Funding For Special Needs Education Not Enough In Africa

 

Researched by ‘Jide Adesina

During the Global Action Campaign on Education Week 2014, one of the major focus areas was poor budget allocation to the Special Needs Education (SNE) in the Ministry of Education and Sports national budget. It was noted that the SNE budget has been reducing over the years, yet the enrollment of children with special needs in schools has significantly increased.

The Persons with Disabilities Act, 2006 in Section 5 provides for a 10 per cent of the Education budget to the SNE. Has this been achieved? Is the little that has been allocated benefiting learners with special needs?

During the launch of the alternative report to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on March 27, it was highlighted that the various disability focal points have insufficient funds for facilitation. There is no clear indication in the Ministry of Education and Sports budget what the current SNE budget allocation means with regard to the 10 per cent stated in the Persons with Disabilities Act, 2006.

Section 5(J) of the Act states: “Government shall promote the educational development of PWDs through the commitment of not less than 10 per cent of all the educational expenditure to the educational needs of PWDs at all levels”.

Why not implement this provision? The cost per child under Universal Primary Education and Universal Secondary Education is approximately Shs7,000 per year, which is inadequate for a child with a disability.

SNE is faced with a lot of challenges, including low salaries for special needs teachers, limited sign language skilled personnel in schools, few SNE teachers, limited instructional materials, limited ICT software, especially for the visually impaired, inaccessible school environment, among others. Even the National Disabled People’s Organisations have limited knowledge and skills on budget analysis and monitoring.

There is need to review the SNE budget with more emphasis on direct service provision to learners with special needs. On the whole, different sub sectors in the education system should be educated on the current contribution towards SNE.

Introduction by the Minister of Education

When I announced the Implementation Plan for Tirisano, I noted with regret that our national and system-wide response to the challenge of Special Education would be delayed, but brought to the public as soon as we had analysed the comment on the Consultative Paper (Department of Education. Consultative Paper No. 1 on Special Education: Building an Inclusive Education and Training System. August 30, 1999). I am, therefore, glad to announce our response in this White Paper.

I am especially pleased that I have had the opportunity to take personal ownership of a process so critical to our education and training system which begun some five years ago in October 1996 with the appointment of the National Commission on Special Needs in Education and Training and the National Committee on Education Support Services. I say this because I am deeply aware of the concerns shared by many parents, educators, lecturers, specialists and learners about the future of special schools and specialised settings in an inclusive education and training system. They share these concerns because they worry about what kind of educational experience would be available to learners with moderate to severe disabilities in mainstream education. I understand these concerns, especially now, after I have observed what a difference special schools can make when they provide a quality and relevant learning experience.

In this White Paper, we make it clear that special schools will be strengthened rather than abolished. Following the completion of our audit of special schools, we will develop investment plans to improve the quality of education across all of them. Learners with severe disabilities will be accom-modated in these vastly improved special schools, as part of an inclusive system. In this regard, the process of identifying, assessing and enrolling learners in special schools will be overhauled and replaced by structures that acknowledge the central role played by educators, lecturers and parents.

Given the considerable expertise and resources that are invested in special schools, we must also make these available to neighbourhood schools, especially full-service schools and colleges. As we outline in this White Paper, this can be achieved by making special schools, in an incremental man-ner, part of district support services where they can become resources for all our schools.

I am also deeply aware of the anxieties that many educators, lecturers, parents and learners hold about our inclusion proposals for learners with special education needs. They fear the many chal-lenges that may come with inclusion – of teaching, communication, costs, stereotyping and the safety of learners – that can be righted only by further professional and physical resources development, information dissemination and advocacy. We also address these concerns in this White Paper.

Beginning with 30 and expanding up to 500 schools and colleges, we will incrementally develop full-service school and college models of inclusion that can, in the long term, be considered for system-wide application. In this manner, the Government is demonstrating its determination that through the development of models of inclusion we can take the first steps of implementing our policy goal of inclusion.

This White Paper, together with Education White Paper 5 on Early Childhood Development, completes an extraordinary period of seven years of post-apartheid policy development and policy makingoutlined in Education White Paper 1 on Education and Training that began in the final quarter of 1994. It is a policy paper that took us more time to complete than any of the five macro-systems policies that it follows upon. This means that is has benefited the most from our early experience and knowledge of the complex interface of policy and practice.

It is, therefore, another post-apartheid landmark policy paper that cuts our ties with the past and recognises the vital contribution that our people with disabilities are making and must continue to make, but as part of and not isolated from the flowering of our nation.

I hold out great hope that through the measures that we put forward in this White Paper we will also be able to convince the thousands of mothers and fathers of some 280,000 disabled children – who are younger than 18 years and are not in schools or colleges – that the place of these children is not one of isolation in dark backrooms and sheds. It is with their peers, in schools, on the playgrounds,

on the streets and in places of worship where they can become part of the local community and cultural life, and part of the reconstruction and development of our country. For, it is only when these ones among us are a natural and ordinary part of us that we can truly lay claim to the status of cherishing all our children equally.

Race and exclusion were the decadent and immoral factors that determined the place of our innocent and vulnerable children. Through this White Paper, the Government is determined to create special needs education as a non-racial and integrated component of our education system.

I wish to take this opportunity to invite all our social partners, members of the public and interested organisations to join us in this important and vital task that faces us: of building an inclusive education system. Let us work together to nurture our people with disabilities so that they also experience the full excitement and the joy of learning, and to provide them, and our nation, with a solid foundation for lifelong learning and development. I acknowledge that building an inclusive education and training system will not be easy. What will be required of us all is persistence, commitment, co-ordination, support, monitoring, evaluation, follow-up and leadership.

