Empowering Inclusiveness of SEN Support Systems for Young SEN Learners Through Digital Skills at Higher Education

Abstract Special Education Needs (SEN) children struggle with multiple complications like behavior, language, communication, social, motor, and intellectual delays among others which hinder their integration in the mainstream society. The aim of this study is to empower the SEN stakeholders working directly with SEN young learners with the help of Higher Education through digital skills. The objectives are to explore the challenges faced by the SEN stakeholders in Mauritian SEN inclusiveness, to shed light on ways how Higher Education can empower SEN stakeholders using digital skills and to design a model to empower SEN stakeholders with the help of higher education. With the use of a qualitative research methodology, data were collected through two phases, firstly using three case studies which were recorded in the form of school meetings and secondly through eight semi-structured expert interviews. The adoption of a thematic analysis directed toward the extraction of five themes from the case studies and six themes from the interviews. Conclusively, a SEN stakeholder empowerment model is proposed entailing strategies recommended from Higher Education to help the SEN stakeholders acquire the competencies and provide efficient and effective services to SEN children in Mauritius starting as from preprimary to tertiary education.