STRATEGIES OF DEVELOPING AN INCLUSIVE COMMUNITY-BASED SYSTEM OF SUPPORT

The strategies of developing an inclusive community-based system of support are discussed under the following headings: school-based support teams; establishment of district support teams; special schools as resources; school governing body sub-committees on support; twinning or clustering of centres of learning; utilising local community resources, learner-to- learner support; and holistic and integrated services.

2.5.1 School-based support teams

The school-based support teams could be the structure around which support for schools is developed (Cann, 2003:3). A team of educators, parents and learners might be represented on this structure. Its primary functions are to support the learning process by identifying and addressing barriers to learning and participation, as well as accessing support from the community. The support team might be strengthened by the inclusion of expertise from local and district communities.

28 2.5.2 Establishment of district support teams

The district support teams could comprise support staff from provincial and regional departments of education and from special schools. It could also include therapists, psychologists and school counselors. The aim would be to pool limited available resources, in order to make optimum use of them. According to Engelbrecht and Green (2006:49), some of the roles of district support teams are as follows:

• Developing a holistic, community-based approach to support services; • Building the capacity of school-based support teams;

• Facilitating the assessment of systems needs and learner needs;

• Initiating school-based educator development programmes to make schools responsive to diversity;

• Playing a consultative role in supporting educators in schools, where necessary;

• Building capacity and awareness of governing bodies around issues of barriers to learning and development; and

• Facilitating the development of competencies within the community itself. 2.5.3 Special schools as resources

Existing special schools could serve as resource centres and be integrated into district support teams so that they could provide specialised professional support in the curriculum, assessment and instruction to neighborhood schools, particularly around disability issues. They could also play a role in preparing children with learning barriers for inclusion into ordinary schools, provide and support early identification and intervention for children with learning barriers, provide home-based support access to resources such as brailing facilities, sign language interpreters and specialised transport and engage in community outreach activities that target disability awareness and advocacy (Harriett, 2004:152).

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2.5.4 The School Governing Body (SGB) subcommittee on support

The SGBs could set up a subcommittee that would also serve the role of monitoring and facilitating inclusive education practices at the school. Some of its tasks could include: the facilitation of community involvement; the creation of constructive partnerships in all centres of learning, in order to make the school responsive to learner diversity; and accessing community support (Engelbrecht & Green, 2006:49).

2.5.5 Twinning or clustering of centres of learning

According to Walther-Thomas (2000:82), the twinning or clustering of centres of learning is another possible strategy for building community support. This twinning or clustering would be particularly important in areas where resource inequalities exist, for example rural contexts. The centres could share expertise, materials and human resources, as well as collaborate in the planning of programmes and interventions.

2.5.6 Utilising local community resources

The role of the school-based and district teams is to build partnerships and to identify and access local community resources. This includes local government structures, relevant non- governmental organisations (NGOs) and other community organisations such as disabled people’s organisations, parent organisations, support personnel in primary health care and other relevant structures (Dyson & Forlin, 2007:26).

2.5.7 Learner-to-learner support

Approaches to learning that involve the grouping of learners where learners are supporting each other are effective in creating classrooms that encourage the participation and learning of all learners. With such approaches, learners work collaboratively within the classroom and are

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encouraged to help each other with their work. Strategies may include group work, peer tutoring, peer-mediated learning and cooperative learning (Langone, 1998:6).

2.5.8 Holistic and integrated services

A community-based approach to support is required as a priority (Langone, 1998:7). It is important to understand that barriers to learning and participation do not fall into neat categories. It is likely that the health and social needs of a learner, rather than his or her academic needs, create the most critical barriers to learning and participation. Therefore, mechanisms for coordinated partnerships and teamwork have to be put in place. This was also supported by Engelbrecht and Green (2006:51) who indicated that the aim is to bring together as many resources, perspectives and types of expertise as possible to support centres of learning and communities in meeting the needs of learners.

In conclusion, school-based support teams need to get full support from the local and district communities, as well as from the ‘special schools’ which serve as learning resources to the newly developed inclusive schools. The ‘special schools’ can also help in identifying the learners with learning barriers as they have well-qualified educators in this regard. All these lead to the development of complete inclusive education where all learners have access to common facilities.