Department of Basic Education Access to Education and Support for Learners with Special Education Needs Presentation to the Portfolio Committee on Women. Children and Persons with Disabilities Department of Basic Education 24 August 2011

“Inclusive schools provide an effective Vision “Inclusive schools provide an effective education to the majority of children and improve the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of the entire education system and build an inclusive and tolerant society”

Education White Paper 6 Launched in July 2001 Purpose: to bring about systemic measures for changing schooling and support provisioning landscape in the following ways: Increasing access to quality education and support for all Strengthening and changing role of special schools to Resource Centres Building capacity of mainstream schools for improved support services Strengthening districts – more cost effective use of scarce resources Strengthening framework for teacher development Strengthening mechanisms for accessible curriculum Overhauling the screening, assessment and admissions policy to focus on making support available in ordinary schools and centrally involving parents and teachers in decision making Advocacy on inclusivity

Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Article 24 speaks to the realities on the ground Increasing access to education for learners with severe and multiple disabilities Increasing capacity in the mainstream to reduce the number of referrals and drop-outs by providing reasonable accommodation Integrating support in all programmes Recognising dignity

Schooling System For Disabled Learners Disabled learners access education in any of the following schools: Special schools which in the main are for disabled learners requiring high levels of support Full service schools which are flagship ordinary schools that are welcoming to all children and support each every child to develop to his/her full potential irrespective of background, culture, ability or disability, gender or race – models of good inclusive practice Ordinary schools which should focus on learners requiring low levels of support – the long-term vision of the inclusive education policy is that these schools should also be inclusive

Learners in Schools By Primary Disability Across Provinces, 2007 Ordinary Schools: Separate Class Ordinary Schools: Mainstream Class Special Schools Attention Deficit Disorder 2,551 15,295 2 177 Autistic Spectrum Disorder 372 5,267 1 062 Behavioural Disorder 1,410 7,977 5 919 Blind 295 581 1 103 Cerebral Palsied 362 781 5 299 Deaf 397 1,009 5 647 Deaf-Blind 201 1,350 62

Learners in Schools By Primary Disability Across Provinces, 2007 Cont. Ordinary Schools: Separate Class Ordinary Schools: Mainstream Class Special Schools Epilepsy 679 3,527 2 526 Hard of Hearing 1,168 6,616 1 414 Mild or moderate intellectual disability 5,998 11,248 24 359 Partially Sighted 1,378 10,535 2 032 Physical Disability 554 3,089 3 860 Severe Intellectual Disability 1,033 2,313 19 302 Specific Learning Disability 8,961 21,283 9 970 Total 25,359 90,871 90 314 Source: EMIS, 2007

Learners With Disabilities in Special Schools, 2009 Province Number of public special schools Number of Learners with a Single Disability Number of Learners with Multiple Disabilities Number of Teachers EC 40 8741 6512 816 FS 19 3409 1471 502 GT 116 24363 12104 3109 KZ 63 11238 8690 979 LP 10 3054 1914 272 MP 20 3352 3026 317 NC 1559 66 139 NW 33 4518 375 426 WC 81 15698 1529 1667 Total 392 75 932 35 687 8227 Combined= 111 619 Source: EMIS, 2009

Learners With Disabilities in Ordinary Schools, 2009 Province Separate Classes Mainstream Total EC 948 18,708 19,656 FS 4,788 16,667 21,455 GT 3,726 12,397 16,123 KZ 6,504 15,721 22,225 LP 3,043 3,940 6,983 MP 1,482 12,051 13,533 NC 34 3,390 3,424 NW 1,251 6,581 7,832 WC 200 13,104 13,304 21,976 102,559 124,535 Source: EMIS, 2009

Funding Allocation To Special Schools in 2010/11 Province Number of Schools Budget 2010/11 (R’000) EC 40 R470 677 FS 19 R265 569 GT 115 R1 196 701 KZ 66 R772 903 LP 29 R251 564 MP R194 635 NC 10 R7 100 NW 35 R218 948 WC 80 R11 845 Total 413 R3 389 942 Source: Provincial Budget Monitoring, 2010

Special School Resource Centres Institutions Resourced to Increase Access To Education For Disabled Learners To Date Province Full Service Schools Special School Resource Centres EC 15 13 FS 41 4 GT KZ 75 18 LP 17 MP 138 NC 6 NW 95 19 WC 108 Total 570 112

Number of Special Schools Per Disability Primary Disability Number of Schools Autistic spectrum disorders 4 Cerebral palsy 6 Cerebral Palsy and Physical Disability 1 Communication Child and Youth Care Centres (Incl. Reform, Industry & Clinic schools) 35 Epilepsy 2 Hearing Impairment (Deaf & Hard of Hearing)

