Tending our SHEEP - a holistic, broad based assessment model suitable for use by teachers with pupils with special needs in mainstream schools in Botswana.

Students on teaching practice from Molepolole College of Education have been using the SHEEP model to identify and assess individual pupils in their classrooms with a variety of special needs. SHEEP is an acronym for five areas under which pupils are assessed; Student, History, Environment, Education, and Performance. A detailed analysis of the work of 75 students, combined with feedback from the teaching practice schools, would seem to indicate that the model presents a methodology for a broad based assessment of pupil needs that is contextually valid for pupils and teachers in Botswana.
It directly reflects a goal of special education articulated in the Botswana Revised National Policy on Education that each child should receive individual assessment leading to individual instruction.
The majority of pupils identified come from socially disadvantaged backgrounds which would seem to indicate that if the goal of inclusion is to be achieved then educational initiatives need to be an integral part of wider social policy planning and support.