Professor Kader Asmal, MP
Minister of Education

Executive Summary

1. In this White Paper we outline what an inclusive education and training system is, and how we intend to build it. It provides the framework for establishing such an education and training system, details a funding strategy, and lists the key steps to be taken in establishing an inclusive education and training system for South Africa.
2. In October 1996, the Ministry of Education appointed the National Commission on Special Needs in Education and Training and the National Committee on Education Support Services to investigate and make recommendations on all aspects of ‘special needs and support services’ in education and training in South Africa.
3. A joint report on the findings of these two bodies was presented to the Minister of Education in November 1997, and the final report was published by the Department of Education in February 1998 for public comment and advice (Report of National Commission on Special Needs in Education and Training and National Committee on Education Support, Department of Education, 1997).
4. The central findings of the investigations included: 
   1. specialised education and support have predominantly been provided for a small percentage of learners with disabilities within ‘special’schools and classes; 
   2. where provided, specialised education and support were provided on a racial basis, with the best human, physical and material resources reserved for whites; 
   3. most learners with disability have either fallen outside of the system or been ‘mainstreamed by default’; 
   4. the curriculum and education system as a whole have generally failed to respond to the diverse needs of the learner population, resulting in massive numbers of drop-outs, push-outs, and failures; and, 
   5. while some attention has been given to the schooling phase with regard to ‘special needs and support’, the other levels or bands of education have been seriously neglected.
5. In the light of these findings, the joint report of the two bodies recommended that the education and training system should promote education for all and foster the development of inclusive and supportive centres of learning that would enable all learners to participate actively in the education process so that they could develop and extend their potential and participate as equal members of society.
6. The principles guiding the broad strategies to achieve this vision included: acceptance of principles and values contained in the Constitution and White Papers on Education and Training; human rights and social justice for all learners; participation and social integration; equal access to a single, inclusive education system; access to the curriculum, equity and redress; community responsiveness; and cost-effectiveness.
7. The report also suggested that the key strategies required to achieve this vision included: 
   1. transforming all aspects of the education system, 
   2. developing an integrated system of education, 
   3. infusing ‘special needs and support services’ throughout the system, 
   4. pursuing the holistic development of centres of learning to ensure a barrier-free physical environment and a supportive and inclusive psycho-social learning environment, developing a flexible curriculum to ensure access to all learners, 
   5. promoting the rights and responsibilities of parents, educators and learners, 
   6. providing effective development programmes for educators, support personnel, and other relevant human resources, 
   7. fostering holistic and integrated support provision through intersectoral collaboration, 
   8. developing a community-based support system which includes a preventative and developmental approach to support, and
   9. developing funding strategies that ensure redress for historically disadvantaged com-munities and institutions, sustainability, and – ultimately – access to education for all learners.
8. Based on the recommendations in the joint report, the Ministry released a Consultative Paper (Department of Education. Consultative Paper No. 1 on Special Education: Building an Inclusive Education and Training System. August 30, 1999). The submissions and feedback of social partners and the wider public were collated and have informed the writing of this White Paper.
9. In this White Paper, we outline the Ministry of Education’s commitment to the provision of educational opportunities in particular for those learners who experience or have experienced barriers to learning and development or who have dropped out of learning because of the inability of the education and training system to accommodate their learning needs. We recognise that our vision of an inclusive education and training system can only be developed over the long term and that the actions we will take in the short to medium term must provide us with models for later system-wide application. Our short-term to medium-term actions will also provide further clarity on the capital, material and human resource development, and consequently the funding requirements, of building an inclusive education and training system.
10. We also define inclusive education and training as:
    • Acknowledging that all children and youth can learn and that all children and youth need support.
    • Enabling education structures, systems and learning methodologies to meet the needs of all learners.
    • Acknowledging and respecting differences in learners, whether due to age, gender, ethnicity, language, class, disability, HIV or other infectious diseases.
    • Broader than formal schooling and acknowledging that learning also occurs in the home and community, and within formal and informal settings and structures. Changing attitudes, behaviour, teaching methods, curricula and environment to meet the needs of all learners.
    • Maximising the participation of all learners in the culture and the curriculum of educational institutions and uncovering and minimising barriers to learning.
11. The Ministry appreciates that a broad range of learning needs exists among the learner population at any point in time, and that where these are not met, learners may fail to learn effectively or be excluded from the learning system. In this regard, different learning needs arise from a range of factors including physical, mental, sensory, neurological and developmental impairments, psycho-social disturbances, differences in intellectual ability, particular life experiences or socio-economic deprivation.
12. Different learning needs may also arise because of:
    • Negative attitudes to and stereotyping of difference.
    • An inflexible curriculum.
    • Inappropriate languages or language of learning and teaching.
    • Inappropriate communication.
    • Inaccessible and unsafe built environments.
    • Inappropriate and inadequate support services.
    • Inadequate policies and legislation.
    • The non-recognition and non-involvement of parents.
    • Inadequately and inappropriately trained education managers and educators.
13. In accepting this inclusive approach we acknowledge that the learners who are most vulnerable to barriers to learning and exclusion in South Africa are those who have historically been termed ‘learners with special education needs,’ i.e. learners with disabilities and impairments. Their increased vulnerability has arisen largely because of the historical nature and extent of the educational support provided.
14. Accordingly, the White Paper outlines the following as key strategies and levers for establishing our inclusive education and training system:
    • The qualitative improvement of special schools for the learners that they serve and their phased conversion to resource centres that provide professional support to neighbourhood schools and are integrated into district-based support teams.
    • The overhauling of the process of identifying, assessing and enrolling learners in special schools, and its replacement by one that acknowledges the central role played by educators, lecturers and parents. The mobilisation of out-of-school disabled children and youth of school-going age.
    • Within mainstream schooling, the designation and phased conversion of approximately 500 out of 20,000 primary schools to full-service schools, beginning with the 30 school districts that are part of the national district development programme. Similarly, within adult basic, further and higher education, the designation and establishment of full-service educational institutions. These full-service education institutions will enable us to develop models for later system-wide application.
    • Within mainstream education, the general orientation and introduction of management, governing bodies and professional staff to the inclusion model, and the targeting of early identification of the range of diverse learning needs and intervention in the Foundation Phase.
    • The establishment of district-based support teams to provide a co-ordinated professional support service that draws on expertise in further and higher education and local communities, targeting special schools and specialised settings, designated full-service and other primary schools and educational institutions, beginning with the 30 districts that are part of the national district development programme.
    • The launch of a national advocacy and information programme in support of the inclusion model focusing on the roles, responsibilities and rights of all learning institutions, parents and local communities; highlighting the focal programmes; and reporting on their progress.
15. The development of an inclusive education and training system will take into account the incidence and the impact of the spread of the HIV/AIDS pandemic and other infectious diseases. For planning purposes the Ministry of Education will ascertain, in particular, the consequences for the curriculum, the expected enrolment and drop-out rates and the funding implications for both the short and long term. The Ministry will gather this information from an internally commissioned study as well as from other research being conducted in this area.

