UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AFRICA (UNISA)
College of Education
⋄
Inclusive Pedagogy
Assignment 5 — Semester 1, 2026
⋄
Module Code: INC3701
Module Name: Inclusive Education
Assignment No.: Assignment 5
Due Date: 21 August 2026
Semester: Semester 1, 2026
Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for Inclusive Education
at the University of South Africa.
,UNISA | INC3701 Inclusive Pedagogy: Assignment 5
Question 1: Inclusive Pedagogy and Learner Diversity
Learner diversity in the South African classroom, spanning language, culture, socio-economic
background, cognitive ability and disability, requires a teaching approach that does not sort
learners into those who belong and those who need something extra. Inclusive pedagogy
offers that approach, and its purpose becomes clearer once it is set directly against the way
most South African teachers were trained to teach.
1.1 Defining Inclusive Pedagogy
Inclusive pedagogy is an approach to teaching and learning that supports teachers to re-
spond to individual differences between learners while avoiding the marginalisation that can
occur when some students are treated differently from their peers (Florian, 2014:289). The
definition matters for what it refuses to do: it does not divide a class into an "ordinary ma-
jority" taught in one way and a "different minority" pulled aside for something else. Florian
and Black-Hawkins argue that this shift requires moving away from an approach that works
for most learners while something additional or different is provided for those who struggle,
toward a rich learning community in which opportunities are made available to everyone from
the outset (Black-Hawkins and Florian, 2011:814).
In a Foundation Phase classroom in Gauteng, for instance, a teacher practising inclusive
pedagogy would design a single reading activity with multiple entry points, some learners
reading independently, others using picture cues, others working with a peer, rather than
removing three learners to a separate table with a simplified worksheet while the rest of the
class continues unchanged.
The purpose of inclusive pedagogy is to address learner diversity by extending what is ordi-
narily available to all learners rather than differentiating only for some (Florian, 2014:289).
This purpose is directly aligned with the aims of Education White Paper 6, which frames inclu-
sive education as a system that identifies and addresses barriers to learning while maximis-
ing the participation of all learners, not only those formally diagnosed with a disability (DBE,
2001). Inclusive pedagogy therefore serves both a pedagogical and a social justice purpose:
it improves access to the curriculum and it disrupts the labelling practices that historically
excluded learners from full participation in South African schools.
Page 1 of 16
, UNISA | INC3701 Inclusive Pedagogy: Assignment 5
1.2 Inclusive Pedagogy versus Traditional Teaching
The clearest way to see what inclusive pedagogy adds is to place it beside the traditional,
teacher-centred model still common in many South African schools, where the teacher is the
primary source of knowledge and learners are largely passive recipients of a fixed curriculum
delivered at a single pace (Mbelu and Maguvhe, 2024).
Traditional teaching assumes a fairly uniform learner: one pace, one method of explanation,
one format for assessment, and a "special" track reserved for learners who cannot keep up.
Ability is treated as fixed, and learners who do not progress at the expected rate are removed
from the mainstream lesson for remedial attention, which Florian’s framework identifies as
inherently limiting, since it rests on the assumption that some learners have a fixed, lesser
capacity to learn (Florian, 2015). Inclusive pedagogy, by contrast, rejects the notion of fixed
ability and instead assumes that difference is a normal feature of any classroom that a single,
flexible lesson design can accommodate. Rather than removing struggling learners to work
on a separate task, an inclusive teacher builds in multiple ways to access the same core
content, through visual aids, peer support, varied groupings and flexible pacing, so that no
learner needs to be pulled outside the lesson to participate meaningfully.
This difference plays out concretely in curriculum decisions. A traditional Grade 4 mathemat-
ics lesson might present one word problem, in one format, expecting all learners to solve it
the same way in the same time. An inclusive version of the same lesson, following CAPS con-
tent but varying the process, might offer the problem with a visual model for learners who
need it, a written version for those who do not, and paired problem-solving for learners who
benefit from verbal reasoning, while every learner still works toward the same CAPS outcome.
A study of a rural Limpopo secondary school found that, despite teachers’ stated support
for inclusion, classroom practice remained largely traditional and undifferentiated, illustrat-
ing how easily the theory of inclusion is undermined when lesson design does not change in
practice (Mbelu and Maguvhe, 2024).
A second difference lies in the locus of responsibility for learning difficulty. In the traditional
model, difficulty is located within the learner, who is "slow" or "struggling". Inclusive pedagogy
relocates the difficulty to the environment and the pedagogy itself, asking what about the
lesson design is creating the barrier, a shift consistent with the SIAS policy’s instruction that
assessment should determine the barriers a learner experiences and the support needed,
rather than simply labelling the learner (DBE, 2014).