Number of Special Schools Per Disability Cont. Primary Disability Number of Schools Hearing Impairment and Visual Impairment 2 Hearing, Visual, & Severe Intellectual Disability 1 Serious/Chronic Illness (Hospital schools) 8 Specific Learning Disabilities (Incl. remedial & neurological disorders) 17 Moderate Intellectual Disability (Schools of Skills and Vocational Schools) 53 Moderate and Severe Intellectual Disability & Autistic Spectrum Disorder 6 Severe Intellectual Disability 161 Visual Impairment 20

Activities For Supporting Special Needs Learners Curriculum development including South African Sign language curriculum grades R-12; methodologies for accommodating diversity through Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statements Training of provincial, district and school management teams on visual and hearing impairment Consolidating a training programme for teachers of visually and hearing impaired learners for 2011 to 2013 Adaptation of workbooks to Braille, the SASL and Augmentative and Alternative Communication Procuring Braille textbooks grades 10-12 Establishing posts of therapists and Learning Support Educators based at districts to support schools Progressively increasing full service schools and special school resource centres

Progress Made with Capacity Building To Date Province Schools with School-based Support Teams Learning Support Educators Teachers trained 2001 – 2011 District officials trained ILSTs trained EC 64 36 1005 558 450 FS 1376 127 11100 255 GP 2092 215 750 280 503 KZN 1989 110 1600 620 120 LP 66 249 305 MP 4240 22 605 4361 8566 NC 412 18384 153 478 NW 687 116 3345 377 5211 WC 1095 592 2221 650 Total 8 696 1 415 39 315 7 148 16 672

Next Steps 2012 - 2014

Action Plan To 2014 Respond to the following policy formulation challenges: Developing funding norms ensuring funds are allocated per learner disability Ensuring a strong referral system working with departments of Health and Social Development Identification of different levels of disabilities and how they can be supported Improve curriculum delivery and assessment methodologies to accommodate diversity in learning styles and needs Strengthening remediation particularly for learners who lost out on learning opportunities Ensuring the provision of accessible LTSM and textbooks for all learners Identifying opportunities for young people with disabilities Supporting parents of disabled children to access support

Action Plan To 2014 Reaffirming principles of the White Paper 6, in particular the need for greater access amongst the poor by increasing access to specialist services the need for a fundamental mindset shift in the way the schooling system regards special needs and disability through advocacy Issues that must be tracked over the long term include The extension of the network of special and full service schools the capacity of districts to support ordinary schools with respect to specialist services and the loan of costly equipment and the extent to which ordinary schools refer learners to special or full-service schools for full- or part-time attention.

Priorities for Inclusive Education to 2014 Action Plan To 2014 proposes the following for the Inclusive Education Programme: Increase the number of full service schools to at least one for every district by 2014 while ensuring their access to specialist services Strengthening district support for schools in dealing with special needs Mediating Guidelines for full Service Schools and Guidelines To Ensure Quality Education and Support In Special Schools and Special Schools Resource Centres at district level. Monitoring the implementation of the inclusive education policy in the system

Increasing Full Service Schools To At Least One Per District by 2014 Definition: a school that is welcoming to all children and supports each child to develop to his/her full potential irrespective of background, culture, ability or disability, gender or race Activities will include: Coordinating the procurement of assistive devices where required by provinces Ensuring that established school-based support teams (ILSTs) are functional in existing full service schools Developing funding norms that respond to the roles and responsibilities that full service schools have to carry out Monitoring compliance with Guidelines for Full Service Schools by existing full service schools

Increasing Schools That Implement Inclusive Education Policy Screening, identification, assessment and support strategy (SIAS): Refining for finalisation as policy during 2011/12 for a roll out thereafter Develop a SIAS training programme for use by Teacher Development institutions to train teachers from 2012 onwards Developing a training programme on methodologies to accommodate diversity in the classroom through CAPS by July 2011 Finalising the South African Sign Language curriculum grades R-12 for implementation from 2013 Developing teacher training programmes in special needs targeting visual impairment, Deaf and hard of hearing in 2011/12 for implementation through to 2013

Strengthening District Capacity To Support Special Needs Building capacity of district officials on Guidelines for Full Service Schools and Guidelines to Ensure Quality Education And Support in Special Schools and Special Schools Resource Centres in 2011/12 Building capacity of district officials on SIAS during 2012/13 to support schools in the identification of special needs Indicator: increasing the percentage of schools in which at least one teacher has received specialised training in the identification of barriers to education

Provision of Accessible Textbooks, Workbooks, LTSM and Assistive Devices Procuring the Brailling of adapted workbooks for grades 1-6 and subsequent ones Procuring prescribed books in Braille for grades 10-12 in 22 schools for the Blind Adapting subsequent workbooks for Brailling during 2011/12 Procuring the Brailling of CAPS-aligned textbooks from 2012 onwards Coordinating the procurement of assistive devices for schools by provinces ongoing until 2014

Challenges and Risks Limited capacity and expert knowledge to implement the inclusive education policy at all levels of the system The demand for a multi-disciplinary approach in addressing barriers to learning including special needs Lack of a coordinating framework in government for providing access to specialist services Inclusive education not being seen as cross-cutting and as everyone’s business in the system

Thank You