The progress of inclusive education in South Africa: Teachers’ experiences in a selected district,KwaZulu-Natal

Abstract

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 documents how inclusive education is progressing in the province of KwaZulu-Natal. Informed by social constructivism and the systems theory, the study investigated teachers’ experiences and understandings of this policy statement in three primary schools in two districts. Data collected showed that teachers had limited experiences of inclusive education and limited understandings of what it entails in South Africa. As a result, most teachers felt inadequately prepared to implement it. The article concludes that the limited experiences and understandings result from, among other things, the inadequate and inappropriate professional development strategy used to disseminate information within the Department of Education.