Profiles of public and private autism-specific schools in Gauteng

Sumari Erasmus,Jeannie Van Der Linde,Alta Kritzinger

doi:10.4102/sajce.v9i1.691

Abstract

Background: Despite inclusive education (IE) policies and legislation being introduced in South Africa (SA), learners with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are still placed in autism-specific public and private schools. Limited data are available on who makes use of the two different types of schools. Results may provide information on the profiles and education of learners with ASD in Gauteng schools. Aim: A quantitative, cross-sectional, comparative research design was used to compare the profiles of autism-specific public with autism-specific private schools and learners in Gauteng Province. Setting: The research was conducted in two autism-specific public and two private schools. Methods: Two survey questionnaires were used to collect data from four principals of two autism-specific public and two autism-specific private schools and 150 caregivers of learners attending the participating schools. Results: Results showed that because of their size autism-specific public schools make a significant contribution to the education of learners with ASD in Gauteng, compared to autism-specific private schools. Autism-specific public schools offer more therapy services than the autism-specific private schools, despite lower fees than autism-specific private schools. Significantly more black learners attend autism-specific public schools than autism-specific private schools. Regardless of the differences in population groups across the participating schools, the mean age when caregivers became concerned about their child’s development was similar across the two types of schools. Learners enrolled at the autism-specific private schools were diagnosed with ASD earlier than learners enrolled at the autism-specific public schools. Also, they commenced school earlier than the learners in the autism-specific public schools. Lastly, three of the four principals expressed a preference that learners with ASD be placed in autism-specific schools. Conclusion: The results highlight the need to raise awareness of ASD symptoms among parents with young children in all communities and to determine the barriers that hinder IE for learners with ASD in SA.

Highlights

In South Africa (SA), educational placement for learners with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a pertinent topic in light of the inclusive education (IE) policy recommending that all learners should be educated in the least restrictive environment (Department of Education [DoE] 2001)
Our results show that even though legislation and policies stipulate that learners with disabilities, such as ASD, should be included in mainstream schools, the DoE is still establishing autism-specific schools, perpetuating the IE legislation and policies (Evans 2016)
Our results support the recent progress report on the implementation of WP6, which indicated that some children with disabilities, including ASD, are not receiving the specialised education they need (DoE 2015)

Summary

Introduction

In South Africa (SA), educational placement for learners with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a pertinent topic in light of the inclusive education (IE) policy recommending that all learners should be educated in the least restrictive environment (Department of Education [DoE] 2001). White learners who experienced barriers to learning received high-quality special education with adequate resources and well-trained teachers. Black, Indian and mixed race children were educated in separate facilities from white learners and received relatively low-quality education from poorly trained teachers (DoE 2001). Despite inclusive education (IE) policies and legislation being introduced in South Africa (SA), learners with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are still placed in autismspecific public and private schools. Results may provide information on the profiles and education of learners with ASD in Gauteng schools

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Methods

Results

Conclusion