Additional knowledge from the respondents

The questionnaire had item 1.10 whereby the respondents had to fill in their own knowledge that was not represented in the items 1.1 to 1.9 of question 1 in Section B. 16 (41.03%) of the respondents did not fill in the portion. The respondents who completed the portion did not simply state what was already included in the question items considered in 1.1 to 1.9 but provided additional information. The statements that were most common pertained to lack of concentration. Statements such as; easily get distracted; playful; experience fatigue problems; and like making noise when others are listening, simply emphasize that learners with MID have attention and concentration problems. Some respondents also stressed some deficits in memory in the following statements; no matter how hard you try to teach them, they find it difficult to remember what you have been teaching them; and they are forgetful. Item 1.5 had a statement on difficulty in remembering and the response rate was very high (32=82.05%), although the statement was not as well stated as the respondents put it in item 1.10.

Statements which denoted problems in adaptive behaviour included; ‘slow learners bully other learners; they are stubborn; they are shy and reserved; they undermine themselves; slow learners do not have self-confidence; and they are disruptive. The statements that related to written tasks included that the learners with a MID are unable to transcribe from the chalkboard; they do not differentiate between b and d, or b and p; the work is mostly untidy and always incomplete; they do not want to write; they have bad handwriting; absenteeism is high on slow learners as they are bored because they do not know much. The statements that seem not to conform to the definition and especially the “sub-average intellectual functioning” aspect were: slow learners excel in mathematics; and they do not achieve low marks in all subjects. While most of the above

statements pertained to learners with a MID as discussed in section 2.10; most of the statements were also applicable to other situations and cognitive conditions.

The discussion in section 2.9.1 highlighted that the major cognitive conditions which made the identification of MID difficult were; learning disabilities and emotional behaviour disorders which include Attention Deficit and/or Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). The major challenging attribute common to these disabilities was that they all presented difficult and controversial diagnostic problems obviously because of similar and common characteristics pertaining to academic failure. The main distinguishing factor was that learners with other conditions did not have low IQs like in the case with those having a MID. This meant without formal assessments from educational psychologists who state IQs and official diagnosis of the cognitive disability, the teachers do not really know the nature of the barriers to learning and cannot provide appropriate intervention. This explains why some respondents indicated that learners with a MID were excellent in mathematics yet to be excellent in mathematics one needs to have intellectual functioning which is above average. Not identifying the nature of barriers, such as dyscalculia and dyslexia, only add to the problem of over-identification of learners with a MID. Section 2.9.2 explained that learners with health and environmental deprivation related problems such as HIV/AIDS and poverty find it difficult to concentrate in school and therefore do not access the curriculum; eventually such learners are mistakenly identified as having a MID. However, if the living conditions of the learners improve health-wise or economic-wise, they may be able to improve and negate common beliefs about the abilities of learners with a MID, especially the idea that MID can be addressed by grade repetition.

The responses that were expected to be written in question 5 in Section B were also included in this section. These included that; slow learners are unable to complete their work because of overcrowding; overcrowding is a big problem because we cannot attend learners individually and successfully; slow learners need their own school that caters for them; lack of information in handling slow learners is very detrimental to the learners and the educators; and support is needed from the DoBE. The researcher did not view the inclusion of the statements as mistakes but rather as signs of the urgency to inform the research that overcrowding and existence of learners with a MID in the village schools were causing lots of job stress for the teachers yet the DoBE did not act quickly to take the learners with a MID to special schools. The impression given by some of the respondents was that the schools were not user-friendly for learners with a MID meaning that the learners with a MID needed to change themselves to be like the other learners to fit into the schools. The very fact that specialist provision is available reinforced deeply held beliefs that special training and expertise were necessary to teach children with disabilities and that such provisions were available in special schools, thus then separated children with disabilities from the majority of children who learn in ordinary schools (section 2.12).

The attitude of the respondents can also be detected in situations whereby teachers turn a blind eye when learners stay in the same grade for years against government policies of repeating grades. This is done without much thought of the concerns of the social worker that at some point some of the over-aged learners are left without financial means to continue with their education while still in the lower primary school grades, as the learners will have reached maximum age for receiving financial grants (section 1.2.1.4). The learners then become school drop-outs and at high risk of participating in substance abuse, crime, early convenience marriages and other anti- social activities that can compromise having quality adult life. Therefore, stipulated policies need to be observed by all stakeholders with foresight that engaging learners in unlawful grade repeating has detrimental effects that actually diminishes the learners’ life chances. It is unfortunate that there is lack of proper legal measures that could take violators to court. However much effort needs to be directed at finding a way out so that the learners with MID access activities that are meaningful, such as vocational skills training and participation in Special Olympics.

The fact that the respondents advocated for special school placement confirmed that there were assumptions that low performance reflected the presence of intellectual disability. In Section 2.12 warning to the teachers was given not to think that low student performance is evidence of a disability (MID in this case) because some students performed very well in spite of having a disability. In this regard it may happen that the students that the teachers think should be sent to special schools may not have a MID while those whom they think are coping well could actually have a MID. It is therefore very important that the informal identification by the teachers be followed up by formal assessment by the educational psychologists. The curriculum is for all learners and when adaptations are made, the aim would be to make the curriculum inclusive. Findings on national curriculum adaptation were discussed next.