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International Journal of Inclusive

Education
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South African teachers' views of

collaboration within an inclusive
education system
a

Mirna Nel , Petra Engelbrecht , Norma Nel & Dan Tlale

School of Education, North West University, Vaal Triangle

campus, Vanderbijlpark, South Africa
b

Faculty of Education, Canterbury Christ Church University,

Canterbury, UK
c

College of Education, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South

Africa
Published online: 19 Dec 2013.
To cite this article: Mirna Nel, Petra Engelbrecht, Norma Nel & Dan Tlale (2013): South African
teachers' views of collaboration within an inclusive education system, International Journal of
Inclusive Education, DOI: 10.1080/13603116.2013.858779
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13603116.2013.858779

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International Journal of Inclusive Education, 2013

http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13603116.2013.858779

South African teachers views of collaboration within an inclusive

education system

Mirna Nela , Petra Engelbrechtb, Norma Nelc and Dan Tlalec

a

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School of Education, North West University, Vaal Triangle campus, Vanderbijlpark,

South Africa; bFaculty of Education, Canterbury Christ Church University, Canterbury, UK;
c
College of Education, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa
(Received 26 November 2012; final version received 8 October 2013)
The development of sustainable collaborative partnerships between different role
players within an inclusive education system seems to be a continuous challenge
in South Africa. The focus of this research study was to understand how teachers
view collaboration within an inclusive education system. Open-ended
questionnaires were completed by 85 participating teachers and focus group
interviews were employed with 24 educators. The findings indicate that
educators still believe that they are not adequately trained and skilled to play an
equal role in a collaborative partnership and prefer to rather refer learners
experiencing barriers to learning to other support structures and professionals for
support.
Keywords: South African teachers; collaboration; collaborative partnerships;
inclusive education

Introduction
In 2001, South Africa introduced White Paper 6 (WP6), Special Needs and Education:
Building an Inclusive Education and Training System (Department of Education DoE
2001). This policy, as well as subsequent policy and procedural documents (DoE 2005;
Department of Basic Education 2010), requires that all education practices should be
inclusive, including providing holistic and integrated support services through intersectoral collaboration to learners who experience barriers to learning. (The term barriers to
learning is preferred in South Africa and can be equated to the internationally used
term special needs. Barriers to learning can be intrinsic, such as disabilities, or extrinsic, for example systemic problems or pedagogical causes [DoE 2001].) According to
these documents, collaboration at various systemic levels should include members of
the school community as well as various role players in the school district, and requires
an effective team approach.
At a school district level, as part of the District-Based Support Team (DBST) for
schools, role players should include: support personnel (such as psychologists, learning
support educators, experts on specific disabilities and other health and welfare professionals); curriculum and management specialists; administrative experts; other government departmental professionals; and community role players. These team members

Corresponding author. Email: Mirna.Nel@nwu.ac.za

# 2013 Taylor & Francis

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M. Nel et al.

