Integrated Education of Blind and Visually Impaired Pupils: Analysis of the Peculiarities of Development
Journal Title: Profesinės Studijos: Teorija ir Praktika - Year 2008, Vol 4, Issue 4
Abstract
Integrated education of blind and visually impaired children at first is breaking the barriers between healthy and disabled children, creation of equal possibilities of education and career aspiration. The hypothesis has been raised that in the Republic of Lithuania there are sufficient number of laws and legal acts (by-laws) that regulate inclusive education of visually impaired children and create theoretical presumptions for inclusive education of visually impaired children in mainstream schools of the Republic of Lithuania, however, in practice many schools are still in the stage of preclusion: traditions of existence of segregated institutions, lack of organizational and resource support for inclusive education in mainstream schools (from the viewpoint of competences, attitudes, material support), too big number of pupils in classes, the majority of teachers who work in mainstream schools are not prepared to educate visually impaired children and do not want to have them in their classes, they do not have visual aids and textbooks with enlarged font, etc. Referring to a questionnaire prepared in 1991 by the fellowship of departmental scientific research laboratory of special education of Šiauliai Pedagogical Institute the questions related to the attitude towards integrated education in mainstream schools have been presented to children with visual impairment, their parents and pedagogues. The responses of the respondents have been grouped to separate notional blocks: learning difficulties and productivity during classes, difficulties of children’s communication, attitude towards education and upbringing of visually impaired children. For data procession, analysis and creation of tables presented in the paper SPSS-PC 11.0 for Windows and Microsoft Office Excel 2003 have been used. Valid research samples practically covering all population of the respondents in Lithuania guarantee the reliability of the data. The participants of the research: 1. 241 visually impaired children integrated to mainstream schools of the Republic of Lithuania, 2. 241 mothers (fathers) of the children who participated in the research, 3. 241 pedagogues (of the children who participated in the research) Main conclusions: 1. Mainstream schools of the Republic of Lithuania are in the stage of preclusion: the surroundings are not adapted, there are no special rooms with typhlological literature, visual aids and other educational material necessary for integrated education, there is lack of typhlopedagogues and teacher assistants. 2. It is complicated for pupils to work during the classes because the illumination is not sufficient, there is lack of textbooks with enlarged font or in Braille, means of visual compensation. 3. Parents do not want their children to attend special schools motivating that a mainstream school is next to their home, the present conditions satisfy them, a child will graduate the school soon. Parents in choosing education forms for their children consider their own and their children’s wishes and interests rather than more suitable learning conditions. 4. The pedagogues point out that visually impaired pupils do not manage to keep up with the pace of the class. Teachers do not have enough time to individualize teaching. The data of all three researches have shown that the number of pedagogues who state that it is better for visually impaired children to learn in mainstream schools of the Republic of Lithuania and that they are capable to learn with pupils without visual impairment is decreasing. The motivation is that learning conditions in mainstream schools of the Republic of Lithuania have not been sufficiently adapted yet. Key words: integrated education of blind and visually impaired children, inclusive education, preclusion, segregation, typhlopedagogue, teacher assistant, means of visual compensation, visual aids, level of disability.
Authors and Affiliations
Daiva Manukian
Keywords
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