Blind Citizens
Submission to
the
Federal
Department of Education, Science and Training
National Inquiry into the Teaching of Literacy
This submission has been
compiled by John Power, National Policy Officer for Blind Citizens Australia
and has been approved by the President and Executive of Blind Citizens
Australia.
Contact Details
John Power:
National Policy Officer, Blind Citizens
Fax: (03) 9372 6466 Email: john.power@bca.org.au
TABLE OF CONTENTS
DEFINITIONS OF LITERACY: THE CONCEPT OF INCLUSION FOR
PEOPLE WHO ARE BLIND OR VISION IMPAIRED
BRAILLE: THE LITERACY TOOL FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE BLIND OR
VISION IMPAIRED
Primary and Secondary education
TEACHING THE TEACHERS BRAILLE: BRIDGING THE GAP FOR
INCLUSIVE LITERACY
ACCESS TO MATERIALS FOR BLIND STUDENTS
Primary and Secondary education
Blind Citizens Australia (BCA) is the National organisation of people
who are blind or vision impaired. Our mission is to achieve equity and equality
by our empowerment, by promoting positive community attitudes and by striving
for high quality and accessible services which meet our needs.
To define literacy in an inclusive and representative
manner, people who are blind or vision impaired must be included. It is our
assertion that government action on literacy will never represent all
Australian children while such action leverages off an incomplete definition of
literacy that fails to take into account children who are blind or vision impaired.
In addition to this, we call on the government to introduce a systemic braille
teaching program for teachers of children so they are adequately equipped to reverse the decline in braille literacy that is evident among young
blind people.
In the series of briefing papers accompanying the
terms of reference for this inquiry, none of the many definitions provided on
literacy considered the idea of literacy for people who are blind or vision
impaired. All government definitions of literacy which inform
government policy should include additional lines that give reference to people
who are blind or vision impaired.
For example, taking a widely used definition cited
in the briefing papers,[1] ‘Effective’ literacy,
which considered the concept of inclusion for people with a print disability,
would be ‘intrinsically purposeful, flexible and dynamic and involve the
integration of speaking, listening and critical thinking with reading and
writing for all persons,
including those who are blind or vision impaired’.
Braille is the most important tool for people who
are blind or vision impaired to acquire literacy. It is not an exaggeration to
say that a blind person who does not have sound Braille reading and writing
skills is functionally illiterate. To acquire knowledge of words, spelling, punctuation,
syntax and grammar from reading a book on an audio cassette or by reading by a
computer with voice output is not possible.
Generally, a child who reads by audio cassette or by computer with voice
output does not comprehend the material as well as a child who is able to read
and write braille competently.
Speaking generally, until the 1970s, most blind
children would have received quality braille instruction. This could be
reasonably assured in an era where blind children did their primary education
in special schools for the blind and braille instruction was a valued and
crucial component of the curriculum. Today, most blind children go to
integrated schools. This is a development that Blind Citizens Australia
welcomes and supports.
However, blind children have paid an educational
price for the benefits of social integration. In an integrated setting, there
has been a serious decline in the value placed on and the priority given to
imbuing a blind child with blindness specific skills such as braille literacy.
The result is that blind children today do not have the same opportunities that
previous generations had to acquire sound braille skills and literacy.
Blind Citizens Australia is aware through the involvement of our members that instruction in braille is
not always available to children who need it, and that children are often
discouraged from learning braille in favour of reading by cassette or computer.
We
are aware of situations in which children attending integrated schools are denied
instruction in braille notwithstanding the requests of their parents. Parents
are told that their child can learn to read by using audiotapes or a computer
with voice output. As outlined above, this is clearly not adequate.
Even
where parents have requested braille instruction for their child, the child is
often denied instruction in braille because he or she has some useable vision.
This is often done on the basis that the child is not blind and the view of
medical and educational professionals, including some staff of blindness
agencies, is that the child should learn to use his existing vision to the
maximum. We do not disagree with the
view that a vision impaired child should be instructed to maximise the benefit
of his or her remaining vision. However, we believe that as a general
proposition, the child's parents are best placed to know his or her needs. Accordingly, if the parents of a child with
some useable vision want him or her to learn braille, the child should have
that opportunity. As a mother of a
vision impaired child put it, “having my child taught braille is not taking
away his sight, it is giving him an extra option".
Blind
Citizens Australia argues that braille should be taught to the majority of
vision impaired children. Most eye conditions deteriorate with age and it is
not uncommon for children with reasonably functional vision to move into
adolescence and early-mid adult life and find themselves with no useful vision
and with no literacy skills.
The
provision of quality braille instruction to blind children in schools should be
seen as part of the implementation of the agreed National Goals for Schooling
in the Twenty-first Century.[2]
The
decline in braille literacy we are observing among younger blind people is
having a significant impact on their education, employment and daily life. In
the briefing papers provided for this inquiry it was noted that “proficiency in
English literacy is of major importance for every Australian’s personal, social
and cultural development”.[3] To deny these young people who are blind the right to this proficiency
is denying them the chance to participate fully in Australian society; and for
this to be occurring in this wealthy and advanced nation is simply intolerable.