Page 2 of 16
College of Education
⋄
Inclusive Pedagogy
Assignment 5 — Semester 1, 2026
⋄
Module Code: INC3701
Module Name: Inclusive Education
Assignment No.: Assignment 5
Due Date: 21 August 2026
Semester: Semester 1, 2026
Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for Inclusive Education
at the University of South Africa.
,UNISA | INC3701 Inclusive Pedagogy: Assignment 5
Question 1: Inclusive Pedagogy and Learner Diversity
Learner diversity in the South African classroom, spanning language, culture, socio-economic
background, cognitive ability and disability, requires a teaching approach that does not sort
learners into those who belong and those who need something extra. Inclusive pedagogy
offers that approach, and its purpose becomes clearer once it is set directly against the way
most South African teachers were trained to teach.
1.1 Defining Inclusive Pedagogy
Inclusive pedagogy is an approach to teaching and learning that supports teachers to re-
spond to individual differences between learners while avoiding the marginalisation that can
occur when some students are treated differently from their peers (Florian, 2014:289). The
definition matters for what it refuses to do: it does not divide a class into an "ordinary ma-
jority" taught in one way and a "different minority" pulled aside for something else. Florian
and Black-Hawkins argue that this shift requires moving away from an approach that works
for most learners while something additional or different is provided for those who struggle,
toward a rich learning community in which opportunities are made available to everyone from
the outset (Black-Hawkins and Florian, 2011:814).
In a Foundation Phase classroom in Gauteng, for instance, a teacher practising inclusive
pedagogy would design a single reading activity with multiple entry points, some learners
reading independently, others using picture cues, others working with a peer, rather than
removing three learners to a separate table with a simplified worksheet while the rest of the
class continues unchanged.
The purpose of inclusive pedagogy is to address learner diversity by extending what is ordi-
narily available to all learners rather than differentiating only for some (Florian, 2014:289).
This purpose is directly aligned with the aims of Education White Paper 6, which frames inclu-
sive education as a system that identifies and addresses barriers to learning while maximis-
ing the participation of all learners, not only those formally diagnosed with a disability (DBE,
2001). Inclusive pedagogy therefore serves both a pedagogical and a social justice purpose:
it improves access to the curriculum and it disrupts the labelling practices that historically
excluded learners from full participation in South African schools.
Page 1 of 16
, UNISA | INC3701 Inclusive Pedagogy: Assignment 5
1.2 Inclusive Pedagogy versus Traditional Teaching
The clearest way to see what inclusive pedagogy adds is to place it beside the traditional,
teacher-centred model still common in many South African schools, where the teacher is the
primary source of knowledge and learners are largely passive recipients of a fixed curriculum
delivered at a single pace (Mbelu and Maguvhe, 2024).
Traditional teaching assumes a fairly uniform learner: one pace, one method of explanation,
one format for assessment, and a "special" track reserved for learners who cannot keep up.
Ability is treated as fixed, and learners who do not progress at the expected rate are removed
from the mainstream lesson for remedial attention, which Florian’s framework identifies as
inherently limiting, since it rests on the assumption that some learners have a fixed, lesser
capacity to learn (Florian, 2015). Inclusive pedagogy, by contrast, rejects the notion of fixed
ability and instead assumes that difference is a normal feature of any classroom that a single,
flexible lesson design can accommodate. Rather than removing struggling learners to work
on a separate task, an inclusive teacher builds in multiple ways to access the same core
content, through visual aids, peer support, varied groupings and flexible pacing, so that no
learner needs to be pulled outside the lesson to participate meaningfully.
This difference plays out concretely in curriculum decisions. A traditional Grade 4 mathemat-
ics lesson might present one word problem, in one format, expecting all learners to solve it
the same way in the same time. An inclusive version of the same lesson, following CAPS con-
tent but varying the process, might offer the problem with a visual model for learners who
need it, a written version for those who do not, and paired problem-solving for learners who
benefit from verbal reasoning, while every learner still works toward the same CAPS outcome.
A study of a rural Limpopo secondary school found that, despite teachers’ stated support
for inclusion, classroom practice remained largely traditional and undifferentiated, illustrat-
ing how easily the theory of inclusion is undermined when lesson design does not change in
practice (Mbelu and Maguvhe, 2024).
A second difference lies in the locus of responsibility for learning difficulty. In the traditional
model, difficulty is located within the learner, who is "slow" or "struggling". Inclusive pedagogy
relocates the difficulty to the environment and the pedagogy itself, asking what about the
lesson design is creating the barrier, a shift consistent with the SIAS policy’s instruction that
assessment should determine the barriers a learner experiences and the support needed,
rather than simply labelling the learner (DBE, 2014).
Page 2 of 16
