Teachers’ Perceptions on School Based Support Team in Facilitating Inclusive Education at Tshwane North Schools

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to investigate the perceptions of teachers who serve in school based support teams (SBST) on their facilitation role in the implementation of inclusive education. SBST is a new role mandated to teachers as a result of inclusive education policies promulgated by the Department of Basic Education. As a new role teachers have no previous education and training on inclusive education. The policy introduced new roles unfamiliar to teachers. For this reason, the article seeks to establish how teachers cope with the challenge of having to deal with a phenomenon they have prior knowledge of. This study explores the experiences and perceptions of seven SBST members in two Gauteng North schools. We utilized qualitative methods to select teachers in two primary schools located in Tshwane North District 3. We collected data from (n=10) participants. The findings reveal that teachers are oblivious of their new role as they lack knowledge and training to give adequate support to learners with special needs.