Access to Education and Support for Learners with Special Education Needs

1. Access to Education and Support for Learners with Special Education Needs Presentation to the Portfolio Committee on Women. Children and Persons with Disabilities Department of Basic Education 24 August 2011

2. Vision “Inclusive schools provide an effective education to the majority of children and improve the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of the entire education system and build an inclusive and tolerant society”

3. Education White Paper 6 Launched in July 2001 Purpose: to bring about systemic measures for changing schooling and support provisioning landscape in the following ways: Increasing access to quality education and support for all Strengthening and changing role of special schools to Resource Centres Building capacity of mainstream schools for improved support services Strengthening districts – more cost effective use of scarce resources Strengthening framework for teacher development Strengthening mechanisms for accessible curriculum Overhauling the screening, assessment and admissions policy to focus on making support available in ordinary schools and centrally involving parents and teachers in decision making Advocacy on inclusivity

4. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Article 24 speaks to the realities on the ground Increasing access to education for learners with severe and multiple disabilities Increasing capacity in the mainstream to reduce the number of referrals and drop-outs by providing reasonable accommodation Integrating support in all programmes Recognising dignity

5. Schooling System For Disabled Learners • Disabled learners access education in any of the following schools: • Special schools which in the main are for disabled learners requiring high levels of support • Full service schools which are flagship ordinary schools that are welcoming to all children and support each every child to develop to his/her full potential irrespective of background, culture, ability or disability, gender or race – models of good inclusive practice • Ordinary schools which should focus on learners requiring low levels of support – the long-term vision of the inclusive education policy is that these schools should also be inclusive

6. Learners in Schools By Primary Disability Across Provinces, 2007

7. Learners in Schools By Primary Disability Across Provinces, 2007 Cont. Source: EMIS, 2007

8. Learners With Disabilities in Special Schools, 2009 Source: EMIS, 2009

9. Learners With Disabilities in Ordinary Schools, 2009 Source: EMIS, 2009

10. Funding Allocation To Special Schools in 2010/11 Source: Provincial Budget Monitoring, 2010

11. Institutions Resourced to Increase Access To Education For Disabled Learners To Date

12. Number of Special Schools Per Disability

13. Number of Special Schools Per Disability Cont.

14. Activities For Supporting Special Needs Learners • Curriculum development including South African Sign language curriculum grades R-12; methodologies for accommodating diversity through Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statements • Training of provincial, district and school management teams on visual and hearing impairment • Consolidating a training programme for teachers of visually and hearing impaired learners for 2011 to 2013 • Adaptation of workbooks to Braille, the SASL and Augmentative and Alternative Communication • Procuring Braille textbooks grades 10-12 • Establishing posts of therapists and Learning Support Educators based at districts to support schools • Progressively increasing full service schools and special school resource centres

15. Progress Made with Capacity Building To Date

16. Next Steps 2012 - 2014

17. Action Plan To 2014 • Respond to the following policy formulation challenges: • Developing funding norms ensuring funds are allocated per learner disability • Ensuring a strong referral system working with departments of Health and Social Development • Identification of different levels of disabilities and how they can be supported • Improve curriculum delivery and assessment methodologies to accommodate diversity in learning styles and needs • Strengthening remediation particularly for learners who lost out on learning opportunities • Ensuring the provision of accessible LTSM and textbooks for all learners • Identifying opportunities for young people with disabilities • Supporting parents of disabled children to access support

18. Action Plan To 2014 Reaffirming principles of the White Paper 6, in particular the need for greater access amongst the poor by increasing access to specialist services the need for a fundamental mindset shift in the way the schooling system regards special needs and disability through advocacy Issues that must be tracked over the long term include The extension of the network of special and full service schools the capacity of districts to support ordinary schools with respect to specialist services and the loan of costly equipment and the extent to which ordinary schools refer learners to special or full-service schools for full- or part-time attention.

19. Priorities for Inclusive Education to 2014 • Action Plan To 2014 proposes the following for the Inclusive Education Programme: • Increase the number of full service schools to at least one for every district by 2014 while ensuring their access to specialist services • Strengthening district support for schools in dealing with special needs • Mediating Guidelines for full Service Schools and Guidelines To Ensure Quality Education and Support In Special Schools and Special Schools Resource Centres at district level. • Monitoring the implementation of the inclusive education policy in the system

20. Increasing Full Service Schools To At Least One Per District by 2014 • Definition: a school that is welcoming to all children and supports each child to develop to his/her full potential irrespective of background, culture, ability or disability, gender or race • Activities will include: • Coordinating the procurement of assistive devices where required by provinces • Ensuring that established school-based support teams (ILSTs) are functional in existing full service schools • Developing funding norms that respond to the roles and responsibilities that full service schools have to carry out • Monitoring compliance with Guidelines for Full Service Schools by existing full service schools

21. Increasing Schools That Implement Inclusive Education Policy • Screening, identification, assessment and support strategy (SIAS): • Refining for finalisation as policy during 2011/12 for a roll out thereafter • Develop a SIAS training programme for use by Teacher Development institutions to train teachers from 2012 onwards • Developing a training programme on methodologies to accommodate diversity in the classroom through CAPS by July 2011 • Finalising the South African Sign Language curriculum grades R-12 for implementation from 2013 • Developing teacher training programmes in special needs targeting visual impairment, Deaf and hard of hearing in 2011/12 for implementation through to 2013

22. Strengthening District Capacity To Support Special Needs • Building capacity of district officials on Guidelines for Full Service Schools and Guidelines to Ensure Quality Education And Support in Special Schools and Special Schools Resource Centres in 2011/12 • Building capacity of district officials on SIAS during 2012/13 to support schools in the identification of special needs • Indicator: increasing the percentage of schools in which at least one teacher has received specialised training in the identification of barriers to education

23. Provision of Accessible Textbooks, Workbooks, LTSM and Assistive Devices • Procuring the Brailling of adapted workbooks for grades 1-6 and subsequent ones • Procuring prescribed books in Braille for grades 10-12 in 22 schools for the Blind • Adapting subsequent workbooks for Brailling during 2011/12 • Procuring the Brailling of CAPS-aligned textbooks from 2012 onwards • Coordinating the procurement of assistive devices for schools by provinces ongoing until 2014

24. Challenges and Risks • Limited capacity and expert knowledge to implement the inclusive education policy at all levels of the system • The demand for a multi-disciplinary approach in addressing barriers to learning including special needs • Lack of a coordinating framework in government for providing access to specialist services • Inclusive education not being seen as cross-cutting and as everyone’s business in the system

25. Thank You