No child left behind : The implementation of inclusive education in Southern Africa

Sammanfattning: Background: Every child deserves to learn in an environment that is tailored to their specific needs. Inclusive education offers a wide range of benefits, from social, and emotional to academic achievement. In addition, inclusive education provides the means to acquire knowledge and skills in order to alleviate poverty and break the cycle of disadvantage for children with disabilities. In Southern Africa, efforts have been made to ensure that children with disabilities have access to quality education. Nevertheless, 90% of children with disabilities are less likely to attend school, and dropout rates are higher among those with disabilities in school. These statistics are alarming.  Aim: Using a scoping review, the study aims to analyze the challenges and facilitators of inclusive education in Southern African countries.  Methodology: A comprehensive literature search was conducted in 5 databases, and the retrieved articles were screened in two phases leading to the selection of the final sixteen articles. The results were analyzed in a thematic approach under the ecological theory. Results: The analysis of the selected 16 articles indicates that the region faces similar problems, and inclusive education is constrained by negative attitudes of teachers, peers, and parents, as well as by a lack of resources, poor infrastructure, ineffective policy development, and lack of clear policy implementation. Under facilitators, availability of policies, teacher training, strong support system coupled with knowledge and understanding of policies were found to promote inclusive education.  Conclusion: The dominant theme of the research results was negative views of disability held by Southern African societies. As such the author concludes by emphasizing the importance of developing policies that take into account cultural and environmental factors and an overall mindset change of viewing disability from the traditional and medical point to a social and human rights perspective.