Course Postgraduate Diploma in Inclusive Education

Complete five compulsory subjects across three learning stages. The indicative study route is one year full-time or two years part-time. Stage 1 contains two subjects on foundations and teaching, Stage 2 contains two subjects on communication and support, and Stage 3 contains the applied inquiry project. This is a specialist development programme for qualified teachers, not an initial teaching qualification.

Stage 1: Foundations and inclusive teaching

1. Inclusive Education: Perspectives, Policy and Context. Examine how school culture, curriculum, language and physical environments influence participation. Compare approaches to inclusion in South Africa and Zimbabwe, using disability rights and learners’ experiences to question deficit-based assumptions. Distinguish policy commitments from the support available in a particular setting.
2. Accessible Curriculum, Teaching and Assessment. Design lessons which offer learners different routes to the same learning goals. Connect curriculum planning with universal design, differentiation and fair assessment. Evaluate low-cost teaching resources and digital alternatives for classrooms where devices, connectivity and specialist support vary.

Stage 2: Communication and coordinated support

1. Communication, Families and Collaborative Practice. Develop respectful communication with learners, families and professional colleagues. Plan consultation which accommodates language and communication preferences and gives learners an active role. Explore augmentative communication and specialist collaboration without claiming proficiency in a sign language or a therapeutic intervention.
2. Learning Support, Wellbeing and Inclusive School Systems. Plan educational support based on observed strengths, participation and learning needs. Integrate classroom adjustments with school-level support, family collaboration and appropriate referral. Consider disability, learning differences, psychosocial barriers and transitions without undertaking diagnosis or replacing specialist assessment.

Stage 3: Applied inquiry and professional practice

1. Practitioner Inquiry and Inclusive Education Project. Investigate a focused question about participation or learning in an educational setting. Develop an ethical inquiry design, review relevant evidence and interpret findings cautiously. Bring the programme’s policy, teaching, communication and support work together in an evaluated improvement proposal.