need to fulfill the roles of researchers and evaluators, providers of learning support, and
material developers for specific learning needs (DoE 2005; Johnson and Green 2007).
At a school level, an Institution-Level Support Team (ILST), comprising nominated
teachers at the school as well as parents and other role players, such as community
members, should form part of the collaborative effort to establish coherent structures
to enhance collaboration strategies within school communities. These teams must
liaise with the DBST and other relevant support providers (such as health professionals,
community-based support organisations and other governmental departments). They
are also responsible for: developing collaborative support strategies in the school by
establishing networks between all role players; identifying school and learner needs
with regard to barriers to learning; focusing on in-service training of teachers; facilitating the sharing of resources between different role players; ensuring parent involvement; planning preventive strategies; and monitoring the learning support progress
(DoE 2005; Johnson and Green 2007; Landsberg 2011). Brock, Michalak, and Brownlee (2011, 5) postulate that when schools adopt the philosophy and practices of a collaborative educational environment, the learners, professionals, and parents benefit.
Brownell et al. (2006) affirm that for an inclusive education system to function effectively, collaboration between teachers and support personnel is viewed as a powerful
strategy for teachers to support learners who are experiencing barriers to learning in
their classrooms.
However, more than 11 years after the publication of the White Paper (DoE 2001)
progress in implementing inclusive education policies has been mixed (Walton 2011;
Chataika et al. 2012; Schoeman 2012; Engelbrecht et al. 2013). There is an array of
possible reasons why collaborative support teams are not functioning effectively, of
which a few are: demotivation and despondency of teachers about the South African
education system in general (Greyling 2009); limited understanding by teachers of
what inclusive education in South Africa entails, as well as inadequate professional
training of teachers to implement inclusive education (Ntombela 2011; Schoeman
2012), with the resultant perceptions of teachers that they do not have the knowledge
and skills to practise inclusive pedagogy in their classrooms or support learners who
experience barriers to learning (Schoeman 2012); and lack of resources as well as
large classroom numbers (Human Sciences Research Council 2005).
Insufficient and ineffective collaborations between support services (Human
Sciences Research Council 2005; Schoeman 2012) have been found to play a crucial
role in the inefficient practice of inclusive education (Human Sciences Research
Council 2005). According to Schoeman (2012), reviews have reported that both
DBSTs and ILSTs are not sufficiently skilled to provide curriculum, assessment and
instructional support in the form of illustrative learning programmes, learner support
materials and equipment, assessment instruments and professional support (DoE
2001, 49). The Department of Basic Education (2012) reports that by 2012, there
were only 8696 schools (out of 26,000) with ILSTs, of whom 16,672 ILST members
had only been trained through short courses on the basic strategies of inclusive
education.
There are few schools that have access to health professionals such as therapists,
psychologists, and social workers, with the most favourable ratio to be found in the
Western Cape Province (88%). In the Eastern Cape Province, only 0.5% of schools,
and in the Limpopo Province, only 0.3% of schools have access to the services of
health professionals (DoBE 2012). Based on recent research (e.g. Horne and
Timmons 2009; Silverman et al. 2010; Ainscow et al. 2012; Malinen, Savolainen,

International Journal of Inclusive Education

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and Xu 2012; Savolainen et al. 2012; Sharma, Loreman, and Forlin 2012; Chiner and
Cardona 2013; Engelbrecht et al. 2013; Florian and Spratt 2013; OToole and Burke
2013) and various South African educational research publications (Engelbrecht
2007; Swart and Pettipher 2011; in Landsberg 2011) which support the fact that effective collaboration could have a significant positive impact on the practice of inclusive
education, we felt it essential to explore South African educators perceptions of collaboration within an inclusive education system. We believe that more emphasis should be
placed on the strengthening of teachers collaboration skills to, as Oswald (2007, 149)
describes it, act as an adhesive in countering isolation when dealing with the practical
challenges of inclusive education.
Conceptualising collaboration within a South African inclusive learning
support framework
Before the introduction of inclusive education in South Africa, a medical model of
intervention was followed, where the source of any type of so-called special educational needs was looked for within the learner (Swart and Pettipher 2011). A traditional consultation approach, resulting in individualistic intervention roles of
support professionals (Engelbrecht 2007), was employed whereby a professional
with a specific expertise provided advice and assisted the learner who was experiencing
barriers to learning (or, as it was previously called, a learner with special needs)
(Strogilos et al. 2011). This constitutes a multidisciplinary approach to collaboration
whereby specialist professionals provide their expertise to the client independently
from each other, and collective decision-making is not high on the agenda (Engelbrecht
2007).
Current South African policies on the implementation of inclusive education (DoE
2001, 2005; DoBE 2010) emphasise a socio-ecological, community-based collaborative approach to learning support in which contextual factors and influences are investigated and taken into consideration with learners who experience barriers to learning.
Inclusive education is grounded on the bio-ecological system of Bronfenbrenner which
emphasises that there is a complexity of influences, interactions, and interrelationships
between the individual (learner) and multiple other systems (Swart and Pettipher 2011).
In order to provide holistic support within a socio-ecological approach to inclusive education, as opposed to providing individualistic intervention, it is essential that a wholechild approach to learning support is followed. In this approach, all the influences,
interactions, and interrelationships are explored by role players in the relevant
systems working together in collaborative partnerships (Engelbrecht 2007; Swart and
Pettipher 2011).
The preferred option, then, is a transdisciplinary collaboration approach
(Engelbrecht 2007; Silverman et al. 2010) to learning support which involves
professionals (including teachers) with specialised knowledge, members of the
school community, various role players in the school district, as well as learners and
parents/guardians. In a transdisciplinary approach, stakeholders should operate interactively together as a group, on an equal level, sharing expertise and supporting one
another with the collective goal of contributing to the development of effective
support strategies (Blue-Banning et al. 2004; Engelbrecht 2007; DoBE 2010; Lindqvist
et al. 2011; Strogilos et al. 2011). Positive interdependence between these group
members is essential to ensure successful collaboration. According to Johnson,
Johnson, and Smith (2007, 16), positive interdependence exists when individuals

