Is Inclusive Education a Good “Fit” for ALL? Perceptions of Parents and Educators of ECD Learners with Complex Communication Needs
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Study Design
3. Key Findings
3.1. Percieved Benefits of Inclusive Education
“Like it’s when kids of the same age. They are with their peers where they can access the same curriculum with enough support given to that child to be able to keep up”.(Participant 12, 40 years, caregiver)
“Inclusive education? What is inclusive education? It’s not like mainstream education. I think mainstream education is for the kids that don’t have uhm learning difficulties, that find it not difficult for them to cope up. Inclusive education if for kids with learning disabilities who can’t cope in mainstream schools and need additional support”.(Participant, 9, 33 years old, caregiver)
3.2. Preference for Special over Inclusive Education
3.2.1. Stigma, Discrimination and Bullying
“I think the benefits are the kids don’t get bullied or reliquial by the neurotypical kids and I think I think the benefit is they often get therapists included at the school so it’s easier for them to talk and get acceptance there”.(Participant 9, 33 years, caregiver)
“The other thing is like uhm in mainstream schools there are a lot of children with a different point of view. If they see someone struggling to talk, walk or is not finding the toilet, they will laugh so that there are no, they will end up having that low self-esteem some of them they discriminate, there is bullying there’s a lot of things at mainstream schools that is not good for those children with disabilities or who need special attention, especially if they can’t talk”.(Participant 1, 30 years, teacher)
3.2.2. Different Pace of Teaching in Special Needs Schools
“Like special schools are ok coz like at special schools there are special formal caregivers and like they can teach them and make them understand than in the mainstream”.(Participant 9, 33 years, caregiver)
“Special needs education is education that seeks to find the positive things that are in the children to bring it, to make the environment toward education simple to the extent that that child has to learn it no matter how long it takes but in the end we have to find the methods, the techniques that makes the environment and the education understandable to that child at the end of the day they have to understand and they have to know that they can do it even if it is slow or fast but they can do it, they can learn”.(Participant 1, 30 years, teacher)
3.3. Acknowledging the Shortcomings of Special Needs Education in Addressing the Needs of Learners with CCNs
3.3.1. Substandard Teaching
“I think typically the risk for me for special needs education is that they don’t stretch the kids enough academically, they go into life skills early on and disregard literacy and mathematics because it’s just easier that way”.(Participant 12, 40 years, caregiver)
3.3.2. Unavailability of and Lack of Educator Training on Assistive Devices (AAC)
“Teachers can be trained to work with the AAC with the kids and they would rather access better educational system, even if it’s an online system it doesn’t have to in person the important thing is to find a way for them to communicate. and with the technology and the way that is it we should have far more kids doing AAC”.(Participant 13, 40 years, caregiver)
“Maybe we can have more visual education neh, they can… yah things that they can see. They can teach them because like what I see is that what she sees on the book and what she sees in reality she thinks it’s not the same thing. So, I think visually… yah visual education”.(Participant 9, 33 years, caregiver)
3.4. Factors Informing the Selection of Schools
3.4.1. An Evaluation and Recommendations by Healthcare Professionals
“We had to an assessment, remember there is an assessment done the therapist aside then you are given are list of schools that you can take your child to, and you take your child to these schools so they can do assessments then after they will tell if their center can accommodate your child”.(Participant 11, 32 years, caregiver)
3.4.2. Disability Support Organizations on Social Media as a Source of Information Pertaining to Schools
“They get information like advertising, twitter, Facebook and there’s a registered compound where you can put a poster there, the newspaper. Everything, everywhere you can advertise”.(Participant 2, 48 years old, teacher)
“I went to the support group at the hospital then there was a Down syndrome association. They support us with everything, medication, sicknesses and everything you want to know about it. So it wasn’t that difficult because like I was informed what to do and I knew everything from there.”(Participant 9, 30 years, caregiver)
“Like I said it’s really nice to have parents or guardians that are in the same similar situation that you are in around, so I got a Facebook group that I belong to internationally and I got the WhatsApp group that I get information from and have been very helpful”.(Participant 12, 40 years, caregiver)
“It is a group of woman or mothers with kids who are born with the same condition as my son. We have a WhatsApp group that we share our experiences, advises and sometimes do get togethers where we go and meet each other. We get to go and spend time together and give each other advice’s and share information like, what do you do when your child behaves like this, what do you use when it’s like this”.(Participant 13, 32 years, caregiver)
3.4.3. Finances, Transportation Costs and Distance of School from Home
“The biggest challenge is financial definitely, and secondly is accessibility. we are living in so we are fine I can only imagine for those living in smaller cities there must be problems for people living in smaller towns and knowledge obviously not knowing what’s out there”.(Participant 12, 40 years, caregiver)
