Participatory Action Research: A Tool for Enhancing Inclusive Teaching Practices Among Teachers in South African Full-Service Schools

Previous studies conducted on the implementation of inclusive education in South African full-service schools showed that teachers lacked knowledge and expertise in inclusive teaching practices. Furthermore, in some international studies, it is recommended that, to enhance inclusive teaching, it was necessary to involve the teaching communities concerned, using their in-depth understanding of the problem at hand, to come up with emancipatory solutions that could assist in the design of effective teaching strategies to enhance inclusive teaching. Therefore, this study investigated the role of participatory action research (PAR) in enhancing teachers’ inclusive teaching practices in full-service schools. This qualitative PAR study was conducted for 6 months by a research team comprising 12 teachers in a full-service school in the Johannesburg East District of South Africa. Data were collected through PAR stages of planning, observation, action, and reflection. To analyze data, during PAR, group interpretative meetings were held with coresearchers and, after PAR process, an inductive qualitative thematic content data analysis was done by the researcher. Among the findings from the study was that teachers’ understandings of inclusive education were varied. Their conceptions about what it meant to be an inclusive teacher in a full-service school context were also vague. However, the study has found that through PAR participation teachers were able to share and develop own understandings of these concepts. Furthermore, the study identified a need for teachers in a full-service school to be reflective, critical, and innovative about their teaching practices to cater for diverse learner needs in the classroom, which are skills necessary for enhancing inclusive teaching and learning. The study has confirmed PAR as a viable change strategy of teaching toward inclusion.

SPARK-ing innovation: a model for elementary classrooms as COVID-19 unfolds

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to describe SPARK, an innovative elementary school that highlights the possibilities for elementary education as COVID-19 continues to unfold.Design/methodology/approachThe authors’ analysis is based on a research synthesis of the main features of the SPARK model, as it was operating when schools in Arizona closed because of the coronavirus pandemic: project-based learning, a teaming model, heterogeneously grouped multi-age classes, blended learning, supporting students' development as self-directed learners, mindfulness and looping.FindingsThis paper outlines the empirical grounding for the main features of the model and suggests how they might address elementary students' learning and social emotional needs when schools in Arizona reopen for in-person instruction either as full-service schools or on a staggered or hybrid schedule.Originality/valueEducators from other districts can use this model as a springboard for reimagining their own educational spaces and practices in this new and still uncertain period when schools and school districts consider how to move forward. While many of these practices are not novel, the authors’ research synthesis highlights how SPARK combines them in a way that is unique and particularly relevant for the present moment.

Life Has Equal Worth

The aim of this chapter is to advance reasons in support of the establishment of full-service schools. The current government has sought to produce a lifelong learner who is literate, numerate, multi-skilled, compassionate, with the capacity to live well with others and to think critically. The curriculum had to complement the principles of social transformation, human rights, and valuing indigenous knowledge system, among others. Unfortunately, differently abled learners were excluded from mainstream classes because of race and (dis)ability. Given the circumstances surrounding this exclusion, parents were ashamed to acknowledge and accept their differently abled children, and society compounded the situation by rejecting them as well. The theory that underpins the discourse in this chapter is Social Constructionism. The chapter will introduce the concepts of full-service schools, followed by a discussion of the legislative framework responsible for the establishment of full-service schools. There will also be a critical look at the roles of the different stakeholders in the teaching and learning setup of full-service schools.

“Community Aware” education policy: Enhancing individual and community vitality

This paper advances the theoretical and applied connection between education policy and community development. We call this community-aware education policy, and it is based on Dean’s (2012) conception of human need that is thick (i.e., accounts for a relational context), rather than relying solely on a thin conception (i.e., instrumental view with an individualistic focus). It is our contention that contemporary policy initiatives can be better designed and implemented so that individual and professional goals are attained while family and community well-being are enhanced. Using literature from the field of community development highlighting social support concepts, we “thicken” the concept of social policy to arrive at our theory of community-aware education policy. This theory is then applied to two cases in different national policy contexts: universal pre-kindergarten in New York State (US) and full-service schools in England (UK). Ultimately, we argue for a thick approach to need that results in the provision of a range of services and activities to serve children in schools better, and also the communities in which they reside.