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The educational experiences of learners with physical disabilities in selected mainstream high schools
Thesis (MEd)--Stellenbosch University, 2025.
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| Language: | en_ZA |
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Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University
2025
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| _version_ | 1867613974190620672 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Buis, Dyan Neille |
| author2 | Joorst, Jerome |
| author_browse | Buis, Dyan Neille Joorst, Jerome |
| author_facet | Joorst, Jerome Buis, Dyan Neille |
| author_sort | Buis, Dyan Neille |
| collection | Thesis |
| dc_rights_str_mv | Stellenbosch University |
| description | Thesis (MEd)--Stellenbosch University, 2025. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/134549 |
| institution | Stellenbosch University (South Africa) |
| language | en_ZA |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:44:39.798Z |
| license_str | Other — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from SUNScholar — Stellenbosch University Repository |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| publishDateRange | 2025 |
| publishDateSort | 2025 |
| publisher | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| publisherStr | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | SUNScholar — Stellenbosch University Repository |
| spelling | oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/134549 The educational experiences of learners with physical disabilities in selected mainstream high schools Buis, Dyan Neille Joorst, Jerome Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Education. Dept. of Education Policy Studies. Students with disabilities -- Education Inclusive education -- South Africa Mainstreaming in education -- South Africa Education, Secondary -- South Africa UCTD Thesis (MEd)--Stellenbosch University, 2025. Buis, D. N. 2025. The educational experiences of learners with physical disabilities in selected mainstream high schools. Unpublished masters thesis. Stellenbosch: Stellenbosch University [online]. Available: https://scholar.sun.ac.za/items/9b2e498d-e11d-4505-bc47-1d5de4eb0da4 ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In post-Apartheid South Africa, inclusive education has been a critical area of reform, with policies such as White Paper 6 on Inclusive Education (2001) outlining a vision for the accommodation of learners with disabilities within mainstream schools. While this policy framework is progressive and well-articulated, a persistent gap remains between the intentions of policy and its implementation at the school level. This study investigates how learners with physical disabilities experience schooling in mainstream high schools, and to what extent inclusive education policies are enacted in practice. The primary aim of the study was to explore the educational experiences of learners with physical disabilities in selected mainstream high schools in the Cape Winelands region. It further sought to examine the implementation of inclusive education policies, particularly White Paper 6 and the SIAS policy, in relation to school leadership, educator practice, and institutional support structures. This study adopted a qualitative, interpretivist research design with an ethnographic orientation, drawing on in-depth interviews with five learners across four mainstream schools. Data was analysed through the combined theoretical lens of Critical Disability Theory, Bourdieu’s Theory of Practice, and Stephen Ball’s policy sociology, providing a multi-layered understanding of both learner experiences and policy enactment. Findings reveal that while policy awareness exists at leadership level, there is limited translation into classroom practice, particularly due to resource constraints, lack of training, and attitudinal barriers. Learners with physical disabilities often face inaccessible infrastructure, social exclusion, and a sense of marginalisation. Furthermore, key support structures, such as SBSTs and DBSTs, function unevenly across schools. Notably, the well-being and psychosocial needs of learners with physical disabilities remain overlooked. The study concludes that the current model of inclusion remains symbolic and requires structural, pedagogical, and policy-level transformation to achieve genuine educational equity. It contributes to the discourse on inclusive education by foregrounding learner voices and