The Education of Deaf Learners in South Africa Essay PDF

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Essay Block 4: The Education of Deaf Learners in South Africa

Throughout history, societies view of learners who were seen as “disabled” or “challenged” were always treated as outcasts, be it through their day to day socialising or even through their education system. This essay will focus mainly on Deaf (hearing impaired) learners. Fortunately, in recent South Africa, the government as well as the society have been working hard at ways to reduce this preconceived notion to reduce the negative impact this outlook has on Deaf learners. Inclusive educations main aim or foundation is to allow all learners to be taught together and most importantly to make all students feel welcomed, regardless of whether or not they possess any differences (physically/mentally) [ CITATION McM17 \l 7177 ]. This also means that each learner needs to be given a good quality/standard of education while different teachings styles are to be utilised to accommodate the different learners with different learning abilities, as each learner is different [ CITATION McM17 \l 7177 ]. This essay will delve into detail about what inclusive education is and how it pertains to a South African context, what is happening socially, as well as give a personal account of how inclusive education is being utilised/adapted in an inclusive school in South Africa (MC Kharbai School, Lenasia).

Inclusive education is a form of education whereby all students, regardless of any challenges they may possess, are placed in an appropriate general education class, making sure that each and every student feels welcomed [ CITATION McM17 \l 7177 ]. These classrooms will be based on the foundation that students with disabilities are fundamentally as competent to complete their given tasks within conjunction to those students who do not possess disabilities [ CITATION McM17 \l 7177 ]. The key principle is to appropriately challenge the students, support them in their efforts and to most importantly make them feel at ease, students with physical/mental disabilities

should never be discriminated against as firstly it is considered morally wrong and secondly is that is goes against a basic human right which is ‘to not discriminate against others’ [ CITATION McM17 \l 7177 ]. This system would suit any society as it would allow both sets of students to learn more, the students who are physically/mentally challenged would be granted the opportunity to be taught within what society calls a ‘normal’ learning environment, which would boost their moral and self-esteem as they would not feel excluded and it would help the nonchallenged learners as they will get to know and see that there is nothing wrong with the other students, as opposed to how society portrays them to be [ CITATION McM17 \l 7177 ]. As we know, a learners parents play a pivotal role in their lives and as difficult as it is to understand, many parents feel ashamed or discontent with their child being labelled as ‘different’ by society and this results in the learner having a low self-esteem [ CITATION Mey13 \l 7177 ]. Therefore, by introducing such a system it allows for the idea around the learners physical or mental impairment to be considered ‘normal’ by society as well as having less of a negative effect of the parents which would result in a better home environment for the learner [ CITATION McM17 \l 7177 ].

Within the South African society, we are given many rights and the government, within regard of the education side, have made statements to which the education should follow, such as the education system needs to be unitary, allow for no discrimination whatsoever, democracy and a redress of educational inequalities (1996). The South African Department of Education’s ‘EDUCATION WHITE PAPER 6: Special Needs Education Building an inclusive education and training system’ of July 2001, outlines all of the key features and strategies of how an ‘inclusive

education’ system is to be run within a South African context. An inclusive education system is designed so that it may provide various levels of support to learners as well as educators (2001). In this doctrine we see that inclusive education when delved into results in the following, acknowledging that all learners need support and that they are able to learn, thereafter the acceptance that all learners are not the same and their needs are all treated equally, the enablement of a learning structure which incorporates all of the different learning styles into one specific method which would get rid of any form of discrimination, establish ways in which to change societies preconceived notion of physically/mentally challenged learners as a learners education is not only within the bounds of the school but also at home and within the society to which they are exposed to (2001). Overall, a key factor of the outcome of this system is to empower the learners by enabling them to fully participate in learning and to develop their individual strengths, by merging the learners with others, this allows them to develop at their own pace while withholding the state of equality as they are treated equally (2001).

In a country such as South Africa, it is difficult for learners in general to get a good quality education due to the high levels of poverty. It becomes extremely difficult for Deaf/hearing impaired learners in this situation as well. Firstly, if they are in a poor financial situation the schools on offer are not up to par, secondly, if their financial situation is decent then the schools on offer for them are located very far away as Deaf and hearing impaired learners only account for 5% of the country’s schooling population [ CITATION Oos18 \l 7177 ]. Teachers in South Africa go through a thorough screening process before being handed a job, however, with roughly 43 Deaf and hard of hearing schools in South Africa (whereby only 12 schools offer

