A shift from pathological-deficit model : towards productive pedagogies in inclusive schools

Abstract

Like other countries globally, South Africa has embraced inclusive education as a reform that supports and welcomes diversity among all learners. Inclusive education is a process of addressing the diverse learning needs of all learners by reducing barriers to and within the learning environment, as well as to increase their full participation in the learning process. In every classroom, there are learners who present with a diversity of personal characteristics and experiences attributable to physical, personal health or wellbeing, intellectual, psychological, religious, cultural, socio-economic or life experiences that may impact on their access to and participation in learning. It is important to respect the learners’ diversity in order to respond to the unique strengths and needs of every individual learner. The problem is that the pathological-deficit model seems to play a dominant role in teaching and learning, whereby learners who experience barriers to learning and development are not given opportunity to participate fully in learning. The purpose of this study is to enhance productive pedagogies to shift from pathological-deficit model which approaches learners based upon the perceptions of their weaknesses rather than their strengths and views those learners’ differences as deficits. The theoretical framework of critical pedagogy and social constructivism provided an extensive platform from which to engage with the study. A mixed methods study was conducted in two phases. Both phases were conducted at the Bojanala district in the North West Province. Phase one comprised a qualitative approach where focus groups and individual interviews were conducted with SBSTs and principals. Phase two comprised the quantitative approach where all teachers at the selected schools completed a questionnaire. A sequential mixed methods sampling was used with a multilevel purposive sample for choosing the schools. In both phases data were gathered from mainstream, full-service and special schools’ SBST, principals and all teachers selected by purposive and probability sampling respectively. The findings from the qualitative phase revealed that some schools are fully resourced to address diversity and respond to diverse learning needs of all learners. It is further revealed that inclusive practices are effectively implemented at those schools. It was also revealed that some schools were under-resourced to address barriers to learning and to respond to learners’ diverse needs. The SBST from the mentioned schools were not functional because they were not trained on their roles and responsibilities as support structures at their respective schools. Furthermore, several factors were identified as challenges in implementing inclusive practices and responding to diverse learning needs, and these are: limited teaching and learning time, overcrowding, lack of support from the District-based Support Team (DBST), insufficient knowledge and skills on addressing diversity and barriers to learning, lack of parental involvement and inadequate learner progression policy. The questionnaire findings indicated that some teachers did not have knowledge and skills on inclusive practices, did not attend inclusive education workshops and that there is a need for an extensive continuous professional teacher development programme for such teachers. Based on the findings of the empirical inquiry, recommendations are made to enhance productive pedagogies, improve inclusive practice and a call is made for extensive continuous professional teacher development where teachers can talk and share ideas about different approaches and strategies on how they can adjust their pedagogies, respond to diverse learning needs of all learners and get learners involved in learning.