Promoting Equitable Access To Education For Children And Young People With Vision Impairment

Promoting Equitable Access to Education for Children and Young People with Vision Impairment offers a suitable vocabulary and developmental route map to examine the changing influences on promoting equitable access to education for learners with vision impairment in different contexts and settings, throughout a given educational pathway. Bringing together a wide range of perspectives, this book argues that inclusive educational systems and teaching approaches should focus upon promoting and sustaining a balanced curriculum. It provides an analysis of how a suitable curriculum balance can be promoted and sustained through the stages of a given educational pathway to ensure equitable access and progression for all learners with vision impairment. The authors draw on the United Kingdom as a country study to illustrate the complex ecosystem within which learners with vision impairment are educated. Structured around a framework which provides a conceptually coherent and practical balance between universal and specialist approaches, this book is a relevant read for educators, academics, and researchers involved in vision impairment education as well as officials in government and non-government organisations engaged in developing education policy relating to inclusive education and disability.

First published in 1998. This book embodies the positive philosophy that children with a visual impairment are entitled to access to the full national curriculum during their school years. In the UK, education placements for pupils and students with special needs range across a continuum from special schools and colleges, with day or residential attendance, to specialist units or individual integration into mainstream provision. Placement results from inter-disciplinary assessment and consultation and requires parental agreement. Lack of sight and measurably impaired vision constitute special needs in educational terms. The writers who have contributed to this major text are teachers and lecturers from both the specialist and mainstream areas of provision and have considerable first-hand experience in teaching pupils and students with a visual impairment.

Inclusive Education at the Crossroads explores the short and long-term effectiveness of government plans to reform policy for special needs education, confronting difficult questions on policies about inclusion and suggesting alternative ways forward for achieving more effective education of children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). Inclusion has been a central concern for education systems globally for over three decades. However, has preoccupation with inclusion been at the expense of effective education for children with SEND? Where do policies for inclusion lead, and do they amount to the special education reform that is needed? What do the worldwide experiences of inclusion and special education reveal about how to improve the quality of education systems for all children in the future? How effective is provision for children with SEND today? Through this informative and topical book, Gordon-Gould and Hornby shine an interrogating spotlight on current provision for SEND and ask if current legislation and policy inadvertently reinforce problems; if they cause many children with SEND to fall short of their potential, as well as preventing many schools from improving their levels of overall academic attainment. Inclusive Education at the Crossroads provides theory and research for teachers, school leaders, governors, policy makers, researchers, parents, post graduate students and anyone seeking practical solutions to meeting the needs of pupils with SEND in any global context. It will encourage open debate about the essence of educational inclusion in order to stimulate creative thinking among all stakeholders.

"In Australia and internationally much still needs to occur to promote inclusive practices in education and society with many educators not feeling equipped to recognise or appreciate diversity or cater effectively for inclusion. With embedded audio-visual components, this open textbook is designed to enhance the quality of the reader's experience with each chapter posing key understandings underpinning inclusion and diversity. Readers are encouraged to answer questions on culture, special learning needs, varied educational contexts, gender diversity and more. The key expected outcome of this open textbook is to engage readers in making meaning of inclusion and diversity and applying their learning to their own individual contexts."--BCcampus website.

A Report to the Nation documents the dramatic ongoing efforts of a vital coalition to achieve essential improvements in education for students with visual impairments. Detailing the accomplishments of more than 150 local schools, agencies, and vision-related organizations who have endorsed the eight goals of the National Agenda, and committed themselves to achieving these goals on the local and state levels, this book presents data and related essential materials designed to be invaluable tools for advocates working to improve educational services.

This book is aimed at the mainstream class teacher who has little or no experience of providing effective learning experiences for children with visual impairments. It is designed both as an introductory guide to assessment and provision. It also has a strong focus on social interactions, since many teachers are confused as how to help children with visual impairments make friends. The book sets out the basis for addressing the individual with a wide range of visual impairments. Chapters cover: the identification and assessment of aspects of vision visual impairment and individual needs practical advice on the development of concepts, language and literacy and social skills the use of low vision aids, appropriate decor and physical layouts, lighting and IT educational policy and the Code of Practice Drawing on very recent research, this book presents new insights into the needs of children with visual impairments as learners, arguing that it is the quality of the child's social interactions which promotes play, language and learning.