'Not Enough Teachers' For Blind Pupils

A lack of basic skills like cooking and money handling is contributing to a high rate of unemployment among blind people.

A charity is calling on the Scottish Government to invest more money in qualified teachers for the blind. Royal Blind, who run the Royal Blind School in Edinburgh, say there is a deficit in Qualified Teachers of the Visually Impaired - as many have retired - and a lack of time and financial support for teachers to complete the necessary Post Graduate Diploma. Too few teachers have been trained in fully contracted Braille, leading to it becoming common to only teach un-contracted Braille.

This, they say, puts children with serious visual impairment at a serious disadvantage, with a likely impact on their long term access to education and attainment. Richard Hellewell, Chief Executive of Royal Blind said:

“The majority of children with visual impairment are educated in mainstream schools today and Royal Blind fully supports this. We aim to work with local authorities to support pupils with visual impairment no matter where they are being taught in Scotland to help increase attainment levels.

“We are preparing to launch a new service to support teachers in schools that have visually impaired pupils. Our Learning Hub is available to provide support, education and training to any teacher in Scotland who has a visually impaired pupil in their classroom.”