EL RÉGIMEN CONSTITUCIONAL DE LA INDUSTRIA PE- PE-TROLERA

External barriers to learning are seen, in this study, as any or all social and economic factors that cause learning breakdown. The external barriers to learning reported by the research participants were (1) social barriers, (2) economic barriers, and (3) the ever-changing curriculum and CAPS. These social barriers include the social circumstances and context of learners as well as the social construction of disability and special needs. According to the research participants learners experience learning breakdown because they simply cannot cope with the pace and curriculum in the mainstream. These learners would be better suited in a special needs school or proficiency school where their particular skills and talents could be developed. Because of the social

construction of disability and special needs there is a huge stigma attached to having special needs or a disability.

“…because they feel ashamed of it, they think their child will be branded as stupid or dumb. There is a huge stigma attached to special schools” (Transcript, line 484).

As is evident through the quote above, stigma mostly affects the parents of learners especially in close knit communities, like the ones in this study. Stigma is a concept that is very difficult to define and has different interpretations throughout different disciplines. Stigma as defined by Link and Phelan (2001: 363) is a “co-occurrence of its components – labelling, stereotyping, separation, status loss and discrimination”. Stigma is a social construction which, according to Dovidio, Major and Crocker (2000:3) “involves at least two fundamental components; (1) the recognition of difference based on some distinguishing characteristic, or “mark”; and (2) a consequent devaluation of the person”.

Thus, parents of learners perceived as something other than normal according standards set by society may feel the pressures of status loss when their children are labelled as disabled or as having a weaker intellectual ability. Because of this stigma parents do not want to send their children to special needs schools or proficiency schools in fear of what their community would think. There is also a stigma attached to receiving meals at school through the feeding scheme, some of the learners receive their only daily meal through the feeding scheme. Other learners also feel ashamed of not bringing lunch from home.

Learning does not only happen at school but also at home and in the community. According to White Paper 6 (2001: 7) barriers to learning also occur because of the “non-recognition and non- involvement of parents”. The way the curriculum is set-out calls for maximum involvement of parents. Unfortunately the financial and social circumstance for some of the learners in South Africa is of such a nature that it makes it impossible for parents to be fully involved. Learning breakdown also happens because learners are unable to cope with the curriculum as they simply do not have the ability to grasp the work. The needs of these learners will be better accommodated in specialised centres of learning but unfortunately special needs and proficiency schools are very expensive and in high demand resulting in waiting lists for up to several years.

This also directly links with the economic barriers to learning. These barriers refer to learners experiencing learning breakdown because they don’t have the necessary funds or transport to be enrolled in a special needs or proficiency school or their family simply doesn’t have the money to provide the learners with adequate nutrition and clothing. Economic barriers to learning also refer to under resourced schools. Some schools, like the primary and secondary schools in this study, simply do not have the money to provide their learners with even the most basic learning materials. The teachers also have to educate, discipline and care for 30 to 40 learners in one class room on their own without any assistance as the schools cannot afford to employ assistants. “Her mother really wants to send her to a special needs school but there isn’t one nearby and it is too expensive … sometimes there is a waiting list or parents don’t have the money [to send their children to special needs schools]” (Transcript, line 821).

One of the participants reported that some children sporadically miss school because they don’t receive meals at home and are thus too hungry or too weak to come to school. The teachers also report that being hungry at school negatively influence the learners’ attention span and make them feel tired which results in them falling asleep at their desks. Both the schools however have feeding schemes through which they provide meals for learners who really need it. Some of the learners feel too ashamed or shy to take their meals because of the stigma, as discussed above, attached to being poor.

Another external barrier to learning reported by the participants is the ever-changing curriculum. Since the implementation of inclusive education in 2001 the curriculum has changed several times, with new international trend frequently adopted by the education system which simply can’t work in South Africa. The constant curriculum changes are confusing for all the learners, not only for the differently-abled learners. One participant states that the learners have just come to terms with a new programme or curriculum when sudden changes disrupt the learning process. With the implementation of CAPS it has also become evident to both the teachers and district- based support team that the assessments and work is confusing for the children and that they spend more time coming to grips with the programme than actually learning. There is also the perception that the curriculum and CAPS is very fast paced.