Course Postgraduate Diploma in Inclusive Education

Stage 1: Foundations and inclusive teaching

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.

Learning outcomes

• Compare different explanations of exclusion and their practical consequences.
• Analyse participation barriers without reducing learners to diagnostic labels.
• Evaluate a school policy against its inclusion commitments.
• Prioritise feasible changes using evidence and learner perspectives.

Main topics

• Models of disability and barriers to participation
• Equity, belonging and learner voice
• Southern African educational contexts
• Inclusive education policy and implementation
• School culture and resource allocation
• Reflective professional practice

Practical task

Audit a fictional school with a multilingual intake, limited learning materials and inaccessible facilities. Produce a barrier map, a policy-gap analysis and a phased improvement brief with responsibilities and review dates.

Assessment

Submit the audit and an individual policy commentary. Assessment considers critical reasoning, contextual accuracy, respectful representation and the justification of priorities.

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.

Learning outcomes

• Identify avoidable barriers in a lesson and its assessment.
• Design alternative representations and ways to demonstrate learning.
• Justify accommodations while retaining the intended learning outcome.
• Evaluate an accessible resource and revise a lesson using feedback.

Main topics

• Curriculum goals and learner variability
• Universal Design for Learning
• Differentiated tasks and scaffolding
• Accessible print, audio and digital resources
• Multilingual teaching and low-technology alternatives
• Assessment accommodations and valid evidence
• Feedback and lesson evaluation

Practical task

Redesign a three-lesson sequence for a subject and phase you are qualified to teach. Include accessible learner materials, a low-technology alternative, an assessment rubric and a record explaining each design choice. Demonstrate part of the sequence through peer microteaching.

Assessment

Submit the lesson portfolio, microteaching reflection and assessment rationale. Assessment considers alignment, accessibility, curriculum accuracy and evidence of revision.

Stage 2: Communication and coordinated support

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.

Learning outcomes

• Adapt communication to a stated audience and purpose.
• Plan a consultation with accessible participation options.
• Define responsibilities in a collaborative support team.
• Record decisions accurately while protecting confidentiality.

Main topics

• Listening, learner agency and shared decisions
• Accessible and multilingual communication
• Augmentative and alternative communication principles
• Family and caregiver partnerships
• Team meetings and professional referral
• Conflict resolution and anti-stigma communication
• Confidential records and information sharing

Practical task

Prepare a communication pack for a fictional learner-support meeting. Include an accessible invitation, a learner contribution format, a meeting agenda, a responsibilities table and a follow-up summary. Role-play the meeting with adult peers and revise the pack from their feedback.

Assessment

Submit the pack and an individual reflective commentary. Assessment considers clarity, participation, professional boundaries and the quality of the agreed follow-up.

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.

Learning outcomes

• Separate educational observation from diagnosis.
• Prepare a support plan with measurable learning and participation goals.
• Identify when referral or safeguarding procedures are required.
• Coordinate classroom and school-level actions.
• Review support using proportionate evidence and learner feedback.

Main topics

• Strengths-based observation and support planning
• Literacy, numeracy and learning differences
• Sensory, physical and communication access
• Positive behaviour support and wellbeing
• Screening, identification, assessment and support processes
• School and district support teams
• Safeguarding and professional referral
• Transitions and reviewing support

Practical task

Using a supplied fictional case, create an individual support plan and a school support pathway. Include baseline observations, two prioritised goals, classroom adjustments, family consultation, referral criteria and a six-week review schedule. Explain how your approach changes between South African and Zimbabwean settings.

Assessment

Submit the case portfolio and respond to a scenario in which the first support approach has not worked. Assessment considers appropriate scope, feasibility, safeguarding and reasoned adaptation.

Stage 3: Applied inquiry and professional practice

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.

Learning outcomes

• Formulate a manageable inquiry question and justify a method.
• Design accessible data-collection tools and ethical safeguards.
• Analyse evidence without overstating what it demonstrates.
• Integrate learning across the programme in an improvement proposal.
• Present findings and limitations to a professional audience.

Main topics

• Focused inquiry questions and literature review
• Action research and case-study approaches
• Observation, interviews and accessible feedback tools
• Consent, assent, privacy and researcher power
• Qualitative and quantitative analysis
• Evaluating participation and learning
• Professional reporting and implementation review

Practical task

Complete a supervised inquiry portfolio using a fictional case and supplied synthetic evidence, or an approved school-based project. Include a proposal, short evidence review, instruments, analysis, improvement plan and reflective account. Any work involving people requires prior institutional approval, consent and relevant safeguarding arrangements.

Assessment

Submit the integrated portfolio and deliver an individual oral presentation. Assessment considers methodological coherence, ethical judgement, quality of analysis, practical recommendations and acknowledgement of limitations.