SEAN O’CONNOR reviews A Space for All: An Introduction to Inclusive Education (Renaissance, Tafelberg Publishers, R69.95) and Curriculum 2005: A Guide for Parents (Renaissance, Tafelberg Publishers, R69.95)
SIGAMONEY Niacker’s A Space for All: An Introduction to Inclusive Education is different from other books dealing with this critical issue. Its specific focus is on how inclusion and Curriculum 2005 are reconciled towards each other, and what steps are necessary for inclusion to work in the outcomes-based education (OBE) environment.
Naicker outlines the need for inclusion against the background of the history of South African education, including an international perspective. He then uses various analytical tools — especially the concept of the paradigm shift — to argue that the way disability has been understood prevents meaningful interventions towards an inclusive system, which he maintains is the right of any child. He says: ”Much of the understanding around learning breakdown coming from these discourses (ie. psychology, social work, occupational therapy, rehabilitation, counselling, etc. as well as popular education discourse) shapes the belief that problems are located within learners. Very little is said about system deficiencies.”
It is imperative that educators and policy-makers distance themselves from a medical-based understanding of disability and concentrate on a system-based approach: where are the barriers in the system that discourage acceptance of differently-abled learners? The author also reminds us that ”Societal factors, eg. poverty, have not been taken seriously in understanding the cause of learning breakdown.”
Naicker focuses on the specific systemic shifts necessary for successful transformation to an inclusive system, where all learners can ”achieve success relative to their own pace and style of learning through the expanded opportunities principle [of OBE].” Chief among these shifts is a radical overhaul of thinking regarding special educational needs and systemic barriers to learning. This includes the deployment of personnel from special education departments to regular education sections and mainstream schools, and the building of district-wide support teams.
Naicker says: ”Ideally, mainstream educators should be in a position to deal effectively with diverse learners with the minimum outside support.” Teacher training for large classes presents mammoth problems, especially with dwindling interest in the field.
At the back of the book is a section called ”In a Nutshell” which summarises the main concepts. This extremely useful section includes ideas for assessment and a ”how to” on designing a lesson for all learners. This book should be required reading for many, especially those who think that inclusion can be arranged by a few cosmetic adjustments.
Curriculum 2005: A Guide for Parents is a well-conceived, well-executed and thoroughly readable book. Co-authored by William Spady, the American OBE guru, who provided professional input into OBE in South Africa, and Anne Schlebusch, a highly experienced teacher, this book has the potential to transform the learning environment of the home. Although designed for parents, it is a good guide to the rationale behind, and workings of Curriculum 2005.
The first chapter, ”Old Millennium Schooling and New Millennium Realities”, examines the old (apartheid) system familiar to all, and sketches a withering picture of its inconsistencies and failures. Spady and Schlebusch write in an accessible conversational style and present convincing evidence for the case in favour of OBE. Their account of the changing realities of the world outside school, and how this relates to parents and their children, is compelling reading. The authors demonstrate that learning needs to be experienced by all. The old school system, they say, is one where ”Specific students can learn specific subjects in specific classrooms on a specific schedule in specific ways from a specific teacher.” New millennial learning means ”Anyone can learn anything from anywhere at anytime in any way from world-wide experts.”
The pioneering research conducted on learning rates in the 1960s by John Carroll and Benjamin Bloom provides valuable information for anyone who wants to know where OBE came from. According to the authors, Carroll found that ”many students do poorly in school simply because they aren’t given the time they need to accomplish what they are perfectly capable of doing.” As a result, Bloom says ”large percentages of students in schools could learn far more successfully if their teachers would focus on their learning level and rate rather than on covering the curriculum.” Reorganisation of time is key.
The question ”How can South Africa possibly afford all this?” — is turned on its head — ”How can South Africa afford not to do this?” The need for decent physical resources is mentioned, but the question is essentially dodged. Saying that ”schools look for their own context” and that content, because it is not prescribed, means that ”learning and planning become part of the community”, fails to convince.
The book is peppered with diagrams, summaries, quotes and schemes. The writing is always clear, and the ”key beliefs and power principles” of OBE are firmly conveyed. The authors say that, in essence, OBE means: ”Start with the learning outcome clearly in mind, and proceed from there.” One thought stuck in this reviewer’s mind: that this future-driven system is susceptible to the imaginations of its designers — in other words, what if the wrong outcomes are chosen for the wrong future? As the authors concede, OBE is not foolproof.
The book provides parents with indicators to check the teacher’s successful implementation of OBE policies and practices. It makes no bones about the parent’s right to know about classroom learning and in fact demands that parents involve themselves with schools and enter the learning process.
In the chapter on Curriculum 2005, the authors provide a valuable overview of where schools fit into a national picture, detailing the National Qualifications Framework and the South African Qualifications Authority. They point out that the new curriculum was designed to ”Help learning to be more Context-oriented and less Content-oriented, and to be usefully performance based instead of passive-receptive in nature.”
Their own book achieves this shift, showing parents in the following chapters exactly how an understanding of OBE can help them make a proactive, positive impact on their children’s learning. ”OBE parenting” could provide the answers and the kind of responses that parents might need to help them understand their children better. In that sense, this book is revolutionary.
— The Teacher/Mail & Guardian, January 26, 2000.
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