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M. Nel et al.

perceive that they can reach their goals if and only if the other individuals with whom
they are cooperatively linked also reach their goals and, therefore, promote each
others efforts to achieve the goals. Thus, each group members efforts need to be
regarded as indispensable by acknowledging that everyone can make a unique contribution because of his or her resources and/or role and task responsibilities (Foundationcoalition.org 2013). Establishing a functional collaborative community (Adler and
Heckscher 2006) should therefore be the ultimate goal of a collaborative approach to
learning support. Adler and Heckscher (2006) assert that the boundaries of a collaborative community or collaborative interdependence must be capable of being bridged and
merged, and consequently need to accommodate a diversity of knowledge and skills,
and must allow for authority-based contributions based not on status, but on knowledge
and expertise.
Collaboration within an inclusive learning support framework therefore implies that
there needs to be: a sharing and supportive inclusive community in which there is open
communication; collective decision-making and problem-solving; shared responsibility
for decisions taken; a supportive environment; co-operation towards shared outcomes,
as well as accountability for outcomes; shared resources; and an environment in which
every member of the group is valued as an equal partner (Sands, Kozleski, and French
2000; Sapon-Shevin 2010; Scorgie 2010).
There are many international examples (such as Silverman et al. 2010; Strogilos
et al. 2011; Ainscow et al. 2012; Scorgie 2010; Williamson and McLesky 2011) of
how collaborative strategies, such as a transdisciplinary approach, can result in positive
changes in an inclusive classroom for learners who experience barriers to learning as
well as for their teachers. However, in both South Africa and elsewhere (e.g. Muthukrishna and Baez 2002; Engelbrecht et al. 2005; Panayiotopoulos and Kerfoot 2007;
Lindqvist et al. 2011; Strogilos et al. 2011; Cheatham et al. 2012; Chiner and
Cardona 2013), the development and sustainability of successful collaborative partnerships in the learning support process seem to remain a challenge. Schoeman (2012)
expresses her concern that there are increased referrals to special education, which
raises the question as to whether we understand how teachers perceive and understand
their role in a collaborative partnership within an inclusive education system when learners with barriers need support.
An international comparative research project in South Africa and Finland (Savolainen et al. 2012) that investigated teachers attitudes and self-efficacy within inclusive
education focused on a quantitative analysis of South African and Finnish teachers
beliefs in their own efficacy to collaborate successfully with different role players.
The two scales that were used for this quantitative research were the Sentiments, Attitudes, and Concerns about Inclusive Education (SACIE) scale (Loreman et al. 2007)
and the Teacher Efficacy for Inclusive Practices (TEIP) scale (Forlin et al. 2010).
Results indicated that South African teachers beliefs in their own efficacy to collaborate were lower than those of the Finnish teachers. Another major finding that was replicated in both countries was that of the three factors of self-efficacy that were measured,
namely efficacy in collaboration, inclusive instruction, and behaviour management;
collaboration was the best predictor of the teachers overall attitudes towards inclusion
(standardised beta values in Finland and South Africa were 0.40 and 0.29, respectively). This latter finding has since been replicated among Chinese teachers as well
(Malinen, Savolainen, and Xu 2012).
This study therefore emanates from the collaborative, comparative international
research project (Savolainen et al. 2012) and further explores the perceptions of a

International Journal of Inclusive Education

group of South African teachers regarding the development of collaborative strategies

in an inclusive education system.

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Research design and methodology

A qualitative research design with an interpretivist perspective was decided on in an
attempt to obtain rich data about the meaning that a group of teachers assign to their
perceptions of collaboration within an inclusive education system (Merriam 2009;
Atkins and Wallace 2012; Nieuwenhuis 2012a). The focus of the inquiry was on documenting the following:
.
.
.

