Education Seminar Addresses Contemporary Issues in Inclusive Education

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Students from the School of Education along with guest speakers recently participated and shared their research knowledge in a seminar entitled “Contemporary issues in inclusive education: Partnerships for possibilities”. This seminar was organised by both the students and their Lecturer, Dr Fumane Khanare, and is part of the inclusive education theory and practice module.

‘It is important for us to share and learn from experts in order to improve our understanding of the module and to identify niche areas for research (individual and collaborative), said Dr Khanare. ‘It is through existing partnerships, mobilising partnerships or even creating new ones that the goal of building an inclusive society can be achieved.’

UKZN PhD student Mrs Sella Terrie Kisaka looked at the challenges of implementing inclusive education in universities in Kenya. ‘Inclusive education seeks to address the learning needs of all students, young people and adults, with a specific focus on those who are vulnerable to marginalisation and exclusion.’

‘Universities have a department dealing with Special Needs education, a student affairs division, academic division etc. However the good policies that are in place are rarely adhered to on the ground due to bureaucratic hurdles, financial constraints, and poor implementation.’

She believes that universities should accommodate all students, regardless of their physical, intellectual, social, emotional, linguistic or other impairments. ‘They should provide for disabled and gifted students, street and working students, students from remote or nomadic populations, students from linguistic, ethnic or cultural minorities and students from other marginalised areas or groups.’

Educator Mr Samuel Abogunloko discussed his research on Inclusive Education in Nigeria based on his experiences in the educational industry as a contributory and active stakeholder who started his teaching career in 1991.

‘Inclusive education policies and practices do exist in Nigeria but do not necessarily follow/adopt the South African’s nomenclature. There is greater capacity building and self-reliance principle inbuilt into larger populations of Nigerians but there is limited or no reliance on government for economic survival. Currently unique inclusive educational platforms exist in Nigeria such as Nomadic education and even Almajiri schools.’

He believes that some of the drawbacks such as politics, terrorism and population problems need to be addressed in order to facilitate inclusive education.

Chief Education Specialist: Special Needs Education Services at the KZN Department of Basic Education Ms Cynthia Busane spoke about Partnering for Inclusive Education in South Africa highlighting that such partnerships will scale up support for learners with disabilities.

One such partnership that she spoke about was one with hospitals. ‘We plan activities with hospital partners by identifying out-of-school children during community outreach and forward assessment reports to DoE offices, assessing in-school learners and forwarding to DoE to facilitate reports for care dependency grant applications ‘We thereby conduct training for educators to empower them on early identification and support, provision of workshops to follow up on identified learners and the direct intervention by therapists in special cases.’

Other partnerships with NGO’s, parents and businesses were also addressed. ‘Partnerships are complex issues. You interact with different people and consequences cannot be predicted. The approach must be flexible depending on the context and the specific demands of the situation at hand. Small actions count and a positive attitude from individuals,’ said Busane.

With the positive response from participants and those that attended the seminar, Dr Khanare hopes that the seminar becomes an annual event.

Melissa Mungroo