Chapter 1: What is an Inclusive Education and Training System?

Context

Special needs education is a sector where the ravages of apartheid remain most evident. Here, the segregation of learners on the basis of race was extended to incorporate segregation on the basis of disability. Apartheid special schools were thus organised according to two segregating criteria, race and disability. In accordance with apartheid policy, schools that accommodated white disabled learners were extremely well-resourced, whilst the few schools for black disabled learners were systematically underresourced.

Learners with disability experienced great difficulty in gaining access to education. Very few special schools existed and they were limited to admitting learners according to rigidly applied categories. Learners who experienced learning difficulties because of severe poverty did not qualify for educationalsupport. The categorisation system allowed only those learners with organic, medical disabilities access to support programmes.

The impact of this policy was that only 20% of learners with disabilities were accommodated in special schools. The World Health Organisation has calculated that between 2.2 % and 2.6 % of learners in any school system could be identified as disabled or impaired. An application of these percentages to the South African school population would project an upper limit of about 400,000 disabled or impaired learners. Current statistics show that only about 64,200 learners with disabilities or impairments are accommodated in about 380 special schools. This indicates that, potentially, 280,000 learners with disabilities or impairments are unaccounted for.

The results of decades of segregation and systematic underresourcing are apparent in the imbalance between special schools that catered exclusively for white disabled learners and those that catered exclusively for black disabled learners. It is, therefore, imperative that the continuing inequities in the special schools sector are eradicated and that the process through which the learner, educator and professional support services populations become representative of the South African population, is accelerated.

In this White Paper we outline how the policy will:

• Systematically move away from using segregation according to categories of disabilities asan organising principle for institutions.
• Base the provision of education for learners with disabilities on the intensity of support needed to overcome the debilitating impact of those disabilities.
• Place an emphasis on supporting learners through full-service schools that will have a bias towards particular disabilities depending on need and support.
• Direct how the initial facilities will be set up and how the additional resources required will be accessed.
• Indicate how learners with disability will be identified, assessed and incorporated into special, full-service and ordinary schools in an incremental manner.
• Introduce strategies and interventions that will assist educators to cope with a diversity of learning and teaching needs to ensure that transitory learning difficulties are ameliorated.
• Give direction for the Education Support System needed.
• Provide clear signals about how current special schools will serve identified disabled learners on site and also serve as a resource to educators and schools in the area.

The National Disability Strategy condemns the segregation of persons with disabilities from the mainstream of society. It emphasises the need for including persons with disabilities in the work-place, social environment, political sphere and sports arenas. The Ministry supports this direction and sees the establishment of an inclusive education and training system as a cornerstone of an integrated and caring society and an education and training system for the 21st century.

Introduction

1.1.1 Our Constitution (Act 108 of 1996) founded our democratic state and common citizenship on the values of human dignity, the achievement of equality and the advancement of human rights and freedoms (Section 1a). These values summon all of us to take up the responsibility and challenge of building a humane and caring society, not for the few, but for all South Africans. In establishing an education and training system for the 21st century, we carry a special responsibility to implement these values and to ensure that all learners, with and without disabilities, pursue their learning potential to the fullest.

1.1.2 In building our education and training system, our Constitution provides a special challenge to us by requiring that we give effect to the fundamental right to basic education for all South Africans. In Section 29 (1), it commits us to this fundamental right, viz. ‘that everyone has the right to a basic education, including adult basic education …’

1.1.3 This fundamental right to basic education is further developed in the Constitution in Section 9 (2), which commits the state to the achievement of equality, and Sections 9 (3), (4) and (5), which commit the state to non-discrimination. These clauses are particularly important for protecting all learners, whether disabled or not.

1.1.4 The Government’s obligation to provide basic education to all learners and its commitment to the central principles of the Constitution are also guided by the recognition that a new unified education and training system must be based on equity, on redressing past imbalances and on a progressive raising of the quality of education and training.

1.1.5 In line with its responsibility to develop policy to guide the transformation programme that is necessary to achieve these goals, the Ministry of Education has prepared this White Paper for the information of all our social partners and the wider public. This policy framework outlines the Ministry’s commitment to the provision of educational opportunities, in particular for those learners who experience or have experienced barriers to learning and development or who have dropped out of learning because of the inability of the education and training system to accommodate the diversity of learning needs, and those learners who continue to be excluded from it.

1.1.6 The White Paper outlines how the education and training system must transform itself to contribute to establishing a caring and humane society, how it must change to accommodate the full range of learning needs and the mechanisms that should be put in place.

1.1.7 Particular attention shall be paid to achieving these objectives through a realistic and effective implementation process that moves responsibly towards the development of a system that accommodates and respects diversity. This process will require a phasing in of strategies that are directed at departmental, institutional, instructional and curriculum transformation. It will also require the vigorous participation of our social partners and our communities so that social exclusion and negative stereotyping can be eliminated.

The White Paper Process

1.2.1 This White Paper arises out of the need for changes to be made to the provision of education and training so that it is responsive and sensitive to the diverse range of learning needs. Education White Paper 1 on Education and Training (1995) acknowledged the importance of providing an effective response to the unsatisfactory educational experiences of learners with special educational needs, including those within the mainstream whose educational needs were inadequately accommodated.

1.2.2 In order to address this concern within its commitment to an integrated and comprehensive approach to all areas of education, the Ministry appointed a National Commission on Special Needs in Education and Training and a National Committee on Education Support Services in October 1996. A joint report on the findings of these two bodies was presented to the Minister in November 1997, and the final report was published in February 1998. The Ministry released a Consultative Paper (Department of Education. Consultative Paper No. 1 on Special Education: Building an Inclusive Education and Training System. August 30, 1999) based to a large extent on the recommendations made to the Minister in this report.

1.2.3 The Consultative Paper advocates inclusion based on the principle that learning disabilities arise from the education system rather than the learner. Notwithstanding this approach, it made use of terms such as ‘learners with special education needs’ and ‘learners with mild to severe learning difficulties’ that are part of the language of the approach that sees learning disabilities as arising from within the learner. There should be consistency between the inclusive approach that is embraced, viz. that barriers to learning exist primarily within the learning system, and the language in use in our policy papers. Accordingly, the White Paper adopts the use of the terminology ‘barriers to learning and development’. It will retain the internationally acceptable terms of ‘disability’ and ‘impairments’ when referring specifically to those learners whose barriers to learning and development are rooted in organic/medical causes.

