Evaluation of Educators’ Experiences and Practices of Inclusive Education in Primary Schools: A South African Perspective

Abstract

This research evaluates educators’ experiences and practices of Inclusive Education in primary schools in South Africa. The educators who serve as role models, nevertheless, do not seem to truly grasp the idea of Inclusive Education. The study used a qualitative research approach based on the interpretative research paradigm to investigate educators' understanding, experiences, and practices of Inclusive Education. The fourteen participants, who included two school principals, two deputy principals, five teachers, and five members of the school-based support team, were chosen through a purposeful sampling process. Five primary schools in the Warmbaths region in Limpopo Province were used to select the participants. With each participant, semi-structured one-on-one interviews were conducted. Thematic analysis was done to examine and analyse the data. The findings showed the varying perspectives on Inclusive Education, including views based on children's rights, abilities and disabilities, and quality, equity, and fairness for all children. This is further shown by the lack of improvement in stakeholders’ ability to recognise learners who experienced barriers to learning. Educators lack adequate knowledge to implement Inclusive Education successfully. In addition, it was discovered that teaching an inclusive class was quite demanding on educators regarding planning, organising, and curriculum delivery. This study suggests that educators should use a combination of traditional teaching methods and digitally mediated learning to effectively meet the needs of all students, regardless of their learning abilities. Furthermore, educators should be provided with continuous professional development to empower them to meet the educational expectations of all learners.