The Collaborative Partnership between Teachers and Occupational Therapists in Public Special Schools in South Africa

Abstract

With the advent of democratic government in South Africa in 1994, the government has been making strides toward ensuring that education is accessible to all, including children with disabilities. The South African Constitution, under the Bill of Rights, alludes to the fact that the government has the responsibility to ensure that education is accessible and all are given the necessary support. The Department of Basic Education has developed a variety of legislation, policies, and guidelines to improve the inclusion of children with disabilities in schools. The launch of Education White Paper 6: Building an Inclusive Education and Training System: Special Needs Education, 2001, further led to the development of several policies, strategies, guidelines, and interventions in order to support the development of an inclusive education and training system. The objective of education White Paper 6 is to build an inclusive education system in the country. This requires stakeholders with various relevant expertise to work as teams in order to make education accessible and offer support to those learners with barriers to learning in classrooms. Collaboration between teachers and occupational therapists in a classroom is seen as vital.

Citation

Kungwane, S. and Boaduo, M. (2021), "The Collaborative Partnership between Teachers and Occupational Therapists in Public Special Schools in South Africa", Semon, S.R., Lane, D. and Jones, P. (Ed.) Instructional Collaboration in International Inclusive Education Contexts (International Perspectives on Inclusive Education, Vol. 17), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 115-126. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1479-363620210000017011