A Reflexive Critique of Inclusive Education Policy and Practice in South Africa: Towards a Decolonising, Transformative Praxis

Abstract

Inclusive education is an agenda that emanated from the Global North, and had as its imperative the eradication of discriminatory policies and practices that prevent some children from accessing a quality education. In recent years, it has increasingly been argued by scholars in the Global South that the supremacy of Eurocentric knowledge, theory, values, and practices informing inclusive education needs to be disrupted. In South Africa, decolonisation is emerging as a constructive frame for critiquing inclusive education policy and practices, and for informing the agenda of transformation in educational institutions. By undertaking a systematic review of research on the implementation of inclusive education in South Africa, this article explores the question of how the debate can be shifted from traditional theoretical discussions on special education versus inclusive education to a focus on the practicality of inclusive education policy implementation within specific cultural historical contexts in South Africa. Possibilities for reimagining inclusive education policy and practice in schooling contexts are explored through a decolonising, equity-oriented, social justice lens. The key message is that transformative inclusive education is an education reform agenda that requires all educational institutions and social actors to embrace socially just, inclusive values and ideologies; new thinking and belief systems that reflect a commitment to educational access, participation, and quality education for all learners; democratic patterns of decision-making and leadership; and a school culture and ethos reflective of the African philosophy of ubuntu.