Enablers to enhance school-based adolescents with intellectual disabilities’ learning: A narrative approach

Abstract

Society has always understood individuals with intellectual disabilities from a stance of deficiency, resulting in limited expectations and prospects for school-going adolescents with intellectual disabilities. The study used the social model of disability to explore teachers’ perceptions of enablers to enhance school-based adolescents with intellectual disabilities’ learning and took cognisance of a wave of policies aimed at including adolescents with intellectual disabilities in mainstream education. A qualitative narrative approach was used for the study. Using a narrative methodological framework, unstructured interview questions were posed to elicit teachers’ perceptions of enablers to enhance adolescents with intellectual disabilities’ learning. A non-probability purposive sampling method was used to select teachers working with school-based learners with intellectual disabilities. Five themes emerged from the analysis: therapeutic setting; learners’ resilience; parental support; teaching strategies; and community involvement as enablers for enhancing learning for adolescents with intellectual disabilities. Policy implications are also provided in the study.