South African Learners with Specialised Needs Benefit from Specialised Schools

The South African government has mandated that all students be included in the same teaching environment. This is regardless of their physical or educational needs. The idea is that provision be made for each individual student’s requirements. However, the country has still been unable to meet this obligation.

The Mainstream Schooling Environment is Not Able to Meet the Needs of Regular Learners

The challenge of meeting the needs of remedial learners needs to be considered. As we have seen, schooling in this country is not producing students able to read or do math. In this scenario, how could it be expected that students with special needs would get the education that they need?

There is some debate about the effectiveness of keeping remedial students in mainstream schools. The scholarship on the subject seems somewhat inconclusive. In our context though, the arguments for specialised remedial schools takes on added significance.

Almost 8 out of 10 South African Grade 4’s cannot read with understanding. Almost half our Primary School students cannot do basic maths. This is the environment our learners find themselves in. At mainstream schools, many of the teachers lack the ability to teach effectively. The results continue to show this. It is unreasonable to expect children with special educational needs to have those needs met.

Remedial Schools Would be Best For Remedial Learners

This is why a specialised remedial school would be best for students with these needs.

In a remedial school it isn’t just an extra class that attempts to remediate the learners. The entire school would be geared at addressing the needs of these learners. These are students who need remediation. That would be the core focus of the school. It would not be a side issue, but what the school is aiming to do.

All the staff would be qualified remedial teachers. This means that at every stage, teachers with the experience and qualification are doing the teaching. This is invaluable.

There is also the issue of the stigma of needing additional help with schooling. This could be a daily factor in a mainstream school. They could feel embarrassed about being in “that” class. They could be embarrassed about being one of “those” learners. In a mainstream school, remedial learners might unfortunately experience bullying.

In a specialised remedial school, all the learners would be in the same boat. They would not be labelled by their schoolmates. This would be a healthier daily school environment.

We dream of the day when mainstream schools have the capacity for remedial learners

We can hope for and work towards effective inclusive schooling in this country. But until then, a remedial school would best serve remedial learners.

Bibliography/Further Reading:

Remedial education: separate or integrated:

https://www.education.gov.za/Programmes/InclusiveEducation.aspx

file:///Users/macintoshhd/Downloads/AJODpublishedpaper.pdf

http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0256-01002014000200003

https://japari.co.za/choosing-a-remedial-school-is-better/

[Japari has a write-up here: https://joburgexpat.com/2018/04/special-needs-japari/]

https://www.ourkids.net/school/special-needs-school-benefits

https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1065757.pdf

https://sajce.co.za/index.php/sajce/article/view/654/1250