The parents' lived experience of the pathway to identification and support provision of a child’s Learning Difficulty: Case studies

Abstract

The democratically elected government of South Africa undertook reforms in the education sector to provide everyone with access to high-quality education and to align the system with global norms. The Department of Education (2001) has legislated policies, such as Education White Paper 6 (EWP6), which unequivocally states that all learners must have access to support and that learning barriers must be removed to reach their full potential. EWP6 states that bolstering the educational support system for students, instructors, schools, and the education system is one of the most important ways to lower learning difficulties. To implement EWP6, the Department of Basic Education has adopted the National Strategy for Screening, Identification, Assessment, and Support (SIAS) (Department of Education, 2001). Additionally, the SIAS policy offers tactics to educators so they can work cooperatively with parents and students to build inclusive systems. Although teachers are the driving force for inclusive education, they involve the parents as soon as they notice any learning difficulty. Furthermore, support structures like the School Based Support Team (SBST) and the District Based Support Teams (DBST) were formed to accomplish inclusive education. The study focused on the parents’ lived experiences of the pathway to identification and support provision of a child’s learning difficulty through case studies. The study adopted a qualitative research design with data collected through semi-structured telephonic interviews with eight high school parents from Soweto. Data was analyzed through thematic analysis. The ethical principles adhered to were informed consent, anonymity, confidentiality, and non-maleficence. Cultural- historical Activity Theory was employed as a theoretical framework to understand the parents’ lived experiences of the pathway to identifying and supporting a child’s learning difficulty through case studies. The study findings suggest that even though it has been several years since the SIAS policy was developed, the South African education system still faces challenges with the implementation of the policy. The findings further indicated the need for educating the parents about inclusive education and the identification process. The parents had no clear understanding of the identification process and the support that should be provided to their children after they have been identified as having a learning difficulty. The parents experienced the identification process in primary and secondary schools differently.