INC3701 Assignment 6 2025 (Answer Guide) - Due 29 September 2025

INC3701 Assignment 6 2025 (Answer Guide) - Due 29 September 2025 Task 1: Critical Analysis of the Teacher’s Question The teacher’s question, “Are my learners struggling to learn or am I struggling to teach?” highlights the dual nature of challenges within inclusive education. It compels educators to reflect critically on whether barriers to learning are primarily within learners’ circumstances or within teaching practices. This reflective stance is essential in inclusive classrooms where responsibility for learning is shared between teacher, learner, and the broader system (Florian and Beaton, 2018). Learner-related factors Many learners encounter barriers that can make learning difficult, such as socio-economic disadvantage, limited prior educational opportunities, or learning in a language different from their home language. For example, in South Africa, learners from rural or under-resourced schools may face challenges such as poor nutrition, irregular attendance, and lack of access to textbooks, which negatively affect performance (Engelbrecht and Muthukrishna, 2019). Learners with specific learning difficulties, such as dyslexia or auditory processing disorders, may also struggle if early screening and targeted interventions are absent. These barriers are recognised in the Department of Basic Education’s Policy on Screening, Identification, Assessment and Support (SIAS), which emphasises that learner difficulties are often situational rather than inherent deficits (DBE, 2014). Teacher- and practice-related factors