1.2.4 A detailed report on the Department’s response to submissions generated by the Consultative Paper can be found in Annexure A.

The Current Profile and Distribution of Special Schools and Learner Enrolment

1.3.1 Based on data from our Education Management Information System (EMIS)(Department of Education, Pretoria), the following is the distribution of special schools, learner enrolment and individual learner expenditure across all provincial departments of education.

1.3.2 From national census data on disabled persons we can further see the extent of disparities in the provision of education for learners with disabilities.

Census data: Distribution of disabled persons per category per province

1.3.3. Analysis of the data reveals the extent of the disparities in provision for learners with disabilities, for example:

• The incidence of disabilities in the Eastern Cape constitutes 17.39% of the disabled population, yet the province has only 10.79% of the total number of special schools.
• Gauteng has 17.14% of the disabled population but has 25.26% of the schools.
• The Western Cape has 5.47% of the disabled population but has 21.58% of the schools.

1.3.4 This mismatch between needs and provision is a direct result of previous apartheid policies that allocated facilities on a racial basis. These policies also centralised provision within the Western Cape and Gauteng so that, today, the vast majority of learners attend residential special schools in a province other than their own since no facilities are available in their province of residence.

1.3.5 A comparison between the overall incidence of disabilities and the number of learners accommodated in school also reveals stark disparities, for example:

• 0.28% of learners in the Eastern Cape are enrolled in special schools, yet the overall incidence figure for the population of disabled persons (of all ages) is 17.39%.
• This pattern is repeated across provinces, indicating that significant numbers of learners who – based on the traditional model – should be receiving educational support in special schools are not getting any.
• While the national total incidence figure for disabilities (of all ages) is 6.55%, the total number of learners in special schools is 0.52%.

1.3.6 The data further demonstrates that learner expenditure on learners with disabilities also varies significantly across provinces, ranging from R11,049 in Gauteng to R28,635 in the Western Cape and R22,627 in the Free State. While this distribution of learner expenditure demonstrates inefficiency in the use of resources, it also demonstrates the absence of a uniform resourcing strategy and national provisioning norms for learners with disabilities.

1.3.7 In an inclusive education and training system, a wider spread of educational support services will be created in line with what learners with disabilities require. This means that learners who require low-intensive support will receive this in ordinary schools and those requiring moderate support will receive this in full-service schools. Learners who require high-intensive educational support will continue to receive such support in special schools.

1.3.8 Based on the calculations in the table above and taking into account the number of learners who are currently accommodated in special schools, viz. 64,603, our estimate of a reasonable expectation, before adjustments for growth, of disabled learners who are out of school is 260,000. Our estimate of the upper limit of out-of-school disabled learners is 280,000.

What is Inclusive Education and Training?

1.4.1 In this White Paper inclusive education and training:

• Are about acknowledging that all children and youth can learn and that all children and youth need support.
• Are accepting and respecting the fact that all learners are different in some way and have different learning needs which are equally valued and an ordinary part of our human experience.
• Are about enabling education structures, systems and learning methodologies to meet the needs of all learners.
• Acknowledge and respect differences in learners, whether due to age, gender, ethnicity, language, class, disability or HIV status.
• Are broader than formal schooling and acknowledge that learning also occurs in the home and community, and within formal and informal modes and structures.
• Are about changing attitudes, behaviour, teaching methodologies, curricula and the environment to meet the needs of all learners.
• Are about maximising the participation of all learners in the culture and the curricula of educational institutions and uncovering and minimising barriers to learning.
• Are about empowering learners by developing their individual strengths and enabling them to participate critically in the process of learning.

1.4.2 It is clear that some learners may require more intensive and specialised forms of support to be able to develop to their full potential. An inclusive education and training system is organised so that it can provide various levels and kinds of support to learners and educators.

1.4.3 Believing in and supporting a policy of inclusive education are not enough to ensure that such a system will work in practice. Accordingly, we will evaluate carefully what resources we already have within the system and how these existing resources and capacities can be strengthened and transformed so that they can contribute to the building of an inclusive system. We will also decide on where the immediate priorities lie and put in place mechanisms to address these first.

1.4.4 In this White Paper we also distinguish between mainstreaming and inclusion as we describe below:

Building an Inclusive Education and Training System: The First Steps

1.5.1 The Ministry accepts that a broad range of learning needs exists among the learner population at any point in time, and that, where these are not met, learners may fail to learn effectively or be excluded from the learning system. In this regard, different learning needs arise from a range of factors, including physical, mental, sensory, neurological and developmental impairments, psycho-social disturbances, differences in intellectual ability, particular life experiences or socio-economic deprivation.

Different learning needs may also arise because of:

• Negative attitudes to and stereotyping of differences.
• An inflexible curriculum.
• Inappropriate languages or language of learning and teaching.
• Inappropriate communication.
• Inaccessible and unsafe built environments.
• Inappropriate and inadequate support services.
• Inadequate policies and legislation.
• The non-recognition and non-involvement of parents.
• Inadequately and inappropriately trained education managers and educators.

In accepting this approach, it is essential to acknowledge that the learners who are most vulnerable to barriers to learning and exclusion in South Africa are those who have historically been termed ‘learners with special education needs’, i.e. learners with disabilities and impairments. Their increased vulnerability has arisen largely because of the historical nature and extent of the educational support provided.

1.5.2 As will be obvious from a reading of the factors contributing to the diverse range oflearning needs, it is possible to identify barriers to learning operative within the learner or the education and training system. These may also arise during the learning process and be temporary, and can be addressed through a variety of mechanisms and processes. Interventions or strategies at different levels, such as the classroom, the school, the district, the provincial and national departments and systems, will be essential to prevent them from causing learning to be ineffective. Interventions or strategies will also be essential to avoid barriers to learning from contributing to the exclusion of learners from the curriculum and/or from the education and training system.

