Reasons for including/excluding learners with permanent mobility impairments in mainstream high schools in East London

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Internationally, ensuring that all persons, in particular the vulnerable and marginalised, have access totheir human rights is advocated now more than ever. Access to education is one of these rights. Forpersons with disabilities, which includes learners with permanent mobility impairments (PMIs),realising the right of access to education can be achieved through developing an inclusive educationsystem. This study set out to understand what mainstream high schools in East London consider aschallenges in enrolling and accommodating learners with PMIs, and how decisions are based toinclude or exclude these learners.A cross-sectional, descriptive study, using a mixed methods design and which was exploratory innature was used to address the study aim and objectives. The method of inquiry was achieved throughsurvey research. The study setting was East London, in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. The studypopulation comprised 21 mainstream high schools in the city, as represented through a member of theeducational staff. Only 12 schools (57%) actually participated in the study. These schools were eitherpublic or independent, English-, Afrikaans-, isiXhosa- or bilingual-medium, single gender or coeducationalschools, with or without learners with PMIs in the school in urban or peri-urban EastLondon. No sampling was done. Data was collected via e-mail through a self-administeredquestionnaire.It was found that four learners with PMIs were enrolled in the participating schools. The majority ofparticipating schools did not receive applications from learners with PMIs. The greatest barrier toinclusion was related to infrastructure challenges. I had the impression that the participants'understanding of 'inclusion' and 'mainstreaming' was confused, and it appeared that the main ideawas to mainstream.Recommendations made for practice include completing access audits of mainstream high schools,developing human resources, developing consulting services, monitoring the implementation of theEducation White Paper 6, and making global changes in line with inclusion of persons with mobilityimpairments. It is hoped that this study might serve as a pilot study for a provincial study in theEastern Cape. Such a study should determine the prevalence of learners of high school age with PMIs,and the percentage of these learners in mainstream high schools. Further, it could determineperspectives regarding inclusion of learners with mobility impairments in mainstream high schoolsfrom all involved stakeholders. A study could also be conducted to determine whether or not, andwhy, learners with PMIs apply for enrolment in mainstream high schools.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University