Teachers understanding regarding collaboration within the South African inclusive education context
Teachers own experiences with collaboration in including learners who are
experiencing barriers to learning in their own classrooms and schools
Teachers perceptions of their own roles within a collaborative network to
support learners experiencing barriers to learning.

Data collection methods included the use of open-ended questions that included the
focus of the inquiry as formulated above, as well as semi-structured focus group interviews to further explore teachers perceptions of collaboration in their own school contexts (see Data collection procedures).

Data analysis
The data obtained from the open-ended questions and the transcriptions of the semistructured interviews were inductively analysed by using a constant comparative
method as described by Merriam (2009). When using this method to analyse qualitative
data, one segment of data (open-ended questions) is compared with another (semistructured interviews) to determine similarities and differences (Merriam 2009). A
content analysis was first done of the open-ended questions that the participants
answered in which key issues in the text were identified. Thereafter, the content of
the transcriptions of the semi-structured interviews was analysed and the key issues
from this text were compared with the open-ended questions data (Merriam 2009;
Nieuwenhuis 2012b). Similar key issues were found in both data sets and they were
consequently collapsed into one data bundle. Inductive coding was employed and categories and themes were then identified (Merriam 2009; Nieuwenhuis 2012b; Saldana
2013).
Strategies for promoting the validity of the results included member checks, peer
review, and the provision of sufficient descriptions to substantiate the study with rich
and thick descriptions (Merriam 2009; Nieuwenhuis 2012b). After the data had been
analysed, the interview participants were requested to scrutinise the findings and
interpretations. They indicated that they believed the data were a true reflection of
the participants perceptions. One of the project leaders who did not participate in
this segment of the research was also requested to review the data collection
methods, as well as the findings and interpretations, and stated that he was satisfied
with the methodology that was employed and the interpretations that were made.

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M. Nel et al.

Participants and context

Two groups of participants (teachers) were selected to take part in the study. Both groups
were purposefully selected from the sample used for the first phase of the international
comparative research project (Savolainen et al. 2012). The first cohort was drawn from
schools in the Vaal Triangle area which consists of parts of the Gauteng Province and
parts of the Free State Province. The group consisted of teachers attending an Advanced
Certificate in Education (ACE) course in Learner Support on the campus of a local university. In-service teachers (i.e. qualified and experienced teachers) who want to improve
their qualifications enroll in the part-time ACE course. This course has a two-prong function, namely first to acquire additional knowledge and skills and second to provide practicing teachers with an avenue to the Bachelor of Education Honours degree and further
qualifications. All of these participants are from diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds,
and teach at primary and secondary mainstream schools in diverse socio-economic areas.
The second group of participants is enrolled in an ACE course in Inclusive Education at
an open and distance-learning higher-education institution. The selected teachers in the
second group of participants teach at three schools in the Gauteng Province. One
school is situated in a mining environment adjacent to an informal settlement; the
majority of the learners reside there, but others live within a 10 km radius. The second
school is an inner-city school and the third school is situated in a township (in the
South African context, this refers to an underdeveloped urban living area). All three
schools cater to learners from diverse ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic backgrounds.
Three focus groups consisting of six teachers, each were selected for interviews.

Data collection procedures

Ethical clearance for the project was obtained from the respective provincial education
departments and the participating universities.
Open-ended questions that included the following were used during an on-campus
session for the first cohort of teachers who are completing their ACE course: (i) How do
you understand collaboration within inclusive education?; (ii) Tell me about your
experience with collaboration in including learners who are experiencing barriers to
learning at your school; and (iii) How do you see your role as a teacher within a collaborative network to support learners experiencing barriers to learning? These specific
questions were also used for the semi-structured focus group interviews for the first and
second cohort of teachers.
From the first cohort of in-service teachers, 85 out of the 101 teachers indicated that
they were willing to complete the questionnaire and to sign the accompanying informed
consent form during one of the work sessions on campus. After an analysis of the openended questions, it was decided to conduct two semi-structured focus group interviews
to clear up some uncertainties and explore some of the issues in more depth. These
interviews were conducted in the two weeks after the questionnaires had been completed. Five teachers were willing to take part in the interviews and two focus group
interviews (three participants in the first and two participants in the second interview)
were subsequently conducted. The interviews were more or less one hour in duration
and were audiotaped. The interview schedule was once again based on the questions
as formulated in the questionnaire and allowed the participants to elaborate on their
individual experiences and their opinions regarding collaboration in inclusive classrooms (Wood 1998; Merriam 2009).