1.5.3 This approach to addressing barriers to learning and exclusion is consistent with a learner-centred approach to learning and teaching. It recognises that developing learners’ strengths and empowering and enabling them to participate actively and critically in the learning process involve identifying and overcoming the causes of learning difficulties. The approach is also consistent with a systemic and developmental approach to understanding problems and planning action. It is consistent with new international approaches that focus on providing quality education for all learners.

 

1.5.4 Embracing this approach as the basis for establishing an inclusive education and training system does not mean that we should then proceed to declare it as policy and hope that its implementation will proceed smoothly within all provincial systems and all education and training institutions. Rather, the successful implementation of this policy will rely on a substantive understanding of the real experiences and capabilities of our provincial systems and education and training institutions, the setting of achievable policy objectives and priorities over time and regular reporting on these. Successful policy implementation will also rely on the identification of key levers for policy change and innovation within our provincial systems and our education and training institutions.

1.5.5 It is this approach that lies at the heart of this White Paper: a determination to establish an inclusive education and training system as our response to the call to action to establish a caring and humane society, and a recognition that within an education and training system that is engaging in multiple and simultaneous policy change under conditions of severe resource constraints, we must determine policy priorities, identify key levers for change and put in place successful South African models of inclusion.

1.5.6 Against this background, we identify within this White Paper the following six key strategies and levers for establishing our inclusive education and training system:

1.5.6.1 The qualitative improvement of special schools and settings for the learners that they serve and their conversion to resource centres that are integrated into district-based support teams.

The place and role of special schools in an inclusive education systemAs we described earlier, special schools currently provide, in a racially segregated manner, education services of varying quality. While special schools provide critical education services to learners who require intense levels of support, they also accommodate learners who require much less support and should ideally be in mainstream schools. When implementing our policy on inclusion we will pay particular attention to raising the overall quality of education services that special schools provide. We will also ensure that learners who require intense levels of support receive these services since mainstream schools will be unable to provide them. In addition to these roles, special schools will have a very important role to play in an inclusive system. The new roles for these schools will include providing particular expertise and support, especially professional support in curriculum, assessment and instruction, as part of the district support team to neighbourhood schools, especially ‘full-service’ schools. This role also includes providing appropriate and quality educational provision for those learners who are already in these settings or who may require accommodation in settings requiring secure care or specialised programmes with high levels of support. Improved quality of special schools will also include the provision of comprehensive education programmes that provide life-skills training and programme-to-work linkages. Here is an example of how a special school can operate a resource centre in its district. A special school has specialised skills available among its staff and has developed learning materials to specifically assist learners with visual impairments. There may also be facilities for Braille available at the school. The professional staff at this school, as part of their role in the district support team, could run a training workshop in their district for other educators on how to provide additional support in the classroom to visually-impaired learners. The special school could produce learning materials in Braille and make them available through a lending system to other schools in the district. The school could also set up a ‘helpline’ for educators or parents to telephone in with queries. But what will be done to help special schools take on this additional role? The White Paper explains that, to assist special schools in functioning as resource centres in the district support system, there will be a qualitative upgrading of their services. We will focus especially on the training of their staff for their new roles. This process of upgrading will take place once we have completed our audit of the programmes, services and facilities in all 378 special schools and independent special schools.

1.5.6.2 The mobilisation of the approximately 280,000 disabled children and youth outside of the school system.

1.5.6.3 Within mainstream schooling, the designation and conversion of approximately 500 out of 20,000 primary schools to full-service schools, beginning with the 30 school districts that are part of the national District Development Programme. Similarly, within adult basic, further and higher education, the designation and establishment of full-service educational institutions. The eventual number of full-service institutions (beyond the target of 500) will be governed by our needs and available resources.

1.5.6.4 Within mainstream education, the general orientation and introduction of management, governing bodies and professional staff to the inclusion model, and the targeting of early identification of disabilities and intervention in the Foundation Phase.

1.5.6.5 The establishment of district-based support teams to provide a co-ordinated professional support service that draws on expertise in further and higher education and local communities, targeting special schools and specialised settings, designated full-service and other primary schools and educational institutions, beginning with 30 school districts.

1.5.6.6 Finally, we will prioritise the implementation of a national advocacy and information programme in support of the inclusion model focusing on the roles, responsibilities and rights of all learning institutions, educators, parents and local communities and high-lighting the focal programmes and reporting on their progress.

HIV/AIDS and Other Infectious Diseases

1.6.1 The development of an inclusive education and training system must take into account the incidence and the impact of the spread of HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases.

1.6.2 For planning purposes, the Ministry will need to ascertain, in particular, the consequences for the curriculum, the expected enrolment and drop-out rates and the funding implications in both the short and long terms.

1.6.3 The Ministry will attempt to gather this information from an internally commissioned study, as well as from other research being conducted in this area.

In the next chapter we elaborate on these six strategies and levers for change that constitute the core of our policy framework for establishing an inclusive education and training system.

Chapter 2: The Framework for Establishing an Inclusive Education and Training System

Introduction

2.1.1 The central objective of this White Paper is to extend the policy foundations, frameworks and programmes of existing policy for all bands of education and training so that our education and training system will recognise and accommodate the diverse range of learning needs.

2.1.2 The most significant conceptual change from current policy is that the development of education and training must be premised on the understanding that:

• All children, youth and adults have the potential to learn within all bands of education and they all require support.
• Many learners experience barriers to learning or drop out primarily because of the inability of the system to recognise and accommodate the diverse range of learning needs typically through inaccessible physical plants, curricula, assessment, learning materials and instructional methodologies. The approach advocated in this White Paper is fundamentally different from traditional ones that assume that barriers to learning reside primarily within the learner and accordingly, learner support should take the form of specialist, typically medical interventions.
• Establishing an inclusive education and training system will require changes to mainstream education so that learners experiencing barriers to learning can be identified early and appropriate support provided. It will also require changes to special schools and specialised settings so that learners who experience mild to moderate disabilities can be adequately accommodated within mainstream education through appropriate support from district-based support teams including special schools and specialised settings. This will require that the quality of provision of special schools and specialised settings be upgraded so that they can provide a high-quality service for learners with severe and multiple disabilities.

