| dc.description.abstract | Accountable education for mentally handicapped pupils who receive their tuition at special schools should lead to
self-actualisation. The pupil achieves self-actualisation through, among other factors, the choice of a sui table career, as this helps him to become a useful, self-supporting and competent member of society. However, the training which a pupil attending a special school receives, does not provide him with direct access to
training as an apprentice. Pupils often expect that the practical fields in which they specialised at school will lead to their obtaining employment in these fields and even to their being given further training in their chosen fields.
Unfortunately, it is a fact that most of these pupils, on leaving school, are appointed in professions that have little
or no bearing on their training at school.
In this study an attempt to found a pedagogically viable vocational training programme for educable mentally retarded pupils, based on literature studies, is made. The education of these pupils is studied through the perspectives of their restrictions, their potential, their expectations, their needs and their right to vocational training. The interest which parents have in the education of their mentally retarded child, the special school's responsibility in
supplying suitable vocational training, as well as the role that employers should play in this regard, are identified and
studied. The programme of educational training at special schools in the Transvaal is analysed in the light of literature studies. The identification of mentally handicapped pupils, the curricula for special schools and the syllabuses for the majority of the subjects are discussed and problem areas are
identified. An empirical investigation confirms the actuality of the identified problems. Questionnaires sent to all
special schools in the Transvaal and schedules completed by a number of employers were designed. The findings are presented and interpreted.
Recommendations aimed at a more vocationally oriented education system for pupils at special schools are made. Possible areas for further research are identified. | en_US |