highlighting the disjuncture between policy and practice. The study offers recommendations for teacher training, policy accountability, and the centrality of learner well-being in future inclusive education reforms. AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: post-apartheid Suid-Afrika was inklusiewe onderwys 'n kritieke gebied van hervorming, met beleide soos Witskrif 6 oor Inklusiewe Onderwys (2001) wat 'n visie vir die akkommodasie van leerders met gestremdhede binne hoofstroomskole uiteensit. Alhoewel hierdie beleidsraamwerk progressief en goed verwoord is, bly daar 'n aanhoudende gaping tussen die bedoelings van beleid en die implementering daarvan op skoolvlak. Hierdie studie ondersoek hoe leerders met fisieke gestremdhede skoolopleiding in hoofstroom hoërskole ervaar, en in watter mate inklusiewe onderwysbeleide in die praktyk ingestel word. Die primêre doel van die studie was om die opvoedkundige ervarings van leerders met fisieke gestremdhede in geselekteerde hoofstroomhoërskole in die Kaapse Wynland-streek te ondersoek. Dit het verder gepoog om die implementering van inklusiewe onderwysbeleide, veral Witskrif 6 en die SIAS-beleid, te ondersoek met betrekking tot skoolleierskap, opvoederpraktyk en institusionele ondersteuningstrukture. Hierdie studie het 'n kwalitatiewe, interpretivistiese navorsingsontwerp met 'n etnografiese oriëntasie aanvaar, wat gebruik maak van diepgaande onderhoude met vyf leerders in vier hoofstroomskole. Data is ontleed deur die gekombineerde teoretiese lens van Kritiese Gestremdheidsteorie, Bourdieu se Praktykteorie en Stephen Ball se beleidssosiologie, wat 'n veelvlakkige begrip van beide leerderervarings en beleidsinwerkingstelling verskaf. Bevindinge toon dat hoewel beleidsbewustheid op leierskapsvlak bestaan, daar beperkte vertaling in klaskamerpraktyk is, veral as gevolg van hulpbronbeperkings, gebrek aan opleiding en houdingshindernisse. Leerders met fisieke gestremdhede staar dikwels ontoeganklike infrastruktuur, sosiale uitsluiting en 'n gevoel van marginalisering in die gesig. Verder funksioneer sleutelondersteuningstrukture, soos SBST's en DBST's, oneweredig oor skole heen. Die welstand en psigososiale behoeftes van leerders met fisieke gestremdhede word veral oor die hoof gesien. Die studie kom tot die gevolgtrekking dat die huidige model van insluiting grootliks simbolies bly en strukturele, pedagogiese en beleidsvlaktransformasie vereis om ware opvoedkundige gelykheid te bewerkstellig. Dit dra by tot die diskoers oor inklusiewe onderwys deur leerderstemme op die voorgrond te plaas en die skeiding tussen beleid en praktyk uit te lig. Die studie bied aanbevelings vir onderwysersopleiding, beleidsaanspreeklikheid en die sentraliteit van leerderwelstand in toekomstige inklusiewe onderwyshervormings. Masters 2025-12-12T10:31:06Z 2025-12-12T10:31:06Z 2025-12 Thesis https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/134549 en_ZA Stellenbosch University 137 pages application/pdf Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| spellingShingle | Students with disabilities -- Education Inclusive education -- South Africa Mainstreaming in education -- South Africa Education, Secondary -- South Africa UCTD Buis, Dyan Neille The educational experiences of learners with physical disabilities in selected mainstream high schools |
| title | The educational experiences of learners with physical disabilities in selected mainstream high schools |
| title_full | The educational experiences of learners with physical disabilities in selected mainstream high schools |
| title_fullStr | The educational experiences of learners with physical disabilities in selected mainstream high schools |
| title_full_unstemmed | The educational experiences of learners with physical disabilities in selected mainstream high schools |
| title_short | The educational experiences of learners with physical disabilities in selected mainstream high schools |
| title_sort | educational experiences of learners with physical disabilities in selected mainstream high schools |
| topic | Students with disabilities -- Education Inclusive education -- South Africa Mainstreaming in education -- South Africa Education, Secondary -- South Africa UCTD |
| url | https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/134549 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT buisdyanneille theeducationalexperiencesoflearnerswithphysicaldisabilitiesinselectedmainstreamhighschools AT buisdyanneille educationalexperiencesoflearnerswithphysicaldisabilitiesinselectedmainstreamhighschools |