2.1.3 We are persuaded that the inclusion of learners with disabilities that stem from impaired intellectual development will require curriculum adaptation rather than major structural adjustments or sophisticated equipment. Accordingly, their accommodation within an inclusive education and training framework would be more easily facilitated than the inclusion of those learners who require intensive support through medical interventions, structural adjustments to the built environment and/or assistive devices with minimal curriculum adaptation. Given the serious human resource constraints in the country and the demands for justice, there is an onus on the Government to ensure that all human resources are developed to their fullest potential. In the long run, such a policy will also lead to a reduction in the Government’s fiscal burden as the inclusive education and training system increases the number of productive citizens relative to those who are dependant on the state for social security grants.

2.1.4 The central features of the inclusive education and training system put forward in this White Paper are:

• Criteria for the revision of existing policies and legislation for all bands of education and training, and frameworks for governance and organisation.
• A strengthened district-based education support service.
• The expansion of access and provision.
• Support for curriculum development and assessment, institutional development and quality improvement and assurance.
• A national information, advocacy and mobilisation campaign.
• A revised funding strategy.

2.1.5 It is also essential to acknowledge that many of the barriers to learning that we are drawing attention to in this White Paper are being tackled within many other national and provincial programmes of the Departments of Education, Health, Welfare, and Public Works in particular.

2.1.6 To illustrate, in the case of the Department of Education, the COLTS programme previously, and now the Tirisano programme, the District Development Programme, Curriculum 2005, the Language-in-Education Policy, Systemic Evaluation (of the attainment of Grade 3 learners), the HIV/AIDS Life Skills Programme and the joint programmes with the Business Trust on school efficiency and quality improvement, are examples of programmes that are already seeking to uncover and remove barriers to learning experienced in mainstream education.

2.1.7 The Department of Public Works is implementing a job creation project to provide ramp access for learners on wheelchairs to schools.

2.1.8 The Department of Health is implementing an Integrated Nutrition Strategy including the Primary Schools Nutrition Project to provide learners from poor families with a nutritious meal. The Department also provides free health care for children younger than six years, while the Technical Guidelines on Immunisation in South Africa (1995) provide for children younger than five years to be prioritised for nutritional intervention.

2.1.9 The Department of Social Development prioritises the provision of social development services to children under five years. The Department also provides a child support grant for needy children younger than seven years.

2.1.10 All of these programmes will be enhanced by policies and programmes being advocated in this White Paper.

2.1.11 Accordingly, in this White Paper, the Ministry puts forward a framework for transformation and change which aims to ensure increased and improved access to the education and training system for those learners who experience the most severe forms of learning difficulties and are most vulnerable to exclusion.

2.1.12 This will, of necessity, require that we focus our attention on those learners in special schools and settings and those in remedial or special classes in ordinary schools and settings.

2.1.13 However, while we must focus our efforts on improving the capacity of the education and training system to accommodate learners who experience the various forms of learning difficulties, our focus will require the transformation and change of the entire education and training system for us to be able to accomplish these objectives and to enable mainstream education and training to recognise and address the causes and effects of learning difficulties in ‘ordinary’ classes and lecture halls.

2.1.14 Transformation and change must therefore focus on the full range of education and training services: the organisations – national and provincial departments of education, further and higher education institutions, schools (both special and ordinary); education support services; curriculum and assessment; education managers and educators; and parents and communities.

The Framework for Establishing an Inclusive Education and Training System

Education and training policies, legislation, advisory bodies and governance and organisational arrangements

2.2.1.1 In order for the Ministry to establish an inclusive education and training system, it will review all existing policies and legislation for general, further and higher education and training so that these will be consistent with the policy proposals put forward in this White Paper. The South African Schools Act (1996), the Higher Education Act (1997), the Further Education and Training Act (1998), the Adult Basic Education and Training Act (2000) and the accompanying White Papers already provide the basis for the establishment of an inclusive education and training system. Accordingly, the Ministry will require all advisory bodies to provide it with advice on how to implement the policy proposals contained in this White Paper. The Ministry will also review the memberships of all advisory bodies to ensure that appropriate expertise and representation enable these bodies to advise the Minister and Members of the Provincial Executive Councils responsible for Education on goals, priorities and targets for the successful establishment of the inclusive education and training system.

2.2.1.2 In revising policies, legislation and frameworks, the Ministry will give particular, but not exclusive, attention to those that relate to the school and college systems. Policies, legislation and frameworks for the school and college systems must provide the basis for overcoming the causes and effects of barriers to learning. Specifically admission policies will be revised so that learners who can be accommodated outside of special schools and specialised settings can be accommodated within designated full-service or other schools and settings. Age grade norms will be revised to accommodate those learners requiring a departure from these norms as a result of their particular learning needs. Simultaneously, the Ministry will collaborate with the Ministries of Health and Social Development to design and implement early identification, assessment and education programmes for learners with disabilities in the age group 0-9 years. Boarding facilities and transport policies and practices will be reviewed on the understanding that the neighbourhood or full-service school should be promoted as the first choice.

2.2.1.3 In respect of reform schools and schools of industry, the Ministry will collaborate with the Ministry of Social Development and the provincial departments of education to ensure that children and youth awaiting trial in these schools are provided with a supportive and effective learning and teaching environment, and that appropriate assessment practices and clear criteria and guidelines for their placement are established.

2.2.1.4 In higher education institutions access for disabled learners and other learners who experience barriers to learning and development can be achieved through properly co-ordinated learner support services, and the cost-effective provision of such support services can be made possible through regional collaboration. Institutional planning is now a critical part of national planning for higher education, and higher education institutions will be required to plan the provision of programmes for learners with disabilities and impairments through regional collaboration. This is now a requirement of the National Plan for Higher Education.

2.2.1.5 An aspect of the development of learning settings that the Ministry will give urgent attention to is the creation of barrier-free physical environments. The manner in which the physical environment, such as buildings and grounds, is developed and organised contributes to the level of independence and equality that learners with disability enjoy. The physical environment of most ordinary schools and learning settings is not barrier-free and even where this is the case, accessibility has not been planned. Accordingly, space and cost norms for buildings, including grounds, will focus on the design and construction of new buildings, as well as the renovation of existing buildings. These actions will be undertaken in collaboration with the Ministry of Public Works and provincial departments of public works.

2.2.1.6 In beginning to implement the policy proposals put forward in this White Paper, it will be essential to match the capacity of Government with the roles proposed for it. Professional development programmes will focus on the development of effective leadership in policy, administration and programme implementation, the establishment of management information systems, and the development of competencies necessary for addressing severe learning difficulties within all branches and sections of the national and provincial departments of education.

