Leadership's influence on the holistic development of learners with barriers to learning

The implementation of an inclusive education system in South Africa after 1994 has challenged public schools to revisit their management structures; and, in the process, it has offered learners with barriers to learning the opportunity to become independent and employable members of society – especially in disadvantaged school communities, where learners are often limited in their development because of financial constraints. However, many education policies – based on humanity, equality, social justice and accessibility – are often neglected at some schools; and this causes many learners with barriers to learning to lose heart or drop out of mainstream schools. The main aim of this study was to investigate and describe school leadership‟s management strategies to implement intervention programmes to the benefit of learners in need, since schools are required to accommodate and support all learners in partnership with the wider school community. To understand how these amendments influence disadvantaged schools, an in-depth qualitative inquiry was conducted with 10-13 different leaders, selected through purposive sampling, at each of three disadvantaged primary schools in Port Elizabeth that are directly responsible for teaching learners with barriers to learning. During the data-collection, individual interviews, group interviews and an observation were used. The process of content analysis was implemented to analyse the data. This entails coding, categorising, comparison and conclusion of the information. Four main themes emerged, namely: barriers to learning experienced in these disadvantaged schools; insufficient infrastructure in these schools; dealing with the problem at present; and possible interventions and guidelines, which were closely associated with the four sub-questions of the study – and eventually answered the research questions