International Journal of Inclusive Education

From the second cohort of teachers, three semi-structured focus group interviews
were conducted after formal school hours. There were three focus groups, one per
school with six teachers per group. These interviews were an hour in duration and
were audiotaped. Permission from the relevant district offices, schools, and selected teachers was gained to engage the second cohort of teachers and the 18 teachers who took
part in the interviews also signed informed consent forms.

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Results
The data were categorised under the following themes based on the three questions (Cf.
Table 1):
Discussion
(a) Participants understanding regarding collaboration within the South African
inclusive education context
Conceptual understanding
Teachers are strategic role players in an inclusive school community. Since collaboration is the adhesive (Oswald 2007) of an inclusive school community, it is critical
for teachers to become key partners in a collaborative partnership when supporting learners who experience barriers to learning (DoE 2001, 2005, 2008; DoBE 2010; Kinsella
and Senior 2008; Horne and Timmons 2009; Sharma, Loreman, and Forlin 2012;
Chiner and Cardona 2013; Florian and Spratt 2013; OToole and Burke 2013). This
essentially requires that teachers first need to understand fully what the concept of collaboration within inclusive education means and entails. In order not to guide the participants, they were simply requested to describe what their understanding is with
regard to collaboration within the South African inclusive education context. This
was generally problematic since 53 (out of 108) of the participants provided a definition
of inclusive education as formulated in White Paper 6 (DoE 2001), rather than a
description of inclusive education: Inclusive education is the system which accommodates all children regardless of their physical, intellectual, social and emotional condition. It seems that because the participants did not understand the concept of
Table 1.

Themes and categories.

Themes
Teachers understanding regarding collaboration within
the South African inclusive education context

Their own experiences with collaboration in including

learners who are experiencing barriers to learning in
their own classrooms and schools
Their perceptions of their own roles within a
collaborative network to support learners
experiencing barriers to learning

Categories
Conceptual understanding
Descriptions of collaborative
strategies
Informal and formal collaboration in
own school contexts
Formal External support
Positive perceptions
Negative perceptions

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M. Nel et al.

collaboration, they rather focused on the words inclusive education. A few participants
(four) used the words collaborating/collaboration but provided a definition of inclusive
education as they understand it: It is the collaborating of all types of learners, i.e. mainstream and learners with difficulties or barriers to be gaining education without segregation or prejudice against any individual. Since the 1990s, the DoE has
conducted campaigns on a continuous basis to create an awareness of inclusive education which could also have resulted in the participants being focused only on defining
that particular concept. Of the 108 participants, 13 gave irrelevant answers, such as: no
single way of teaching and Some of our learners are not interested in education
because they dont want to do our homework or assignment at home . . . . This could
be attributed to the participants being English Second Language speakers and not
having a clear understanding of the concept of collaboration.
Conversely, collaboration was also defined as follows by a minority (38 out of 108)
of participants: Collaboration refers to the interaction of different stakeholders to help
learners experiencing problems in learning activities, . . . nurses, psychologists, educators and social workers should be involved in ensuring effective education deliverance;
Is that all stakeholders in the educational systems are coming together in order to meet
the barriers in education; and working together as a team. It seems therefore that these
participants realise that different stakeholders need to work together when a learner
experiencing barriers to learning needs to be supported. Yet, it was not clearly indicated
by any of the participants whether the suggested interaction, coming together, or
working together as a team is based on the following characteristics of collaboration
in general and transdisciplinary collaboration as described by Engelbrecht (2007) as
well as by Johnson, Johnson, and Smith (2007) in particular: effective communication
between team members, mutual recognition of every team members skills, and an
acceptance that in actively working together positive outcomes can be developed for
learners who are experiencing barriers to learning.
Descriptions of collaborative strategies
All the participants grew up and taught for many years in a historically divided and separated system where the notion of shared responsibilities was not consciously
implemented and encouraged by the previous Departments of Education (Engelbrecht
2004). During this time, a consultation rather than a collaboration process between professionals, teachers, and parents was applied (Engelbrecht 2007). In addition, previous
teacher education curriculums were focused mainly on a medical model of difference
and disability, and did not prepare teachers to understand the importance of effective
collaboration strategies (Oswald 2007; Swart and Pettipher 2011, 22). The participants
also received their initial teacher training during this period, before the introduction of
inclusive education, and this is the reason why they were attempting to improve their
knowledge and skills with regard to inclusive education and learner support by
doing the ACE courses. However, teachers in general have not yet been
comprehensively trained in establishing collaborative partnerships as such (Stofile
and Green 2007). Consequently, they regard themselves as not sufficiently trained or
experienced enough to support learners experiencing barriers to learning and to question the opinions of the so-called experts (Swart and Pettipher 2011; Chiner and
Cardona 2013).
The majority (95 out of 108) of the participants indicated that where learners who
experience barriers to learning are identified, the strategies used to support them are still