2.2.1.7 The National Norms and Standards for School Funding will apply to the new Inclusive Education and Training System and its application will be customised to ensure equity and redress.

Strengthening education support services

2.2.2.1 The Ministry believes that the key to reducing barriers to learning within all education and training lies in a strengthened education support service.

2.2.2.2 This strengthened education support service will have, at its centre, new district-based support teams that will comprise staff from provincial district, regional and head offices and from special schools. The primary function of these district support teams will be to evaluate programmes, diagnose their effectiveness and suggest modifications. Through supporting teaching, learning and management, they will build the capacity of schools, early childhood and adult basic education and training centres, colleges and higher education institutions to recognise and address severe learning difficulties and to accommodate a range of learning needs.

2.2.2.3 At the institutional level, in general, further and higher education, we will require institutions to establish institutional-level support teams. The primary function of these teams will be to put in place properly co-ordinated learner and educator support services. These services will support the learning and teaching process by identifying and addressing learner, educator and institutional needs. Where appropriate, these teams should be strengthened by expertise from the local community, district support teams and higher education institutions. District support teams will provide the full range of education support services, such as professional development in curriculum and assessment, to these institutional-level support teams.

2.2.2.4 The Ministry will also investigate how, within the principles of the post-provisioning model, designated posts can be created in all district support teams. Staff appointed to these posts can, as members of the district support team, develop and co-ordinate school-based support for all educators.

2.2.2.5 The Ministry recognises that the success of our approach to addressing barriers to learning and the provision of the full range of diverse learning needs lies with our education managers and educator cadre. Accordingly, and in collaboration with our provincial departments of education, the Ministry will, through the district support teams, provide access for educators to appropriate pre-service and in-service education and training and professional support services. The Ministry will also ensure that the norms and standards for the education and training of educators, trainers and other development practitioners include competencies in addressing barriers to learning and provide for the development of specialised competencies such as life skills, counselling and learning support.

2.2.2.6 Special schools and settings will be converted to resource centres and integrated into district support teams so that that they can provide specialised professional support in curriculum, assessment and instruction to neighbourhood schools. This new role will be performed by special schools and settings in addition to the services that they provide to their existing learner base. In order to ensure that special schools and settings are well prepared for their new role, we will conduct an audit of their current capacities and the quality of their provision, raise the quality of their provision, upgrade them to resource centres and train their staff to assume these new roles as part of the district support team.

2.2.2.7 In revising and aligning our education support service, we will focus our efforts on establishing a co-ordinated education support service along a continuum from national through to provincial departments of education, through to schools, colleges, adult and early childhood learning centres, and higher education, which is sensitive to and accommodates diversity, with appropriate capacities, policies and support services.

Expanding provision and access

2.2.3.1 A central feature of our programme to build an inclusive education and training system is the enrolment of the approximately 280,000 disabled children and youth of compulsory school-going age that are not accommodated in our school system.

2.2.3.2 The Ministry will put in place a public education programme to inform and educate parents of these children and youth, and will collaborate with the Department of Social Development to develop a programme to support their special welfare needs, including the provision of devices such as wheel chairs and hearing aids.

2.2.3.3 To accommodate these children and youth of school-going age, we will, in collaboration with the provincial departments of education, designate and then convert, as a first step, primary schools to full-service schools, beginning in those school districts that form part of the national schools district development programme. Eventually, we expect to designate and convert to a full-service school at least one primary school within each of our school districts, taking into account the location of the special schools/resource centres. These full-service schools will be provided with the necessary physical and material resources and the staff and professional development that are essential to accommodate the full range of learning needs. In this manner, we will expand provision and access to disabled learners within neighbourhood schools alongside their non-disabled peers.

2.2.3.4 Together with the provincial departments of education, the Ministry will monitor the successes and impact of these pilot schools closely to inform the expansion of the model to other primary and high schools.

2.2.3.5 With the collaboration of the provincial departments of education and school governing bodies, full service schools will be made available to adult learners as part of public a adult learning programmes.

Further education and training

2.2.4.1 The Ministry will link the provision of education to learners with disabilities stemming from impaired intellectual development and who do not require intensive support to the general restructuring of the further education and training sector currently being undertaken.

2.2.4.2 It is likely that a similar model to that proposed for general education will be developed for technical colleges, namely that there will be dedicated special colleges which will mirror the full-service schools in the general education sector.

Higher education

2.2.5.1 The National Plan for Higher Education (Ministry of Education, February 2001) commits our higher education institutions to increasing the access of learners with special education needs. The Ministry, therefore, expects institutions to indicate in their institutional plans the strategies and steps, with the relevant time frames, they intend taking to increase enrolment of these learners.

2.2.5.2 The Ministry will also make recommendations to higher education institutions regarding minimum levels of provision for learners with special needs. However, all higher education institutions will be required to ensure that there is appropriate physical access for physically disabled learners.

2.2.5.3 It will not be possible to provide relatively expensive equipment and other resources, particularly for blind and deaf students, at all higher education institutions. Such facilities will therefore have to be organised on a regional basis.

Curriculum, assessment and quality assurance

2.2.6.1 Central to the accommodation of diversity in our schools, colleges, and adult and early childhood learning centres and higher education institutions, is a flexible curriculum and assessment policy that is accessible to all learners, irrespective of the nature of their learning needs. This is so since curricula create the most significant barrier to learning and exclusion for many learners, whether they are in special schools or settings, or ‘ordinary’ schools and settings. These barriers to learning arise from within the various interlocking parts of the curriculum, such as the content of learning programmes, the language and medium of learning and teaching, the management and organisation of classrooms, teaching style and pace, time frames for completion of curricula, the materials and equipment that are available, and assessment methods and techniques. Barriers to learning and exclusion of this kind also arise from the physical and psycho-social environment within which learning occurs.

2.2.6.2 Accordingly, new curriculum and assessment initiatives will be required to focus on the inclusion of the full range of diverse learning needs. A key responsibility of the district support teams will be to provide curriculum, assessment and instructional support to public adult learning centres, schools and further education institutions in the form of illustrative learning programmes, learning support materials and assessment instruments.

