| Popis: |
Inclusive Education is an ideal currently being sought after and being realised in different ways in different countries across the globe. The Constitution of South Africa (RSA 1996a) paved the way for democracy and the accommodation of diversity. These principles also formed the foundation for the formulation of a distinctive policy for South Africa regarding inclusive education that was accepted in 2001. Inclusive education is, therefore, a reality that school managers must progressively deal with on a daily base. The predicament, however for the majority of the current school managers, is that they were trained for, and until now predominantly functioned in, a mainly exclusive education environment and thus have little or no knowledge regarding inclusivity. This implies that they are probably not sufficiently empowered to implement inclusive education. Against this background, the investigation was undertaken in order to describe the role of school management in the implementation of inclusive education in schools. A comprehensive literature study was undertaken to encompass relevant international and national policies. Available literature on the experiences of educators and school managers across the world were also scrutinised to obtain relevant information. This was followed by a quantitative investigation amongst school managers of non-inclusive schools in the Motheo district the Free State aiming at collecting data on the compatibility of inclusive education with the current status in schools. Finally a qualitative investigation was undertaken in the Bojanala-West region (in the locality of Rustenburg) where the inclusive eduation policy has been implemented, to obtain managerial perspectives from school managers of inclusive schools. The findings of the investigation were used to make certain recommendations regarding the role of school managers in the implementation of inclusive education at South African schools. If these broad directives are followed, any management team, in conjunction with all other role-players, should be able to facilitate the creation of an inclusive school environment fit for the unique nature and establishment of their school community to the advantage of all learners. |
