, 2013;Mukhopadhyay et al, 2012). Although the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's (UNESCO, 2006) offers a holistic approach and practical guidelines for teaching large class sizes, the question is how many teachers in developing countries have access to this information.…”

Institutional and policy issues experienced in the implementation of Botswana's national disability policy

“…Notwithstanding Section 15 of the Constitution of Botswana prohibiting discrimination on the grounds of race, tribe, disability, and so forth and the introduction of reforms (e.g., revision of the National Education Policy and special needs training for teachers) aimed at improving inclusive education, scholars (e.g., Mukhopadhyay, Nenty, & Abosi, ) argue that educators have preferences regarding the type of disabled learner they desire to teach based on the severity of the disability. These barriers indicate that citizens' support and buy‐in for public policies are as equally important as the support received from high‐level stakeholders such as politicians and bureaucrats.…”