Matric/Grade 12), there are no minimum qualifications set for teachers, which makes it extremely difficult for Deaf learners as so few teachers understand Sign Language [ CITATION Oos18 \l 7177 ]. Communication and language skills start developing at a very young age, a few months to be exact (e.g. A baby will cry when hungry) and it is important for hearing impaired learners to start early as later on communication and language development becomes difficult for them as they generally would have entered Grade R with no language at all [ CITATION Oos18 \l 7177 ]. A common issue in South Africa is that hearing impaired learners are not recognised as being hard of hearing due to late detection. This shows us the importance of early detection, the sooner the child is recognised as having an impairment, the better for all as this will allow the learner to go to school at a young age and provide him/her with the opportunities and tools needed in order to have a stable schooling career [ CITATION Oos18 \l 7177 ]. A key concept to remember is that SASL (South African Sign Language) does not have its very own written language, hence another language needs to be used as a basis (such as English), therefore a teacher in one of these schools would need to be literate firstly in English and secondly in SASL [ CITATION Oos18 \l 7177 ].

I was fortunate to be granted the opportunity to visit an Inclusive Deaf school, MC Kharbai in Lenasia, this being my first experience at a Deaf school. Given the basic knowledge we have gained by taking SASL in the first block, upon entering I was able to understand what the teachers and principle were signing, however it was difficult, and we then came to realise that they were hearing and were able to speak to us in English. The first sign of inclusivity that I saw was that there were hearing students, Deaf students, mute students etc. and they were all taught in common

classrooms. We started off by going into a social sciences classroom, this was my first experience of an inclusive classroom as there were Deaf students and students who were hard of hearing. The teacher was bilingual and could speak English as well as sign exceptionally well, my first question to her was how does she teach the students? She replied in saying that she preferred to sign to the class while mouthing out the words, that way each and every student would be able to understand her, whereas in the hearing class they used spoken English but the teacher would sign as she was speaking in order to help the students understand the SASL. We then went on and experienced ‘break time’ which was brilliant as we were able to interact with all of the students, it was interesting to see how they communicated with each other as well as many preferred to sign and when asked why they said it was because it was easier for them to communicate that way as they were taught SASL from a young age. We then proceeded to the Grade R section, in here we saw that there were very few students and this was a prime example of early and late detection, as mentioned by our guide that the little kids parents were uncomfortable with getting the proper help for their kids and that they could not be bothered about the kids, which backs up the negative mind-set had by these parents and society which was mentioned previously. The primary school phase had a teacher who was fluent in SASL as well as English and each class had a Deaf tutor to help the teacher understand as aforementioned, teachers do find it difficult to communicate with the Deaf learners sometimes. Overall, it could be seen how inclusivity was used throughout the school, from the teachers who were able to incorporate both SASL and spoken language into their teaching styles, to the way the learners were able to develop their communication skills from Grade R.

The approach of inclusive education is whereby hearing, Deaf and hearing impaired learners are all taught the same curriculum within the same school, thereby creating equality amongst all. It is also clearing up any forms of discrimination, allowing the same curriculum to be taught, showing that each and every learner is different and then adapting teachings styles to accommodate for each and every learner. The inclusivity approach has a bright future not only for the system but for the learners as well as it does not only benefit the hearing impaired learners. With the exposure that it provides, parents and teachers begin to have a positive outlook as well, as there is now support for each and every person. Although in South Africa it may not be as popular, it is on the rise, and due to this rise many hearing impaired learners will be able to get an equal opportunity at what society deems a ‘normal’ life, whereas we view it as being given an equal opportunity as we are equal, the South African constitution calls for equality amongst all and no discrimination against each other. MC Kharbai was a prime example for inclusive education as students, hearing or not, were taught the same syllabus, same languages and were given the opportunity to learn SASL which broadens their communication and language skills. It was difficult to hear the stories of the Grade R pupils as their parents were not supportive in communicating with them (such as coming for free SASL classes) which reiterated the negative mind-set of people. However, as the inclusivity grows parents and society will become accustomed to it and their preconceived notions will no longer be present, creating a better and happier future for all involved.

References McManis, L. D., 2017. Concordia University-Portland. [Online] Available at: https://education.cu-portland.edu/blog/classroom-resources/inclusiveeducation/ [Accessed 17 September 2019]. Meyers, S., 2013. Psychology Today. [Online] Available at: https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/insight-is2020/201310/empathy-parents-special-needs-children-coping-help [Accessed 17 September 2019]. Oosthuizen, A., 2018. Human Sciences Research Council. [Online] Available at: http://www.hsrc.ac.za/en/review/hsrc-review-oct-dec-2018/sa-is-failingdeaf-and-hard-of-hearing-learners [Accessed 17 September 2019].

Department of Education (1996) South African Schools Act (Pretoria, Government Printer). Department of Education (2001) EDUCATION WHITE PAPER 6 Special Needs Education Building an inclusive education and training system. [Online] Available at: https://www.vvob.org/files/publicaties/rsa_education_white_paper_6.pdf [Accessed 17 September 2019]...