Teachers are critical to any new initiative to take root in schools. Therefore, creating capacity through learning and professional development is fundamental to any change in schools. With this article we analyse teachers' experiences of taking a short learning programme (SLP) for the implementation of inclusive education in the Limpopo province,…

Background: A global move towards inclusivity has made inclusive education (IE) a necessity. The education of the learner with hearing loss (HL) in an IE setting remains challenging and scarcely researched. Despite government's clear position on IE, the extent to which the recommendations in the Education White Paper 6 (2001) (EWP6) are…

Teacher educators in South Africa face challenges of preparing new teachers for an inclusive education system that has been accepted as policy but is not yet fully realised in school contexts. Pre-service teachers entering teacher preparation programmes are themselves a product of a schooling system in which many inequalities and marginalising…

In this article, we explore how collaboration between Foundation Phase teachers could address and support the teaching of Foundation Phase learners with visual impairments (VI). By actively involving teachers in the research process, teachers contributed to changes that promoted the inclusion and success of FP learners with VI. This qualitative…

Inclusion and equitable education, as articulated by the fourth sustainable development goal and anticipated by 2030 seems hard to attain in a context where teachers' practices are inconsistent with inclusive national policies. In the study reported on here we investigated South African teachers' experiences in implementing the screening,…

This study aims to generate thorough and comprehensive review of the teacher's perspective and hands-on experience in mainstreaming LSENs in a regular classroom, including teachers' attitudes and perceptions, challenges encountered, and teaching approach in handling mainstreamed classrooms. A scoping review framework by Arksey and O'Malley's…

The implementation of inclusion policy for learners with special education needs has been a matter of interest for South African schools. This study sought to explore pockets of good practice found in the experiences of teachers in implementing inclusion of learners with special education needs (SEN). A qualitative research approach was employed…

Debates on educational exclusion are almost exclusively focused on the experiences of learners as they navigate their way through barriers of race, culture, gender, sexuality, class, disability and language. Similar attention has not been afforded to the experiences of teachers, creating the impression that, unlike learners, teachers do not…

Located within constructivist paradigm, this is a qualitative study that used a case study design. Qualitative data collection methods -- interviews, observations and document analysis -- were employed for this study. The sample comprised of 43 teachers and principals from four case study schools. This paper focuses on the experiences of primary…

An inclusive educational setting is a model in which educators must have empathic sensitivity, which will enable them to identify the different needs of the various learners. However, there is gap in research concerning educators' own experiences regarding empathy within inclusive classrooms. This qualitative study with a phenomenological research…

In this article, we explain how we took an "active" approach to focus group discussions with teachers in three South African schools. The topic of discussion was their views on the implementation of inclusive education. We shall also show how we sought feedback from the participants on their experiences of these discussions. In seeking…

The development of sustainable collaborative partnerships between different role players within an inclusive education system seems to be a continuous challenge in South Africa. The focus of this research study was to understand how teachers view collaboration within an inclusive education system. Open-ended questionnaires were completed by 85…

This paper explores how 20 African teachers in rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, construct their identities in the light of inclusive education, and how they negotiate the tensions and contradictions emerging from the process of becoming inclusive practitioners. Central to this discussion is the understanding that teachers' identities are…

Education policies tend to evoke mixed feelings: excitement amongst advocates of change or uncertainty and stress among teachers expected to implement them. Reactions to the Education White Paper 6: Special Needs Education--Building an Inclusive Education and Training System have been no different. Emanating from a PhD study, this article…