Academic resilience of adolescents in township school contexts of poorly implemented inclusive education policy

Abstract

The study reports on the research conducted with adolescent learners from adverse township environment and schools where the implementation of inclusive education policy is poor. Implementation of the inclusive education policy in all schools is key in alleviating social-emotional, cognitive and behavioural adversities that learners are exposed to in their school and community environment. Since the promulgation of inclusive education policy, the education system struggles with the implementation of the policy because of lack of resources in schools. The aim of this study is to highlight the support provided by community organisations to learners through their inclusive strategies to enhance the academic resilience of learners and to increase their opportunity for academic success. This study used qualitative research methodology in the form of focus groups and in-depth interviews to collect data using two phases sequentially. Phase 1 was conducted with learners from a drop-in centre n=4 and Phase 2 with learners attending a Science Reading Centre n=4 leading to a sample size of N=8. Content analysis was used to analyse data. The findings indicate, firstly that, positive relationships with teachers create safety for learners and support their academic resilience; secondly, participants were able to identify strengths within themselves which they attributed to their ability to identify and utilise the resources accessible to them and finally, community social support programs support the educational resilience of learners where the schools are not able to do so. In conclusion, the study indicates that, inclusive education can facilitate academic resilience of learners.