International Journal of Inclusive Education

either dependent on a consultation or a multi-disciplinary approach whereby learners

are referred to professionals who are considered as the experts:

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The problem with the child, when you see this child is having difficulty you really need to
get some professional help if you are a teacher or even somebody who is more empowered, a psychologist or psychiatrist, anybody who can be able to empower you being a
teacher because I have been trained being a teacher but in some other aspects we still
need more basics or how to deal with the problem of the child.

It seems, therefore, that the participants own training background still influences them
to view learners with barriers to learning through deficit lenses and thus they prefer to
rather refer them to special education settings: . . . and the learner gets transferred to a
school where he or she will fit. This confirms Schoemans (2012) observation that teachers perception of collaboration is rather one of referring to so-called experts and for
placement in special education.
(b) Participants own experiences with collaboration in including learners who
are experiencing barriers to learning in their own classrooms and schools
Informal and formal collaboration in own school contexts
As a result of the fact that a large number of participants did not have a clear understanding of the concept of collaboration, only 13 of them emphasised teamwork as
an effective informal, as well as formal, strategy in providing support to one another
within their own schools:
Also if we work together with the educators in the school because we have different
grades within the school, the teacher who taught the learner from grade one, grade two,
if she is in grade four now, I also need that information, we discuss about how we can
assist the learner if there is a problem. It is very important collaboration in that aspect.

These participants furthermore reported that teamwork occurs not only during informal
discussions, but also in more formal settings, for example in formal grade, subject,
School Assessment Teams, and School-Based Support Team (SBST, also called
ILST) meetings:
Yes, through the SBST we identify learners who have barriers to learning and assist them
according to their barriers. I also think it takes place incidentally, you know, if lets say I
pick up the problem, you know, identify the problem, I would ask colleagues or go to the
previous grade and discuss that because children are inclined to react and act differently to
different teachers and what I might experience as a problem might not be something big.
We are all different. Before, I think that takes place before, we actually sit, you know, in
an official meeting.

It was also reported by most of the participants who mentioned the ILSTs (21 out of 31)
that these teams do not always function successfully: . . . it is just there on paper . . . . It
is vital that structured collaborative partnerships between teachers are initiated and fostered at schools in the learning support process of learners experiencing barriers to
learning. This will enable a constructive foundation from where collaborative partnerships with other stakeholders (DBST, health professionals, community members, etc.)
can be established. As discussed in the introduction, research findings (in Oswald 2007;
Pillay and Di Terlizzi 2009; Ainscow et al. 2012; Nel, Nel, and Leboloane 2012; Zhang
2013) corroborated by South African policy documents (DoE 2001, 2008; DoBE 2010)

10

M. Nel et al.

also emphasise the importance of collaboration between teachers to provide emotional

and technical support for each other as well as to promote shared responsibility and
accountability when supporting learners who experience barriers to learning.
Collaboration with parents was cited as an important informal support strategy in
supporting learners who experience barriers to learning:

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. . . If you dont collaborate with the parent, you wont be able to help the child because
you will think this learner, yes, he is struggling but there is nothing that you can do
without information of the child and if we collaborate with the parent, it will help us
... .

