The three-day oversight and capacity-building programme on curriculum differentiation, held from 12 to 14 May 2026 in the Sedibeng East District of Gauteng Province, was officially opened by the Acting Director of Teacher Development in the Gauteng Province, Ms Sherline Pillay. In her opening remarks, she emphasised that Inclusive Education must be aligned with international best practices, underscoring the imperative for teachers to deliberately plan for inclusivity from the outset of teaching and learning processes. She further highlighted that, in many countries, education systems have transitioned away from separate special schools towards more inclusive models, in which all learners are accommodated within inclusive settings. This perspective reinforces the principle that inclusive pedagogy should not be reactive, but rather proactively embedded within curriculum design, classroom practice, and whole-school systems.
Mr Phillip Dikgomo, Director for Teacher Development, outlined the structured phases of the initiative and provided a comprehensive overview of the year-long programme. He emphasised that the initiative forms part of a sustained support and monitoring strategy aimed at strengthening curriculum delivery across schools. The programme is therefore positioned not as a once-off intervention, but as a continuous and systemic effort to enhance teacher capacity, improve instructional practices, and ensure the effective implementation of differentiated and inclusive teaching approaches across all subjects.
The morning session on 12 May was dedicated to a district-level presentation, during which district officials systematically unpacked the tools utilised for curriculum monitoring. The session provided comprehensive clarity on the purpose, structure, and practical application of monitoring instruments employed to track curriculum coverage, pedagogical practices, and assessment processes, thereby strengthening accountability, consistency, and instructional coherence within the system.
During the session, project coordinator, Ms Monyane Chaane, from the Inclusive Education Directorate, commended Gauteng Province for ensuring that the audience was multidisciplinary in composition, highlighting this as a commendable and forward-looking practice. She emphasised that such collaborative approach not only fosters meaningful engagement across diverse specialisations but serves as a critical mechanism for capacitating both Subject Advisors and School Management Teams (SMTs). This, in turn, enhances their collective capacity to effectively monitor curriculum implementation, provide sustained pedagogical support to teachers, and strengthen the implementation of inclusive, subject-specific practices across all subjects, thereby promoting equity, responsiveness, and quality in teaching and learning.
Following the district presentation, multidisciplinary teams consisting of officials from the Institutional District Support Office (IDSO), Inclusive Education, Assessment, and Subject Advisors divided themselves across the identified schools to ensure broad coverage and targeted support. The schools visited included Isizwe Setjhaba Special School, Tsoelopele Full-Service School, Thuto Boholo ECD Centre, Sibonile School for Visually Impaired Learners, and Laerskool Drie Riviere. At each school, SMTs and educators presented their current practices relating to curriculum differentiation, inclusive teaching methodologies, and assessment strategies. These engagements created a platform for professional dialogue, reflection, and immediate support from district officials.
On 13 May, follow-up visits were conducted to the same schools to rigorously verify and validate the content presented during the initial engagements. This process enabled officials to critically assess the extent to which subject-specific pedagogical practices were authentically implemented within classroom contexts, thereby ensuring coherence between documented plans and the lived realities of teaching and learning. Emphasis was placed on examining how Inclusive Education principles were systematically infused across different subjects, with a focus on whether curriculum implementation meaningfully accommodates the diverse learning needs, abilities, and backgrounds of all learners.
Furthermore, the verification process functioned as a reflective and developmental mechanism, creating structured opportunities for targeted support, professional dialogue, and clarification where implementation gaps or inconsistencies were identified. Importantly, these follow-up visits were strategically intended to strengthen the instructional leadership capacity of SMTs in advancing Inclusive Education. This includes enhancing their ability to guide, monitor, and sustain high-quality, subject-specific inclusive practices, while simultaneously strengthening inclusive practices across all subjects to ensure coherence, equity, and responsiveness within the entire curriculum.
On the final day, 14 May, a structured feedback session was held, during which each school presented consolidated feedback on their experiences, strengths, and challenges encountered throughout the process. This session promoted reflection, strengthened accountability, and facilitated the sharing of best practices across institutions. It also provided district officials with an opportunity to offer targeted guidance and recommendations for improvement. The programme was formally closed by the Acting Chief Director of the National Institute for Curriculum and Professional Development, Dr Aaron Nkosi. In his closing remarks, Dr Nkosi synthesised the key learnings from the three-day engagement and emphasised the four critical pillars of curriculum differentiation, namely content; learning space; methodology, including Learning and Teaching Support Materials (LTSM); and assessment. He highlighted that effective curriculum differentiation requires the deliberate integration of these four pillars to ensure that teaching and learning are inclusive, responsive, and equitable for all learners.