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Cited by 14Disability Education and EmploymentDisability Rights and RepresentationInclusion and Disability in Education and Sport

Universal Design for Learning and Disability Inclusion in South African Higher Education Curriculum

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Chiwandire, Desire·2019·Alternation: Interdisciplinary Journal for the Study of the Arts and Humanities in Southern Africa
DOI 10.29086/2519-5476/2019/sp27a1
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Abstract

During apartheid in South Africa, students with disabilities (SWDs) were educated in special schools and taught an inferior curriculum, preventing them from accessing and participating with success in universities.To redress this, the new democratic government that came to power after apartheid put in place a range of laws to address the apartheid's curriculum inadequacies.However, this has had little impact in the academic success of SWDs, whose dropout rates continue to increase.In order to broadly understand the inclusion of SWDs in higher education (HE) curriculum transformation, this study utilised a document analysis method to conduct a critical review of literature on the experiences of lecturers, SWDs and Disability Unit Staff Members (DUSMs).The study sought to explore whether lecturers' curriculum practices could be said to be informed by Universal Design for Learning (UDL), which was also used as theoretical lens.The findings indicate that due to lack of training both lecturers willing and unwilling to support SWDs in the curriculum are struggling to operationalise UDL principles in designing and delivering their curriculum.The study concludes by recommending that university management invest in professional development courses in UDL aimed at practically training lecturers on how to inform the design of their curriculum with UDL principles.This study has added new knowledge by highlighting the need for the active involvement of the university management, and thus it recommends future studies to sample the university management on measures they are taking in supporting disability inclusion initiatives on their campuses.

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  • Universal Design has only recently been applied in HE and research in the area is limited.

    “In light of the above considerations and given that Universal Design (UD) has only recently been applied in HE and research in the area is limited (Chiwandire 2019;Fovet 2021;Martin et al. 2019), the study focused on what we teach in Higher Education concerning UD and accessibility.”

    From Accessibility and universal design in higher education curricula: implications for inclusion/exclusion (2025) · cites this paper as Chiwandire 2019

    The Universal Design for Learning Framework section says the framework was first mentioned in South African higher-education guidelines in 2015 and that no South African study had addressed its use in curriculum. That supports a recent, limited research history in South Africa, but not the citing sentence’s unqualified claim about higher education generally: the same section describes earlier U.S. applications and studies. (LLM, conf=0.84)

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Authors
Chiwandire, D.
Corresponding author
Chiwandire, Desire
ORCID
Chiwandire, Desire
Venue
Alternation: Interdisciplinary Journal for the Study of the Arts and Humanities in Southern Africa
Publisher
University of KwaZulu-Natal
Published
2019-12-01
Volume
SP27
ISSN
  • 1023-1757 (ISSN-L)
  • 2519-5476
DOI
10.29086/2519-5476/2019/sp27a1
OpenAlex
W3005670027
Cited by
14
References
2
Citations by year
2026: 2 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 2
FWCI
2.62
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
Alternation Interdisciplinary Journal for the Study of the Arts and Humanities in Southern Africa (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Safety Research › Disability Education and Employment
  • Social Sciences › Safety Research › Disability Rights and Representation
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Inclusion and Disability in Education and Sport
Keywords
Universal Design for Learning, disability inclusion, students with disabilities, higher education curriculum, South African higher education, lecturer training, curriculum development, post-apartheid education policy, school dropout, university administration

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