The Draft Guidelines for the Implementation of Inclusive Education (Department of Education, 2002a) specifies that learners who are infected with the HI virus should not be excluded from attending mainstream schools with non-infected learners because of negative assumptions associated with the disease. The South African Schools Act, No. 84 of 1996 (Republic of South Africa, 1996b), contends that admission requirements at schools should not unfairly discriminate against learners in any way, particularly on the grounds of race, gender, disability, religion, belief, culture or language. According to Williams (1998), access, participation and quality education are promised by inclusive education. Inclusive education does not assume academic readiness, but the
accommodation of all learners with the necessary support to meet their diverse needs in local schools and classrooms. Support services should ensure that the school system and curricula are transformed to address the needs of all learners.
Engelbrecht (2001; 2007) identifies collaborative partnerships between support professionals, but also between them and parents, teachers and learners as critical elements in the inclusive approach to schooling. Support in inclusive school communities emphasises collaboration as a way of working together on an equal basis as partners, while trust, respect, meaningful communication, a shared vision and cultural sensitivity are recognised as important characteristics of such a partnership (Blue- Banning, Summers, Frankland, Lord-Nelson & Beegle, 2004).
Education White Paper 6 (Department of Education, 2001) suggests collaborative partnerships with, among others, parents, the community and support professionals when emphasising a community-based approach to learner support. However, this is not easily accomplished. Engelbrecht (2007) lists a few barriers in this respect. In the first place, traditional power relations between professionals as experts and teachers and parents (and learners) as clients who are at the receiving end of services often lead to the silencing of important voices in collaborative efforts. Parents and teachers are often not viewed as equal partners. A lack of understanding of the components of interpersonal relationships can also present challenges, as well as territorial interests which vie against the idea of shared aims and accountability in collaboration. In order for collaborative partnerships to succeed with regard to support for learners with HIV/AIDS, transparency, equal power distribution, equal responsibility and especially a shared goal are necessary (Engelbrecht, 2001, 2007). Turnbull, Turnbull, Shank, Smith and Leads (2002) see collaboration as a dynamic process in which teachers, learners and families share their resources and strengths to address challenges in a creative and responsive way. They stress that it builds on the expertise, interests and strengths of everyone involved in the educational process.
Education White Paper 6 (Department of Education, 2001) suggests a district-based support team and a school-based support team as key support structures. District-based
support teams are there to build capacity at schools so that the school-based support team can support teachers to develop the knowledge, skills and especially the confidence to address a range of needs in the school and classroom. According to Landsberg (2005), the support system should take responsibility for the in-service training of teachers in terms of the assessment of and support for all learners including those with disabilities, chronic illnesses such as HIV/AIDS and for those experiencing other barriers in learning and development. The knowledge and skills of personnel at special schools (which are supposed to be converted to resource centres) will also be utilised as part of the district-based support teams.
From this, it is evident that effective collaborative partnerships will be necessary among the different education structures, but also the involvement of parents, the community and the services of other departments such as health, social welfare and justice (Johnson & Green, 2007). In a community-based approach, the support and contribution of the parent body and the community in which the school is embedded should be seen as valuable and indispensable. The fundamental principle of a collaborative approach is to bring various role players and sectors together to address challenges and to promote the development of an integrated support system that works together to meet the diverse needs of all learners (Turnbull et al, 2002). Such a support system fits into the notion of Tirisano promoted by the Department of Education. Tirisano is a Sesotho word which means working together hand in hand. In the context of this study, it is about working together to support all learners with HIV/AIDS effectively in their learning processes in schools and classrooms.
Mastropieri, Scruggs and Berkeley (2007) emphasise peer support in the classroom as valuable in learning and teaching. In cooperative learning, learners are encouraged to support, assist and help one another to achieve optimal learning through the employment of social skills. Peer support promotes social responsibility and a stronger understanding of the needs of others. Mastropieri et al. (2007) found that learners with diverse learning needs had benefited from peer support.
Donald, Lazarus and Lolwana (2006) point out that education is not only about cognitive and scholastic achievement, but also covers all aspects of healthy development of the whole learner. Teachers need to become key agents in promoting healthy development in the classroom and school. In general, mainstream schools are responsible for the education of learners with chronic diseases and should be working closely with several departments and NGOs to ensure that health promotion and support should be infused across all dimensions of the general curriculum. This can be fostered through the collaboration of all the systems involved, as collaboration should go beyond the boundaries of teaching and learning, especially when viewing collaborative processes from an eco-systemic perspective.