Yet, parent support remains a challenge in South African schools and this could jeopardise the collaboration process since it is essential that they are involved on an equal
level in a collaborative partnership when a learner needs support (Swart et al. 2004;
McKenzie and Loebenstein 2007; Nel, Nel, and Leboloane 2012).
Formal external support
It has been emphasised throughout this article that equal partnerships between all role
players, within the school as well as outside, are needed in supporting learners who
experience barriers to learning. However, this requires that formal support structures
and systems are established and sustained within the education system. Research findings (Hay 2003; Stofile and Green 2007; Landsberg 2011) and policy documents (DoE
2001, 2008; DoBE 2010) confirm the importance of an effective structured provincial
support structure to ensure that collaborative partnerships can function efficiently in the
support of learners who experience barriers to learning. As mentioned earlier, one of
these structures is the DBST which has a crucial role in the induction and sustaining
of support structures at the schools, at a district level as well as provincially. According
to Schoeman (2012), teachers are inclined to refer to the DBST when they feel that they
are unable to include and support learners with barriers to learning in their classrooms.
Yet, participants who had referred learners to the DBST indicated that they were
unhappy with the service provided: There is no collaboration: the district doesnt
seem to know what to do because if learners are referred, nothing is done.
(c) Perceptions of participants regarding their own roles within a collaborative
network to support learners experiencing barriers to learning
Some (25 out of 108) participants listed the types of barrier that the learners in their
classrooms have: Some of them are HIV-positive; their parents are sick; . . . learners
who are slow in grasping what is being taught; and Some cant read or write. Some
cant see or hear. Then they indicated that they cannot support them because they
are not trained and skilled, and that they prefer to refer them to the ILST and DBST
for support or for placement in a separate school setting:
. . . it is still difficult to deal with such learners because we are expected to support them,
but we are never taught or trained to do that; and The district office who are supposed to
help by giving support are very few and allocated many schools, [so] we dont get
immediate attention.

Reference was made by participants to providing remedial programmes and extra

classes, as well as using different teaching strategies. However, participants generally

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expressed the view that there are too many challenges for them to play a supportive role
with learners who experience barriers to learning. This is affirmed by other research
studies (such as Muthukrishna and Baez 2002; Hay 2003; Swart et al. 2004; Oswald
2007; Bornman and Rose 2010; Chataika et al. 2012) which have reported that
South African teachers do not feel adequately trained to implement inclusive
education successfully; consequently, this could also impact negatively on effective
collaboration.
Lack of time and resources, overcrowding and discipline problems in classrooms
were also stated as major obstacles to the participants developing and playing a strategic
role in collaborative support teams. As discussed earlier, the participants felt more comfortable using a consultative multidisciplinary approach by which learners experiencing
barriers to learning can be referred to the ILST, the DBST, or other professionals for
possible placement in a special class or school:
. . . The District Based Support Team work with the educators to support the learners. The
learners who have problems are referred to the ILST in order to help the learners, and we
have a special class in our school. Those who have barriers will be referred to special
classes.

These responses confirm that the medical deficit model is still entrenched in the thinking and practices of the participants (Swart and Pettipher 2011) and could thus have a
negative impact on the development of teachers to become equal partners in a transdisciplinary collaborative partnership when supporting learners who experience barriers to
learning.

Conclusions
Collaboration on an equal partnership level is emphasised by different policy documents (DoE 2001, 2008; DoBE 2010) and by various researchers (Oswald 2007; Kinsella and Senior 2008; Pillay and Di Terlizzi 2009; Ainscow et al. 2012; Nel, Nel, and
Leboloane 2012; Chiner and Cardona 2013; Florian and Spratt 2013; OToole and
Burke 2013) as a strategy to ensure that inclusive education is implemented effectively.
However, our results show that despite the fact that the participants responses to the
open-ended questions, as well as within the focus group interviews, generally indicate
an appeal for collaboration between different role players, including professionals and
parents, the teachers are facing numerous challenges that make the implementation of
collaborative partnerships based on a more transdisciplinary approach challenging.
Consequently, they continue to downplay their own roles in the collaboration
process and prefer to refer learners to professionals who they believe are better
equipped to support learners or, as some participants mentioned, would place these learners in a setting fit for them. Although contextually based, it seems that, internationally,
issues such as the absence of a clear understanding of the concept of inclusion, policy
changes, low self-efficacy of teachers, a lack of training, inadequate resources, and poor
support structures appear to be universal challenges to the practice of inclusive
education (Kinsella and Senior 2008; Horne and Timmons 2009; Sharma,
Loreman, and Forlin 2012; Chiner and Cardona 2013; Florian and Spratt 2013;
OToole and Burke 2013). As a result, a medical perspective still appears to be
evident among teachers and health professionals, whereby a barrier to learning continues to be seen as a deficit within the learner, and the responsibility still resides

