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RE-IMAGINED INCLUSIVE EDUCATION
PHILOSOPHIES AND WORLDVIEWS
Evaluation of learners is greatest when focused on their growth. The teacher’s role in student evaluation is crucial but occasionally challenging. It is undoubtedly enjoyable to have a student who does well and who appears to need little criticism or improvement, but it may be difficult to evaluate a student who performs poorly, especially in the individualized, subjective setting of rotations. However, a skilled instructor must assist the student in moving beyond their starting point in both scenarios. I will be inspired by any student’s work if they both acknowledge that they have room for improvement, whether they are exceptional students with slight flaws or bad students with huge ones. Students who are absolutely illiterate and possibly violent should, of course, be detected and stopped from moving forward before posing a threat to society. But in my experience, and line with my beneficent attitude, I discover that average or below-average students can typically overcome their deficiencies and shortcomings and perform at an acceptable level if they work hard. While their achievement may be lower than that of a superb student, their effort deserves acknowledgment or reward. Encouraging their effort will have the bigger and enduring impact of encouraging them to try harder in future encounters.
Establishing a pattern of lifelong intellectual curiosity, a dedication to logical thought, a sense of service to others, and a belief in ongoing self-evaluation and reflection are my four educational aims. The difficulty I encounter as a teacher is assisting students in acquiring these skills and mindsets as part of their involvement with particular discipline knowledge and research. I must take the following actions to achieve the level of success I demand: Expanding my areas of interest and expertise as part of my personal and professional growth (abilities-based education; curricular design and assessment), maintaining current in my areas of expertise (rhetoric and composition; active learning; outcomes assessment; faculty development), modeling an evidence-based approach to teaching (using “best practices” as a teacher; exploring the literature to stay current on emerging pedagogical findings; mentoring students and faculty as they develop.
The information, abilities, and attitudes required to reach the level of professional practice are what I hope to attain for both myself and my pupils. I’m devoted to pushing my students to become the most informed, all-around people they can be as teachers. As a result, I must accept each student as they are when they enroll in my classes and create a learning environment where they may acquire the information, abilities, and—most importantly—attitudes needed for success in school and life as a whole. I believe in significant faculty-student and peer engagement, employing a range of active- and collaborative-learning methodologies and regular individual conferences to highlight the social dimensions that underpin knowledge and learning. I try to involve students in my research projects whenever I can so that they may participate in the professional dialogue. When pushed, I will readily admit that my main concern for each student is determining how their attitudes toward learning and level of self-confidence as learners are developing. This should be a key objective for all instructors.
Individuality, growth, and change, according to progressivists, are essential components of education. Progressivists base their curriculum on students’ needs, experiences, interests, and talents, believing that individuals learn best from what they find most relevant to their life. Like romantics, progressives think that education should focus on the complete student rather than just the topic or the instructor. They place a strong emphasis on group activities and problem-solving so that students may learn through cooperative learning methods. It strives to foster problem-solving capacity and is anti-authoritarian, experimental, and imaginative.
RE-IMAGINED INCLUSIVE EDUCATION
White Paper Education 6: Special Education Support: Building an Inclusive Education and Training System lays the foundation for an inclusive education system (Department of Education 2001). This strategy has a broad scope as it seeks to meet the diverse needs of all learners who face barriers to learning. The strategy advocates for significant conceptual change based on the following premises: With the right support, all children, teens, and adults can learn. Learning is disrupted because the system is unable to identify and address a wide range of learning needs. To make inclusive education a reality, a paradigm shift is needed in supporting learners with learning disabilities. The Ministry of Basic Education has developed a policy to guide the implementation of policies to promote inclusive education. In summary, this policy consists of two main components detailed in two guidelines: The National Strategy for Screening, Identification, Assessment, and Support (SIAS) (Ministry of Education 2008) provides direction for inclusive education policy by defining the process of identifying, assessing, and enrolling learners in special education and preventing learners from being placed in special education for no reason. The SIAS plan outlines criteria for early identification and support, as well as determining the type and amount of support learners need and identifying the optimal learning environment for support. Parents and teachers play a critical role in implementing the approach, according to the strategy. The Department of Education’s Guidelines for Responding to Learner Diversity in the Classroom through Curricular and Assessment Policy Statements (Department of Education 2011) provides practical advice to school administrators and teachers on how to plan and teach to meet the needs of a diverse student population. The Curricular and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) was recently rewritten to incorporate curriculum revision, and the updated text is now part of the CAPS guidance program for teachers and provincial school boards. Despite the above supporting measures, the implementation of inclusive education in South Africa has been delayed only partially. The reasons for this are many including issues involving the entire education system, the function of special schools and other support services, and the poor situation. The topic of this study, however, is UDL as a viable framework for addressing teachers’ lack of knowledge and skills in designing and presenting curricula in ways that meet the diverse needs of students in their classes. Teacher education programs do not appear to adequately address this requirement, resulting in teacher stress and lack of development for students with disabilities. Curriculum differentiation is a critical component of implementing inclusion. Children with learning disabilities cannot expect their needs to be met in the most restrictive and inclusive environment possible with their peers if this is not visible. The conceptual and pedagogical framework of UDL was presented in a workshop at the College of Cape Town in July 2011 with this goal in mind. Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a method of teaching and learning that ensures that all students have an equal opportunity to succeed. The goal of UDL is to remove all barriers to learning by using a variety of instructional modalities. It is about building flexibility that can be tailored to each individual’s abilities and needs. Therefore, UDL is beneficial for all students. This type of instruction or professional development is not tailored to people who learn and think in different ways. However, it can be especially beneficial for the 1 in 5 children and adults who have these difficulties, even those who have not been formally diagnosed.
Watch the below video about stepping closer to equal education in South Africa