3.5. Communication as a Barrier to Teaching, Learning and Socialisation for Learners with Communication Disorders
“It’s that I am not a formal caregiver by profession, but a mother and it frustrates me when I try to be things with him, and he is unable too. Yes I know that I am a mother and I need to be patient with him but when it comes to communication it’s really frustrating, it takes a lot of time …, instead of listening he will go around the house do something, but with someone who is trained for this kind of people for this kind of kids they would know and they would understand.me as a mother I am not trained but I am trying to understand and to help”.(Participant 11, 32 years, parent)
“Number one its making friends, he doesn’t have any friends that are his age, i think the only people that understand him are 2- and 3-year old’s and he is 9. So, like his age mates they don’t understand him so yah that’s the problem, a very big one. And he didn’t know how to speak, I guess that is a problem”(Participant 10, 20 years, caregiver)
“We do have them but on my side those devices like those kids here like they can never use them. Maybe others can use them (So it’s not appropriate for all children). Yah as I said at the department of education, I even mentioned that these devices you said they are meant for the CP kids but when they bring them even when you see them. Some kids cannot say that “I am hungry now; he cannot say anything”. We are the ones who have to think for them so un line the autism kids not all of them they can use those devices.”(Participant 8, 45 years, teacher)
3.6. Need for Disability Conscientization
“I think teaching people about like communication, teaching people that okay he is like any other child, but the problem is like he loses attention and what and what. I think people need to know that and that needs to be taught at schools where children don’t have special needs, so that they also understand gore children behave like this because they have this, but he isn’t any different. I think they should include a curriculum where they teach like kids about special needs, because I only knew about autism when my informal caregiver was autistic, so I had to learn that he is like this and like this”.(Participant 10, 20 years, caregiver)
“Schools can include classes for children who are delayed and for those who are normal, that would be inclusive education for me where we would not be having separation in learning because that also adds to the stigma that people have others are mean, they like poking the physically challenged one, having to place them in one school will help to overcome the stigma that people have especially the young once, it will help prepare them mentally…”(Participant 11, 32 years, caregiver)
4. Discussion
5. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Participant Number | Age | Gender | Level of Education | Occupation and Type of School | Experience in Working with Learners with Disabilities |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 30 | Female | Graduate. | Teacher, Special needs ECD. | 3 years |
2 | 48 | Female | Graduate. | Acting principal, special needs ECD. | 7 years |
3 | 43 | Female | High School Education. | Teacher, Special needs ECD. | 6 years |
4 | 25 | Female | Completed High School. | Teacher, Special needs ECD. | 2 ½ years |
5 | 31 | Female | Graduate. | Teacher, Special needs ECD. | 2 ½ years |
6 | 40 | Female | College Certificate. | Teacher, Special needs. | 3 years |
7 | 44 | Female | High School Education. | Teacher, Special needs. | 5 years |
8 | 45 | Female | College Certificate. | Center director and Teacher, Special needs. | 10 years |
Participant Number | Age | Gender and Relationship to Child | Level of Education | Type of Disability | Current School Placement |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
9 | 33 | Female, mother | College Certificate. | Down syndrome | Special needs school |
10 | 20 | Female, informal caregiver | Graduate. | Autism Spectrum Disorder | Special needs school |
11 | 32 | Female, mother | College Certificate. | Spina bifida and Hydrocephalus | Special needs school |
12 | 40 | Female, mother | Graduate. | Autism Spectrum disorder | Started at a special needs school then went to mainstream after getting AAC. |
13 | 52 | Female, mother | College Certificate. | Spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy. | Mainstream school (inclusive) and home school. |
14 | 37 | Female, mother | College Certificate. | Down Syndrome | Special needs school |
15 | 40 | Female, mother | Completed High School. | Down Syndrome | Started at a special needs school then went to mainstream (inclusive). |
16 | 42 | Female, mother | Completed High School. | Cerebral Palsy | Special needs school |
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Masuku, K.P.; Marumolo, K. Is Inclusive Education a Good “Fit” for ALL? Perceptions of Parents and Educators of ECD Learners with Complex Communication Needs. Educ. Sci. 2024, 14, 952. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci14090952
Masuku KP, Marumolo K. Is Inclusive Education a Good “Fit” for ALL? Perceptions of Parents and Educators of ECD Learners with Complex Communication Needs. Education Sciences. 2024; 14(9):952. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci14090952
Chicago/Turabian StyleMasuku, Khetsiwe Phumelele, and Kagiso Marumolo. 2024. "Is Inclusive Education a Good “Fit” for ALL? Perceptions of Parents and Educators of ECD Learners with Complex Communication Needs" Education Sciences 14, no. 9: 952. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci14090952