How do we articulate the possibilities, limitations and challenges of inclusive schooling and education in African contexts? This book insists that inclusive education cannot be taken for granted. Inclusion is neither a natural nor a given educational practice. It must be struggled for. Bringing a critical perspective to inclusive schooling and education is imperative. This book adds to current educational debates with an African lens. It engages inclusive education from multiple lenses of curriculum content, classroom pedagogy and instruction, representation, culture, environment and the socio-organization life of schools, the pursuit of equity and social justice and the search for educational relevance. It is opined that Africa cannot be left behind in rethinking educational inclusion in ways that evoke critical questions of power, equity and social difference. The question of leaner’s identity in terms of class, gender, sexuality, (dis)ability, language, ethnicity and race are equally consequential for African schooling and education. When inclusion is understood as wholeness of education, then how schooling and education engage the complete learner – her/his body, mind, soul and spirit, as well as the use of local community and Indigenous knowledges in teaching and learning become relevant. Inclusion stands the risk of liberal educational agendas that simply tinker or toy with schooling and education and hardly embrace the challenge of educational change. What we need is a fundamental structural change that ensures schooling and education embraces difference while grappling with the teaching of Indigeneity, decolonization and resistance.

Despite global efforts to promote inclusive education, many African countries need help implementing inclusive practices in their educational systems. The lack of guidelines and preparedness among school practitioners often hinders the effective inclusion of students with disabilities in mainstream education. This results in a significant number of students with disabilities being marginalized and deprived of their right to quality education. Discussions of Inclusive Education Within African Contexts addresses this pressing issue to equip school practitioners with the knowledge and strategies to implement inclusive practices effectively. The book draws on global best practices and frameworks, such as the Salamanca statement, to provide practical guidance tailored to the unique challenges faced by African educational systems.

Students with disabilities who are not able to perform to the best of their abilities often find themselves learning in inaccessible environments and subjected to increased stress levels due to the haphazard provisioning of education characterized by physical, communicative, and unsuitable teaching and learning approaches. Very often this is a result of various shortcomings including unfair assessment practices. Misconceptions and a lack of knowledge with regard to the implementation of inclusive education detract from the successful admission of students with disabilities and their retention and active participation. The Handbook of Research on Creating Spaces for African Epistemologies in the Inclusive Education Discourse explores the concept of inclusive education in an African context. It advocates for the monitoring and evaluation of inclusive education and proposes interventions where reasonable accommodation or lack of accessibility is a reason for students with disabilities to not benefit from this system. Covering topics such as barriers to learning, rural schools, and student support, this major reference work is an essential resource for administrators, advocates for students with disabilities, policymakers, researchers, pre-service teachers, educators, academicians, and students.

This book thus explores the role of African epistemologies in addressing the myriad challenges posed by the inclusive education system in Africa and other contexts. In recent years, the shift from special education to inclusive education has had a significant impact on the provision of education and the education system as a whole in Africa. The impact has been felt in all institutions of learning from low to high, public and private, government, and across departments of education. Inclusive education, if shaped correctly by using African epistemologies, would empower learners to attain the relevant skills, knowledge, values, and attitudes for their own intellectual growth and personal development.

International Issues in SEND and Inclusion brings together a collection of cutting-edge researches on approaches to special education needs and disability education, across 6 continents and within 12 countries. Written by authors who are experts in their own countries in relation to special educational needs and disability, the book provides a unique knowledge and understanding of different international perspectives in special educational needs, disability and inclusion. The chapters present extended case studies and reflect on current policy, practice and theory within that context, challenging assumptions which can dominate the policy and practice of inclusive education. Each of the six continents has a separate section and introduction within the book to offer a relevant approach and context for analysis. The book will be of great interest to academics, researchers and postgraduate students in the fields of inclusion, special educational needs and disability, teacher education and comparative education.

If you are curious about Educational Psychology, this book is for you. You can read the chapters in any sequence, or you can start at the beginning, because this book provides myriad keys to the wonderful variety of themes in Educational Psychology today. Written by leading psychologists, researchers and practitioners, this book focuses on all the positive constructs in Educational Psychology and reflects on the wide range of strengths, assets and resources available to the educational psychologist. Each chapter presents an integrated overview, cutting-edge definitions of key concepts, quotations from professionals and students, and reflective questions to guide your practice. Written primarily by South Africans, this book is particularly relevant to the local environment and presents practical application strategies. Indigenous knowledge is infused with international perspectives, and equal emphasis is placed on the learner and on the social context, on assessment and intervention, and on theory and practice. The book is extremely accessible to students, but will also be invaluable for teachers, psychologists, researchers and health professionals.

It is a fundamental right for all children to be given access to quality education to ensure they reach their full potential as individuals; a right which is reflected in international law in Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and supported by the Education for All Agenda (1990) and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities and Optional Protocol (2006). Nation states across Africa have signed up to these protocols and remain committed to ensuring education for all children. The progress globally however in the past 25 years, including in Africa, has been slow (UNESCO, 2015). Questions remain on why this is so and what can be done about it. This book brings together researchers, education policy makers and academics from the African community. What is unique about this text is that it includes local insights narrated and critiqued by local professionals. This book presents a wide range of African countries across the continent, to provide a critical overview of the key issues affecting developments. It questions the origins of ideas and definitions around inclusive education and the impact it has made on policy and ultimately practice, within local socio-cultural and economic communities, both urban and rural. It highlights positive developments as well as challenges and provides a deep understanding of why the process of implementing inclusive education is so complex in the African continent. It provides an understanding of what is needed to develop a more sustainable model of inclusive education across the continent and within specific countries.

This timely, edited volume brings together interdisciplinary perspectives on space and spatiality in inclusive education discourses. With research from an international range of scholars, the book explores the intersections, boundaries, and intermediary spaces of inclusion and exclusion within educational contexts. It advances thinking in inclusive education research and links discourses of the spatial turn in inclusive education with a call for thinking spatially. Instead of defining one spatial approach as the overarching framework for analysis, it considers the potential of combining spatial approaches from diverse disciplines, including social sciences, educational science, and geography. The book systematically identifies and links the relations between a diversity of spatial theoretical perspectives and phenomena of inclusion/exclusion. This volume provides invaluable, transdisciplinary readings and reflections on space and spatiality in inclusive education, and will be highly relevant for academics, researchers and postgraduate students in the fields of inclusive education, educational theory and the sociology of education.

Teacher education is a known variable that impacts the quality of teaching and schooling, yet while research on practices in teaching and teacher education abound in other contexts, there seems to be no comprehensive reference work on teaching and teacher education in Africa. With Africa and the diaspora boasting rich, diverse political and educational contexts and practices, this gap in knowledge requires that attention be focused on investigating issues that shape the pace, course, and direction of teaching and teacher education in these contexts. Practices and Perspectives of Teaching and Teacher Education in Africa facilitates scholarly discussions among scholars and practitioners about practices, innovations, and future possibilities for educating the next generation of competent students and teachers in Africa. Covering topics such as educational reforms, equity, career progression, and curriculum development, this major reference work is ideal for administrators, industry professionals, researchers, academicians, scholars, practitioners, instructors, and students.

Using the Ghanian schooling experience as a case study, this book explores how research can contribute to the development of a body of knowledge for educational change in Africa. Education in Africa is often said to be in a crisis' caused in part by the colonial legacy, but also due to inappropriate and uncontextualised current educational policies in relation to local human conditions and African realities. This book offers a critical analysis of current educational reform strategies and the actual practice of reform in an African context.'