developingasupportprogrammeforteachers-International.docVIP

DEVELOPING A SUPPORT PROGRAMME FOR TEACHERS INVOLVED WITH INCLUSION IN SOUTH AFRICA P Engelbrecht University of Stellenbosch C.Forlin University of Southern Queensland I Eloff University of Pretoria and E Swart Rand Afrikaans University The establishment of an inclusive education system in South Africa will require the development of appropriate support services at both a school and district level. Recent policy documents in South Africa propose that such a support system should take a systemic approach utilising district support teams that focus on management and personnel support rather than providing direct face to face interventions for individual learners. This paper discusses the development of a support program that is based on research findings regarding the aspects of inclusion that mainstream class teachers in South Africa find most stressful and how they best cope with this stress. It is posited that by addressing the specific stressors associated with inclusion teachers will have an enhanced sense of efficacy and be more enthusiastic about participating in inclusive classrooms. For many teachers in mainstream classrooms in South Africa there have been changes in practice and attitudes that few would have foreseen as they entered the profession. Until recently, it was assumed that learners with disabilities should be educated in special schools and that the predominant educational approach should be that these learners will not be successful in meeting traditional demands in mainstream classrooms (Bradley King-Sears, 1997; Fraser, 1996). Teachers were trained accordingly and the separate mainstream and special education teacher preparation programmes did not provide trainees in mainstream education with the experience to develop the necessary skills and dispositions to handle learners with disabilities in their classrooms (Engelbrecht Snyman, 1999; Villa, Thousand Chapple, 1996). Over the past six years, reform in education in a democratic South Africa