Many
blind children do not have adequate access to a visiting teacher. A child needs
tuition in braille on a regular basis to build his/her braille reading and
writing skills. "A sighted child receives instruction in literacy each
day. A blind child, who uses braille, only receives effective instruction in
literacy when the visiting teacher visits once a week" one mother of a
vision impaired child explained.
In
some States and Territories, students in non-government schools do not have the
same access to visiting teachers as students in Government schools. In
Whilst
Teacher Aide time is significantly cheaper than Teacher time, Teacher Aides are
not trained teachers and should not be expected to do the job of a trained
teacher. Where students do have access to a specialist teacher, they may not be
trained in vision impairment. In some cases, the school is not serviced by a
teacher but by another professional, for example, a social worker.
Blind
Citizens Australia holds grave concerns for the future of teaching primary and
secondary students who are blind. In the past, there were a number of
specialist pre-service programs specifically for teachers interested in
teaching blind children. This is no
longer the case. We are aware of only one remaining specialist pre-service
program, which is only offered every second year.
Non-specialist
teachers will receive at best a couple of lectures during their pre-service
university course about the learning needs of blind students. There is also a
dearth of post-graduate opportunities for teachers to specialise in teaching
blind children. The courses that do exist are largely delivered via distance
learning. This means that newly graduated regular classroom teachers have
little knowledge of blind students and their needs.
Of
more concern is the decline in the number of teachers with skills in blindness
specific areas, including an understanding of braille and the techniques for
teaching the reading and writing of braille. The Australian Braille Authority
has advised that less than forty per cent of Visiting Teachers possess basic
Grade 2 literary braille skills. Moreover, skills in Math and Music Braille are
exceedingly rare. As we clearly stated earlier, braille is an essential skill
for blind students. With our universities not providing appropriate courses for
teachers who wish to work with blind students, it is highly likely that future generation’s
of children who will not have access to teachers with the requisite skills to
teach them basic literacy.
The
above comments on training of visiting teachers and access of children to their
assistance are not to be taken as criticism of individual visiting teachers or
the work they do for blind children. Many visiting teachers make extraordinary
efforts to ensure that the educational needs of their students are met. It is
the inadequacy of training and the lack of resources that prevent visiting
teachers providing blind children with quality braille instruction and braille
literacy.
Timely access to materials in an appropriate format is a crucial issue
for primary and secondary students.
Small children who are blind do not have access to the same range of
materials as their sighted peers; there is a significant shortage of books in
braille and large print that are suitable for beginning readers. In the class room, work sheets that other
students are asked to complete are not available for the blind student and they
have to be re-directed to other work until they are available either later that
day or sometimes days later. Senior students routinely experience delays
receiving material that is integral to their Higher School Certificate studies
in alternative formats.
Blind
Citizens Australia would like to remind the Committee members of previous
recommendations and initiatives that have not been followed up. In particular,
we would like to mention that the recommendations of the 2002 inquiry by the
Senate Committee on Employment and Workplace Relations and Education into the
education of Students with Disabilities remain largely unimplemented.[4]
All Australian
children need access to resources to improve their literacy, including those who
are blind or vision impaired. For this to occur, government policy must be
informed from an inclusive definition of literacy that ‘includes all persons, including those who are blind or vision impaired’.
For people who are blind or vision impaired, braille is their tool for
literacy. As we have mentioned above, it is not an exaggeration to say that a
blind person who does not have sound braille reading and writing skills is
functionally illiterate. In recent times, Blind Citizens Australia has observed
a decline in braille literacy among younger blind people. The consequence of
this decline is having a significant impact on their education, employment and
daily life. To reverse this decline, we call on the government to implement a
nationwide systemic braille teaching program for teachers of children to ensure
that they are adequately equipped to give children who are blind or vision
impaired the same literacy opportunities as sighted children. We call on the
government to bridge the literacy gap for children who are blind or vision
impaired.
Blind Citizens Australia makes the
following recommendations to the Committee.
1.
All government definitions of literacy make
reference to people who are blind or vision impaired.
2.
National and State reports on schooling
include specific reference to literacy and numeracy outcomes for students who
are blind and vision impaired.
3.
Commonwealth programs for improving
student literacy and numeracy outcomes include funding for the special literacy
and numeracy acquisition needs of students who are blind or vision impaired.
4.
That the critical shortage of teachers for
the vision impaired be addressed. We
would be pleased to work with the Committee to develop and implement this
recommendation.
5.
At least one teaching course specialising
in vision impairment be available in each state. The courses should teach a
common curriculum to ensure that graduates have the same minimum level of core
skills to teach students who are blind or vision impaired.
6.
Sufficient funding is made available so
students attending Catholic and independent schools are provided with the same
standard of disability support as students in government schools.
[1] National Inquiry into the Teaching of
Literacy, 2004-2005. Committee for the Australian Government’s National inquiry
into the Teaching of Literacy: Briefing
paper 1, p.1.
[2] 10th Ministerial Council on Education,
Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA),
[3] Ibid.
[4] The Senate Employment, Workplace Relations
and Education References Committee (2002). Education
of students with disabilities.