Challenges experienced by learners with visual impairments in South African township mainstream primary schools

Novice Teachers' Experiences of Teaching Visually Impaired Learners in the Foundation Phase: A Case of Inclusive KwaNyuswa Rural Schools

“…South Africa aspires to universal access to education by regarding inclusive education as one of the most significant resolutions of the Salamanca Conference held in 1994 [12]. The inclusive education agenda was a drive towards quality and equality in education for all, irrespective of disability [3]. It is against this backdrop that inclusive education was elevated in schools and universities to provide all learners with the opportunity of attending schools so that the ''no children left behind'' principle would be maintained [2].…”

“…The research strongly advises that their academic and social outcomes are better served when students are educated together [13,14]. As regards learners with visual impairment, teachers need to know how to contribute to establishing individual needs and strengths [3].…”

“…According to [2], visual impairment is just a condition, and all learners deserve no less than a quality education from highly qualified teachers to gain opportunities for lifelong learning, equal work opportunities, and participation in society. The level of frustration teachers and learners' has to endure causes anxiety and frustration [3]. Institutions of higher education in South Africa are complicit in violating the rights of these innocent learners as almost all B.Ed programmes that prepare teachers for mainstream curriculum fall short of this national imperative [4].…”

“…Ref. [3] argues that despite this passionate plea, South Africa grapples with setting up fundamental basic structures and policy interventions in teacher training institutions to effect universal and inclusive education for learners with visual impairment. This study focuses on novice teachers who were trained to teach in general public schools, but were employed to teach learners with special needs such as those with visual impairment in the Foundation Phase (FP).…”

Mentoring Inservice Teachers to Support their Inclusive Science Teaching Practices for Students with Visual Impairment

“…Although the educational rights of students with VI is protected by law in most countries, Turkey included, those rights are unlikely to be upheld fully due to several reasons. It has been similarly reported in the literature that many obstacles exist for students with VI attending classrooms based on inclusion practices (Bardin & Lewis, 2008;Gray, 2009;Metatla, 2017;Morelle, 2016;Morelle & Tabane, 2019;Okonkwo, Fajonyomi, Omotosho Esere, & Olawuyi, 2017;Ramrathan & Mzimela, 2016). Some of these obstacles are a lack of educational services support aimed at classroom teachers, their access to educational materials with Braille or large-font text, and limited access to specialized equipment and assistive technological tools.…”