Challenges Experienced by Learners With Visual Impairment on High-Stake Assessment

Abstract

Recent studies show that there is a very low enrolment rate of learners with special educational needs (LSEN) in institutions of higher learning locally. This might be because most LSEN attain low achievement scores in the terminal examinations which make them not meet the admission requirements of such institutions. Consequently, the number of professionals with disabilities would then be very meager. There might be a wide range of contributing factors that turn out to be realized at the terminal examinations stage even though the root causes could have been identified and dealt with at the earlier grades. The extreme manifestation of this challenge occurred when the 2017 cohort of learners with visual impairment in one regular school attained a 100% fail rate in Junior Certificate examinations. This definitely calls for investigating the reasons that led to this unfavourable outcome. The paper aims at presenting the facts from the perspective of learners due to their direct involvement in this issue. Data was generated from the interviews conducted with three visually impaired learners. Data were analyzed using social justice education theories and capability framework. There are two main findings revealed in this study. Firstly, learners were not involved in deciding on the format of the question paper they preferred. Secondly, it was indicated that the terminal examination did not align with both instructional practice and formative assessment. This article recommends that learners should be involved in decision-making concerning their welfare. Apart from that, summative assessment should be aligned with instructional practice.