Navigating classroom management: Experiences of teachers with disabilities in South African Multicultural Schools

This study explores the experiences of teachers with disabilities (TWDs) in managing classrooms within South African multicultural primary school settings, an aspect that has received limited attention in the existing scholarly literature. The research is informed by Critical Disability Theory (CDT) and Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory (EST) to identify issues and challenges related to disability, cultural diversity, policy requirements, and institutional and structural barriers, to enhance classroom practices for TWDs. This study used an interpretivist paradigm and a qualitative research approach to probe, through semi-structured individual interviews, the experiences of five TWDs with specific representations of visual impairment, hearing loss, mobility impairment, and communication disorders. Through the use of thematic analysis, the findings of the study indicate that the severity of the impairments seemingly does not hamper the effectiveness of TWDs; rather, systemic, policy, infrastructural, and general classroom impediments do. Notwithstanding these limitations, TWDs demonstrate resilience and make significant contributions to the teaching and management of multicultural school spaces and to the promotion of inclusive pedagogical practices. The paper presents disability-responsive training, tougher policy implementation, institutional considerations, and the acknowledgement of TWDs as agents of inclusive educational change as necessary measures to improve the classroom conditions for TWDs.