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M. Nel et al.

more with the specialists to support the learner instead of it being a shared responsibility
(Chiner and Cardona 2013).
It is acknowledged that the findings from this study cannot be generalised since it is
only a small sample. However, an observation made during the data collection is that
the participants felt relieved to have an opportunity to express and share their opinions,
frustrations, and inadequacies. A large number of studies, both national and international, have been conducted on inclusive education in which reference is made to
the importance of collaboration between different role players. However, none could
be found in which the focus was specifically on how teachers experience the functionality of collaboration within a learning support framework. From the findings of this
study, it is apparent that there is a definite need in the South African context to
conduct a larger and more in-depth study to explore how teachers understand and
experience collaboration when a learner needs support. Although the South African
Government is committed to intensifying its support to develop inclusive education
(Surty 2013), of which one strategy is to strengthen the capacity of a broad range of
role players in the school community, there is no clear evidence that developing all
the role players knowledge and skills with regard to a socio-ecological, communitybased collaborative approach to learning support is a specific aim in the near future.
It is therefore recommended that Provincial Departments of Education, in partnership
with higher-education institutions, collaboratively develop strategies to provide both
pre-service and in-service teachers with opportunities to develop a deeper understanding of collaborative strategies in general as well as to develop specific strategies within
their own school contexts to enhance the successful implementation of inclusive practices. Furthermore, as Murray (2004) points out, the challenges that have already been
identified should also be recognised and addressed in these efforts. Within the South
African context, these challenges include the development of effective pre-service
and in-service training programmes as well as sustainable structured support systems
for school communities based on an understanding of what individual teachers bring
to the process and how their own understanding can contribute to the development
of effective inclusive and collaborative school communities.
Notes on contributors
Prof. Mirna Nel worked for 15 years in the support services of the Gauteng Department of Education. In 2006 she was appointed as senior lecturer and promoted to associate professor in 2013
at North West University teaching Life Orientation, Inclusive Education and Learning Support
to pre-graduate as well as post-graduate students. She is also the B. Ed. Programme Manager at
the Vaal Triangle Campus. Currently she is involved in an international research project focusing on the role of the teacher in inclusive education. She has published a number of articles,
written chapters for several books, co-edited a book on learner support and delivered several
Masters and PhD students.
Petra Engelbrecht is Professor of Educational Psychology, Faculty of Education, Canterbury
Christ Church University, Canterbury, England. Her research focuses on social justice, equity
and equality in inclusive education. She has lead and is still leading several international
research projects on inclusive education and teacher education in various parts of the world.
Prof. Norma Nel is a full professor in the Department of Educational Psychology, College of
Education at the University of South Africa (UNISA). Her responsibilities include teacher training, postgraduate supervision, research, community engagement, and international collaborative
research projects. She has presented several papers at national and interantional conference and
published articles in journals and books during her academic career at UNISA. Prof Norma Nel
serves as editor for an international journal as well as three international conference committees.

International Journal of Inclusive Education

13

Dr Dan Tlale Lloyd is a lecturer in the Department of Inclusive Education at UNISA. His responsibilities include teacher training (tuition), postgraduate supervision, research, community
engagement and international collaborative research projects. He completed his D.Ed. (Inclusive
Education) in 2013 with UNISA. He previously worked for Department of Education as a high
school teacher, senior lecturer at a Teachers college and a senior education specialist. His area
of interest is Inclusive Education, Gifted Child Education, Children in conflict with the law and
Qualitative research. He presented papers locally and abroad.

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