2.2.6.3 As described earlier, the prevailing situation in special schools and settings and in remedial classes and programmes is inappropriate, and in general fails to provide a cost-effective and comprehensive learning experience for participating learners. In taking the first steps in building an inclusive education and training system, we will review, improve and expand participation in special schools/resource centres and full-service institutions. The Ministry believes that these programmes should provide a comprehensive education, and should provide life skills and programme-to-work link-ages. As described earlier, these programmes will also be required to provide their services to neighbourhood schools. Attention will also be given to those programmes and settings that accommodate learners requiring secure care, specialised programmes and/or high levels of support to ensure that these are provided in an appropriate and cost-effective manner, and that they provide for the psycho-social needs of these learners.

2.2.6.4 Institutional development will therefore focus on assisting educational institutions to recognise and address the diverse range of learning needs among learners. While we provide a framework for educational practices that are consistent with the establishment of an inclusive education and training system in this White Paper, we will focus on and prioritise special schools/resource centres and full-service schools and colleges that provide education services to learners most profoundly affected by learning barriers and exclusion.

2.2.6.5 The Ministry fully appreciates the importance of assessment and interventions during the early phases of life. It is during the pre-schooling years that hearing and vision-testing programmes should reveal early organic impairments that are barriers to learning. Community-based clinics are in the best position to conduct an initial assessment and plan a suitable course of action in conjunction with parents and personnel from various social services such as education. In order to ensure the continuity of such services throughout learning, the Ministry recognises that it is essential that links be established between community-based clinics and other service providers and the education and training system. Once learners have entered the formal education system, school-based support teams should be involved centrally in identifying ‘at risk’ learners and addressing barriers to learning. To achieve this important objective, the Ministry shall work closely with the Ministries of Social Development and Health, and the provincial departments of education. With respect to the school system, early identification of barriers to learning will focus on learners in the Foundation Phase (Grades R-3) who may require support, for example through the tailoring of the curriculum, assessment and instruction.

2.2.6.6 Together with the Department of Public Works, we will make a special effort to develop sites of learning that provide physical access to most learners – in terms of buildings and grounds, beginning with designated full-service institutions.

2.2.6.7 Materials and equipment, in particular devices such as hearing aids and wheelchairs, will be made progressively accessible and available to those learners who cannot gain access to learning because of a lack of appropriate resources. In this respect, our primary focus shall be on the designated full-service institutions.

2.2.6.8 Assessment processes will address barriers to learning and current policies and practices will be reviewed and revised to ensure that the needs of all learners are acknowledged and addressed.

2.2.6.9 Existing quality assurance mechanisms at all levels of education and training, and at all sites of learning, will facilitate the development of quality education for all learners, including those who are disabled.

Information, advocacy and mobilisation

2.2.7.1 Public awareness and acceptance of inclusion will be essential for the establishment of an inclusive society and the inclusive education and training system put forward in this White Paper. Uncovering negative stereotypes, advocating unconditional acceptance and winning support for the policies put forward in this White Paper will be essential to the establishment of the inclusive education and training system.

2.2.7.2 Accordingly, the Ministry will launch an information and advocacy campaign to communicate the policy proposals contained in this White Paper, including the rights, responsibilities and obligations attached to these. The Ministry will also continue its discussions with national actors and role-players to win their support for the policy of inclusion and to review rights, responsibilities and obligations attached to these. One of the central thrusts of the advocacy campaign will be to target parents, since they are regarded as an important form of support.

2.2.7.3 Special attention will be given to the mobilisation of community support for the designation of full-service institutions and the conversion of special schools to resource centres.

2.2.7.4 As part of its information, advocacy and mobilisation campaign, and subject to the expansion of provision and access described in this White Paper, the Ministry will target the recruitment of those learners of compulsory school-going age who are not yet accommodated in our schools. Similarly, the Ministry will target the recruitment of learners to the designated public adult learning centres, and further and higher education institutions as these are established.

HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases

2.2.8.1 The Ministry will, on an ongoing basis, analyse the effects of HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases on the education system, and develop and implement appropriate and timely programmes.

2.2.8.2 These programmes will include special measures, such as strengthening our information systems, establishing a system to identify orphans, co-ordinate support and care programmes for such learners, put in place referral procedures for educators, and develop teaching guidelines on how to support orphans and other children in distress.

2.2.8.3 In this regard, the Ministry will work closely with provincial departments of education and the Departments of Social Development, Health and the Public Service Administration.

Funding Strategy

2.3.1 The funding strategy outlined in this White Paper needs to be adequately resourced to ensure successful implementation.

2.3.2 In Chapter 3 we describe the proposed funding strategy for the policies advocated in this White Paper.

Chapter 3: Funding Strategy

Introduction

3.1.1 The system of educational provision for learners with special needs inherited from the apartheid era is clearly both inefficient and inequitable. Its inefficiency is reflected, firstly, in the maldistribution of learners, with three provinces (Gauteng, Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal) having 236 of the 380 special schools (62%) and 65% of learners. Given the centralisation during apartheid, learners from all over the country were required to attend schools in these provinces depending on the nature of their needs. However, it is evident that educational provision in the other provinces has also not been cost-effective. For instance, in the North West province 42 schools cater for just over 4, 000 learners, a learner:school ratio of 104, while in Gauteng the learner:school ratio is approximately 265.

3.1.2 Secondly, individual learner costs of provision by province vary widely from R11,000 a year in Gauteng to R23,000 in the Free State and R28,600 in the Western Cape. These discrepancies are due largely to the racial organisation of special schools, with schools for whites most highly resourced. Additionally, these variances probably also reflect other inefficiencies in provision.

3.1.3 The system has been historically iniquitous because the focus of provision has been on the white population and remains inadequate for the black population, particularly for Africans in rural areas and small towns. As stated earlier, the segregation of learners on the basis of race was extended to incorporate segregation on the basis of disability. The challenge therefore is to transform the current system to make it more efficient, more equitable and more just.

3.1.4 The policy proposals described in the White Paper are aimed at developing an inclusive education and training system that will ensure that educational provision for learners with special needs is largely integrated over time into what are currently considered to be ‘ordinary schools’.

Critical Success Factors

3.2.1 The development of the inclusive education and training system, and in particular, the development of appropriate funding strategies, must take account of various factors that will impact on