Teachers' support strategies in enhancing the learning experiences of deaf learners at a special school in Pretoria

Educating Deaf learners can present several challenges. One significant issue is that Deaf learners often achieve lower academic outcomes than their hearing peers. This study explored teachers' support strategies to assist Deaf learners in the classroom. Therefore, it is crucial to understand teachers' perspectives regarding how they adapt their instructional methods to meet the unique learning needs of Deaf learners. We purposefully selected six teachers from a special school in the Tshwane West District of Pretoria and conducted interviews to gather data for this case study. The research is based on Florian's framework of inclusive pedagogy, which investigated the support strategies employed by teachers to enhance the learning experiences of Deaf learners in a special education setting. Adopting an interpretive paradigm, we conducted an inductive data analysis. The analysis revealed four key themes: support strategies, perceptions of their support experiences, challenges related to parental involvement, and the need for emotional support. The findings indicate that the teachers were intrinsically motivated and employed various instructional methods to help Deaf learners improve their educational outcomes.