Children living with disabilities face hardships of many kinds that make it impossible for them to access quality education in the same way as their peers in the schooling system. All children are entitled to quality education and a supportive school environment that allows them to develop to their full potential irrespective of their disabilities. However, different factors make it difficult for many learners who live with disabilities to access, participate, and succeed in the schooling system.
The Handbook of Research on Shifting Paradigms of Disabilities in the Schooling System focuses on the global trends in education that require the total eradication of every form of impediment in the process of accessing quality education and lifelong learning for people living with disabilities. Rooted in the philosophy of equal rights, human dignity, and social justice, access to quality education for all has led to the current drive for inclusive education. Covering topics such as inclusive schooling systems, visual impairments, and emotional disabilities, this major reference work is an essential resource for students and faculty of higher education, administrators of both K-12 and higher education, government officials, policymakers, non-profit organizations, researchers, and academicians.
Author Biography:
Hlabathi Maapola-Thobejane started teaching when she was 20 years of age. During her tenure in the Department of Basic Education, she occupied all levels of the teaching fraternity: a teacher, an acting departmental head, deputy principal and a principal of a township secondary school. She has taught at primary schools, secondary schools, at a special school and at a full-service school in both rural and urban areas. She worked for JET Education Services as a technical advisor for teaching and learning on the technical and vocational education and training (TVET) college improvement project. She also worked at the National Department of Basic Education as a technical advisor of the Care and Support for Teaching and Learning (CSTL) programme in the technical support directorate. She has trained teachers, departmental heads, principals, education specialists, lecturers and speech therapists on inclusive education in all nine provinces of South Africa for the Department of Basic Education, Macmillan education, the University of Limpopo, UNISA and Wits University. She was a lecturer at the University of Limpopo and an Acting Manager in the teaching practice office at UNISA. She is currently a Senior Lecturer at UNISA in the Department of Inclusive Education. She teaches undergraduate and postgraduate modules; and supervises Master and Doctoral students. Her research focus is inclusive education, challenging behaviours and Africanization of teaching and learning.
Mbulaheni Obert Maguvhe is a special educationist who professes in inclusive education. What makes him a researcher is not only his advanced education with training in rigorous research, but also his involvement in some book chapters, community engagement projects (most interestingly on the education of children in schools for the visually impaired), and many articles published in peer-reviewed journals of standing, such as the century-old Journal of Visual Impairment and Blindness. Professor Maguvhe writes on various topics, the common focus of which is the empowerment of learners with disabilities, particularly those with visual impairment (including the Deaf-blind). He has published numerous articles on community-based rehabilitation (CBR) and the empowerment of learners with visual impairment, augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems, the teaching of science to learners with visual impairment, inclusive education (IE), orientation and mobility for blind and partially sighted persons, curriculum adaptation for learners with visual impairment, adult education and training (AET), and the adaptation of examination materials for learners with sensory impairments. The spectrum of his research interests is broad, yet focused on the empowerment of learners with visual impairment through unhindered access to education and training. In his latest book, Professor Maguvhe devotes a chapter to university access for students with disabilities in addition to the areas mentioned above. These academic and practical initiatives make him a researcher of note, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa where most educated persons with visual impairment do not engage in research because of the considerable M.O. Maguvhe (2015) Inclusive education: a transformation and human rights agenda under spotlight in South Africa: African journal of disability vol 4(1, art./183, 7 pages.
