Stay in your lane experiences of children with Special Education Needs and/or Disabilities in two mainstream primary schools in Guyana

ABSTRACT

Marginalisation, discrimination and depersonalisation are some of the negative experiences of children with Special Education Needs and/or Disabilities (SEND) in rural mainstream primary schools in Guyana. This paper presents these experiences from qualitative data gathered over six months of ethnographic research in two primary schools in Guyana. The data were analysed using situational analysis as posited by Adele Clarke and interpreted through a poststructuralist lens with the social model of disability theoretical framework. Children with SEND feel valueless and experience anxiety and loneliness in their placement in rural mainstream schools. This paper forms part one of a series presented to highlight institutional discrimination embedded in the practices and discourses which is fuelled by the dominance of the individual deficit model of disability in mainstream schools. The paper also illustrates how teachers’ beliefs’ that disability is biological and they can not cater for such children who are considered unteachable and challenging. The paper further reflects on the collective conscience of mainstream teachers in rural Guyana who feel unsupported in unsuitable classrooms to meet the needs of children with SEND.

KEYWORDS:

• Marginalisation
• depersonalisation
• Special education needs
• disability
• impairment
• mainstream schools
• Medial model of disability
• social model of disability

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Mix is a local term used in Guyana, which means ‘to socialise’.

2 Common Entrance Examination was the first name given to the Year Six assessment examination. It later became known as the ‘Secondary School Entrance Examination’, and now it is called the ‘National Grade Six Assessment’.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Lidon Lashley

Lidon Lashley has been working in the field of teaching and teacher education for the past 18 years. He is currently a lecturer, Department of Foundation and Education Management, in the Faculty of Education and Humanities. Lidon is the holder of a Trained Class One Grade One Teachers’ Certificate from the Cyril Potter of Education; Bachelor of Education (Distinction) from the University of Guyana; Masters of Education - Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Guyana; Masters of Arts - Special and Inclusive Education (Merit) form the University of Roehampton, London and a Doctoral candidate – Special and Inclusive Education, University of Roehampton, London. Lidon is also a Certified Accounting, Institute of Commercial Management, London. Lidon’s research interest lies in the area of curriculum development and special education needs. Lidon Lashley is also the author of two books namely, Guyana’s Child Fighting to Be Free and Computer Aided Instructions In Mathematics. In addition, he has eleven (11) research papers published in international academic journals.