Exploring the Efficacy of Workshops as a Professional Teacher Development Strategy for Inclusive Education in South African Schools: Teachers’ Perspectives
Simon Mfula Ndlovu 
, Mahlapahlapana Johannes Themane, Baby Inneth Makofane & Hunadi Mphahlele
Issue: Vol.5 No. 6 August 2024 Article 6 pp.150-165
DOI : https://doi.org/10.38159/jelt.2024566 | Published online 28th August, 2024.
© 2024 The Author(s). This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
For inclusive education to be a success, in-service teachers need to be thoroughly trained. learning and professional development programmes have been initiated across the globe including South Africa to prepare teachers. Workshops are well-known training methods in inclusive education. Surprisingly, despite their existence, literature points out that there’s still an inadequacy of teacher training. This complaint makes one question the efficacy of the workshops. To this end, this study explored the efficacy of workshops on Inclusive Education (IE) for Foundation Phase (FP) teachers in the Capricorn District of Limpopo Province. To achieve this, the case-study design in qualitative research was used. A purposive sampling strategy was used to sample 11 FP teachers from three ordinary schools. Data was collected through document reviews, in-depth interviews, and a focus group interview. The data was analysed through the thematic analysis method. The analysis revealed that according to teachers the workshops are not effective, for the following reasons: (i) the workshops only provide a theory that does not match the reality of the schools; (ii) the workshops are too short and not sufficiently informative; (iii) through teacher agency, teachers improvise to achieve IE. These findings suggest that IE workshops do get implemented in South African schools, however, their efficacy is questionable. Therefore, a proper model for the workshops that will be considerate of the schools’ context should be devised. This study may inform policy makers workshop facilitators, and researchers about what is working and what is not working regarding inclusion workshops.
Keywords: Inclusive Education, Learning and Professional Development Programmes, Workshops, Teachers
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Simon Mfula Ndlovu is a PhD student (in curriculum studies), and a research assistant under the DSI-NRF/UL Co-funded Research Chair in Schools as Enabling Environments (SEE) at the University of Limpopo (UL). He previously worked as a teacher in primary and secondary schools. His areas of interest are curriculum studies, inclusive education implementation, policy evaluation in primary schools, systematic and scoping reviews, and reading and writing.
Professor Mahlapahlapana Themane is a Professor of Education and a holder of the DSI-NRF/UL Co-funded Research Chair in Schools as Enabling Environments (SEE) at the University of Limpopo (UL). His research focuses on how to make schools effective. He currently collaborates with the Research Chair in Mental Health and Society at UL in promoting mental health in places of learning and development. He previously served as the Head of Department and the Dean of the Faculty of Education at UL. He has also served as a principal investigator in several research projects. His research interests include reading, health education, and educational achievements. He has authored and co-authored book chapters, articles, and commissioned reports. His research has been published in local, national, and international journals.
Dr Baby Inneth Makofane is a Postdoc fellow under the DSI-NRF/UL Co-funded Research Chair in Schools as Enabling Environments (SEE) at the University of Limpopo (UL). She previously worked as a secondary school teacher. Her areas of interest are curriculum studies, inclusive education implementation, policy evaluation in primary schools, and reading and writing.
Mphahlele Hunadi is a Master of Education student (curriculum studies), and a research intern under the DSI-NRF/UL Co-funded Research Chair in Schools as Enabling Environments (SEE) at the University of Limpopo (UL). She previously worked as a teacher in primary and secondary schools. Her areas of interest are curriculum studies, inclusive education implementation, policy evaluation in primary schools, and reading and writing.
Ndlovu, Simon Mfula, Mahlapahlapana Johannes Themane, Baby Inneth Makofane & Hunadi Mphahlele.”Exploring the Efficacy of Workshops as a Professional Teacher Development Strategy for Inclusive Education in South African Schools: Teachers’ Perspectives.” Journal of Education and Learning Technology 5, no.6 (2024): 150-165. https://doi.org/10.38159/jelt.2024566
© 2024 The Author(s). Published and Maintained by Noyam Journals. This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
