New challenges and opportunities for pupils with visual impairment – Hawys Kilday

The Scottish Government must provide clear guidance on how schools should support pupils, writes Hawys Kilday

The Royal Blind School is looking forward to welcoming its pupils back at the start of the new term (Picture: Maverick Photo Agency)

After long months at home and significant disruption to their education, Scotland’s pupils will soon be returning to school. Perhaps there will be varying levels of enthusiasm among our young people enjoying their summer holidays about heading back into the classroom, but there is no doubt the impact of lockdown on the education of our children has been severe. For pupils with additional support needs, including young people with visual impairment, the past few months have been particularly stressful, and further challenges remain as they prepare to return to school.

Royal Blind works with a number of local authorities throughout Scotland to provide support to young people with visual impairment who attend mainstream schools. Over the past ten years the number of pupils with visual impairment in our schools has more than doubled, from 2,005 pupils in 2010 to 4,735 pupils last year. Specialist support is vital for these pupils so they can have the same chances in education as their fully-sighted peers. As our charity extends our work with local authorities we are conscious of the additional challenges blind and partially sighted pupils will face as they return to the classroom.

While social distancing between pupils will not be required in primary schools, secondary schools are being asked to take measures to maintain distancing where possible. Maintaining a one or two metre social distance is simply not possible for people with visual impairment who have very limited or no vision of their surroundings so it is vital that all pupils and teachers are aware of the challenges for pupils with visual impairment. Blind and partially-sighted pupils rely on touch to get around and this means a deep cleaning regime in schools is essential for them. Pupils with visual impairment will need support to become accustomed to new arrangements to manage the flow of staff and students in school corridors. All these measures mean it is vital that the Scottish Government provides clear guidance on how schools should support pupils with visual impairment to cope with them.

Hawys Kilday, Director of Services, Royal Blind and Scottish War Blinded

It is important that we recognise the huge impact Covid-19 has had on disabled young people and not only in terms of education. Royal Blind provides residential care services for young people with complex needs for whom this has been a particularly difficult time for them and their families who were not able to visit during lockdown. It is only in the past couple of weeks we have been able to resume visits and this is still with a number of measures in place to prevent spread of Covid-19.

While visits have been restricted in our care services we have worked hard to help young people stay in touch with their families through online communication. For pupils at the Royal Blind School, we have worked hard to provide online learning and remain in contact with pupils while the school has been closed, but we know how challenging this time has been for the young people and their parents. Not only do they require specialist education support, but the routine and social interaction they have at school is of even greater importance to them than other pupils. Teachers at the school have worked with parents to deliver lessons online, but we know this can’t replace the support our pupils receive at the school. We are looking forward to the start of the new term when we can welcome our pupils back.

Our lives have been transformed in so many ways as a result of the pandemic, and not all of these changes are negative. For pupils with visual impairment there are important opportunities. Our schools have had to place more emphasis on technology and provide more learning online. More and better use of these approaches to education will put our children and young people with visual impairments on a much more level playing field than ever before given their understanding and knowledge of technology. Blending teaching in the classroom with increased use of online resource can give our pupils with additional support needs the time to digest the information before having the opportunity to discuss it.

Even the most difficult of times has presented us the opportunity of positive change. When our pupils return to school, let’s not see this as simply “getting back to normal”. Instead, let’s grasp this opportunity to learn from how we have had to adapt in delivering education so we reduce inequalities in our schools for pupils with additional support needs.

Hawys Kilday, Director of Services, Royal Blind and Scottish War Blinded