A qualitatively different experience: mainstreaming pupils with a visual impairment in Northern Ireland

Abstract

This paper reports the experiences of special education needs co-ordinators (SENCOs) on the inclusion of pupils with a visual impairment (VI) in mainstream schools in Northern Ireland. A mixed method approach (postal questionnaire survey (n=113) and interviews (n=6)) was utilised to triangulate the findings. The results indicate an inverse relationship between school years and pupil numbers, with negligible numbers of pupils with a VI reported in higher level examination classes. They also reveal that, for health and safety reasons and due to problems in accessing text books, some schools discourage pupils with a VI from studying subjects such as technology and design, physical education and mathematics. While pupils with a VI are thought to enjoy the social aspects of school life (e.g., peer friendships), less is known about their ability to access a number of areas within the school, including lunchtime clubs and the dinner hall. These findings raise questions about the qualitative nature of the educational experience afforded pupils with a VI.

Uncovering Challenges and Opportunities of Including Children with Visual Impairments in Mainstream Schools

“…Research from 68 surveys of teacher attitude toward inclusion between 1958 and 2011, which included 18,926 respondents from the US indicated that while a majority supported the general idea of inclusion, only a minority supported full time inclusion (Scruggs et al 2011). Similar results were reported in the UK and Northern Ireland (Gray 2009). Teachers across a number of countries do not always report having the training, time and resources available for the implementation of inclusion.…”

“…There are over 25,000 children with visual impairments in the UK (ONS 2015) and approximately 70% are educated in mainstream schools, which often takes the form of one or two learners in a class of up to thirty sighted peers (Morris and Smith 2008). While policies for the inclusion of children with VIs have been in place for a number of years (DEE 1997),in practice, recent studies revealed that the participation of children with special educational needs (SEN) in inclusive classrooms is still not optimal and that sound knowledge on effective practices in this domain is lacking (Gray 2009;Scruggs et al 2011;Vivanti et al 2017). It is therefore timely to examine how technology can contribute to improving the inclusion of children with VIs in the mainstream education system.…”

“Bursting the Assistance Bubble”

“…Findings from 68 surveys of teacher attitudes toward inclusion between 1958 and 2011, which included 18,926 respondents from the US, indicated a consistent attitude towards inclusion: While a majority supported the general idea of inclusion, only a minority supported full time inclusion, and much smaller numbers agreed that they had sufficient resources to carry out inclusive practices effectively [64]. Similar results were reported in the UK and Northern Ireland [30].…”

“…Findings from the field study provided rich insights confirming that inclusion involves multifaceted and complex factors that go beyond access to curriculum and physical integration in the learning environment [8,30,64]. Examples of technology that explicitly support collaborative learning between children with and without VIs were lacking in our data despite educators' emphasis on the importance of peer engagement and the availability of devices that could potentially support such activities, e.g.…”

“…A blind pupil with a teaching assistant in a mainstream class a number of years now [74]. However, recent studies show that the participation of children with SENs in mainstream classrooms is still not optimal and that sound knowledge about effective practices in this domain is lacking [30,64,74,79]. In the case of children with VIs, educators often resort to modifying curriculum resources to make them accessible, using tools such as Braille, tactile diagrams, screen readers, and screen enlargement software [2].…”