Abstract:

This research discusses factors influencing effective implementation of inclusive education in primary schools in South Africa. After Apartheid was overthrown in 1994, the democratic government set out on a fresh course for reforming the country's education system. The goal was to completely overhaul the system to combat past injustices and exclusion through the adoption of inclusive education. Inclusive education accommodates all learners with learning disabilities who are not able to attend mainstream schools regardless of their race or creed. However, its implementation seems to be faced with challenges owing to enormous diversity of learners' educational needs. The study was grounded in the interpretive research paradigm which was deeply rooted in a qualitative research approach. A purposive sampling procedure was used to choose fourteen participants, who included two school principals, two deputy principals, five teachers, and five members of the school-based support team. The participants were chosen from five primary schools in the Warmbaths district of the Limpopo Province. Semi-structured one-on-one interviews were done with every participant. The data were examined and analysed using thematic analysis. The findings revealed that overcrowded classrooms, inadequate training of educators as well as lack of basic resources and concrete teaching aids and inadequate classrooms were hindering effectiveness of the implementation of inclusive education in primary schools. Therefore, this study proposes that there should be adequate educator-learner ratio. Secondly an extensive training for educators who are directly involved with learners on a day-to-day basis rather than short workshops that are conducted for coordinators who are not directly dealing with the learners on the ground. It further recommends that the department of education must provide schools with concrete teaching aids that can be used in the classrooms to accommodate all learners irrespective of their learning barriers.

Keywords:

Educational support, educator-learner ratio, inclusive education, learning barriers, mainstream schools.